PJ Vogt

Hello, Alexi. Hello. Yes. Over the past few months, you and I have been on a deep dive into the world of meme coins. We've been spelunking in the crypto mines. We've been getting lost in them, because over the past decade, meme coins have gone from a one-off joke to a speculative frenzy worth tens of billions of dollars.

And in the beginning, of course, there was Bitcoin. Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and it was pitched as a sort of utopian alternative to government backed currencies. It was a way for people to pay each other without having to rely on the existing financial system.

And in the beginning, of course, there was Bitcoin. Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and it was pitched as a sort of utopian alternative to government backed currencies. It was a way for people to pay each other without having to rely on the existing financial system.

And in the beginning, of course, there was Bitcoin. Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and it was pitched as a sort of utopian alternative to government backed currencies. It was a way for people to pay each other without having to rely on the existing financial system.

And this was the seedy state of crypto that inspired what is widely considered to be the first meme coin, Dogecoin.

And this was the seedy state of crypto that inspired what is widely considered to be the first meme coin, Dogecoin.

And this was the seedy state of crypto that inspired what is widely considered to be the first meme coin, Dogecoin.

Here's how it would work. Some programmers would create a new coin. They'd hype it up as the next Bitcoin, maybe do some sketchy stuff to fake demand, and get people to buy in, all to pump up the price. And when enough money had flowed in, they would sell off all their coins. They would dump their holdings. The price would collapse, leaving everyone who'd bought in holding the bag.

Here's how it would work. Some programmers would create a new coin. They'd hype it up as the next Bitcoin, maybe do some sketchy stuff to fake demand, and get people to buy in, all to pump up the price. And when enough money had flowed in, they would sell off all their coins. They would dump their holdings. The price would collapse, leaving everyone who'd bought in holding the bag.

Here's how it would work. Some programmers would create a new coin. They'd hype it up as the next Bitcoin, maybe do some sketchy stuff to fake demand, and get people to buy in, all to pump up the price. And when enough money had flowed in, they would sell off all their coins. They would dump their holdings. The price would collapse, leaving everyone who'd bought in holding the bag.

Palmer and a friend coded up a new coin, and in doing so, they married the world of memes with the world of crypto.

Palmer and a friend coded up a new coin, and in doing so, they married the world of memes with the world of crypto.

Palmer and a friend coded up a new coin, and in doing so, they married the world of memes with the world of crypto.

And pretty quickly, fraudsters started to use Dogecoin in the kind of pump and dumps it was meant to critique, which was exactly the opposite of what Palmer had intended.

And pretty quickly, fraudsters started to use Dogecoin in the kind of pump and dumps it was meant to critique, which was exactly the opposite of what Palmer had intended.

And pretty quickly, fraudsters started to use Dogecoin in the kind of pump and dumps it was meant to critique, which was exactly the opposite of what Palmer had intended.

And to understand how that barrier to entry started to change, we called up Zeke Fox. Zeke is an investigative journalist at Bloomberg and author of the book Number Go Up, Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.

And to understand how that barrier to entry started to change, we called up Zeke Fox. Zeke is an investigative journalist at Bloomberg and author of the book Number Go Up, Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.

And to understand how that barrier to entry started to change, we called up Zeke Fox. Zeke is an investigative journalist at Bloomberg and author of the book Number Go Up, Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.

So a blockchain is basically a ledger that everyone can see, and it keeps track of how many tokens someone has of a given cryptocurrency. It used to be that in order to make a new cryptocurrency, you had to code up a new blockchain. So Bitcoin had its own blockchain. Dogecoin had a different one. But Ethereum made it so that you could keep track of multiple cryptocurrencies on the same blockchain.