ANSEM is a fascinating example of tokenized attention and reputation. My IGNAS coin would definitely flop before reaching $50k MC. So credit where it's due. It's surprising, though, that KOL coins, while the most controversial, aren't the most hated way to monetize an audience. Most KOLs monetize followers via paid posts, ambassadorships or brand businesses. All of them carry reputation risk. CT dislikes paid posts, depending on how scammy the promoted projects are. Brand businesses are perhaps the least hated, that's why I chose to monetize via @PinkBrains_io Yet KOL are surprisingly the least hated! I know, I know. At least I believe this to be true, especially on CT. First, it's not the first time they're trending. We had Friend Tech, and other platforms where even I had coins tied to my attention and reputation. And it seems I'm still doing just fine. Secondly, you can opt-out and simply not buy. If you bought and lost money, all you can blame is yourself. Or at least this is how crypto libertarians see the world. There's no regulation or fines for launching your coin. That's the beauty of permissionless crypto. But more importantly, some people do actually make money from KOL coins. Those winning stories are the loudest, while the losers stay quiet. It's absolutely certain that most will lose, because KOL coins have no revenue or business tied to them. Even the marketed airdrops to ANSEM holders are coming from someone else's degen pockets. Saying that, Ansem could put his KOL deal revenue into ANSEM buybacks, but those would actually hurt the price. The narrative switch from 'meme' to 'revenue token' is usually bad news. Still, it's unfortunate that the moment Solana was trying to get rid off the memecoin casino narrative, a new wave of memecoins is launching and value-accretive assets are losing their bids. But this too will be short lasting and with the new reminder of 'memecoins-bad' we will come back to value accruing assets. Tokenized stocks is still my fav narrative for Solana.(Ignas | DeFi)