Memecoins served their purpose but must evolve

Artur Gulinski, COO at Zekret before he became the regulatory infrastructure of Zekret was a pioneer in Web3’s high risk frontier. He made money but lost even more. In the process, he learned how memecoins, Degen speculation, and other cultures shaped an entire crypto generation.

Murakami Flowers was one of the most talked about NFT releases of that time. Each mint was 0.1 ETH, and sold instantly for 6 Ethereum. It was chaotic, fast and exciting.

‘I’m not a trader’

Gulinski: “It was a great time.” “But I learned that I am not a trader. I don’t feel emotionally capable of it. “I don’t have diamond-like hands.”

He describes his entry into the market in 2017 as a ride on the early ICO wave, and then falling into memecoins and NFTs. The experience was intense and volatile but also immersive. Gulinski became familiar with smart contracts and joined communities. This laid the foundations for his future career.

“Web3 has always been about people for me,” he says. “You can’t do anything without people. “The bootstrappers, the builders, and the founders who worked for a whole year without ever seeing their families.”

He doesn’t dismiss “degen” cultures. He credits the “degen” culture with opening up doors. Token-gated community like CPG Club allowed him to connect with other founders, and expose him to real projects.

It was a serious system. Some of them went on to create major companies.

He read the writing on the wall

The memecoin season in 2023 was a turning-point. He saw volume boosting, token manipulation and token manipulation become normalized as a co-founder of the Solana project.

“We scaled up to $200,000 per month in six-months,” he said. But it was still a grey zone. We were boosting volume, creating tokens, advising projects. “It wasn’t something I could remain in.”

Gulinski saw that the new EU and US regulations would soon be in force.

I told my team that we needed to pivot. It was too risky. The money was too good, they said. “So I stepped down.”

Zekret was the result of his decision. Although he continues to watch degen communities, no longer does he play in them.

Memecoins are evolving.

He says, “I’m a degen in my heart.” “But I am also an operator.” I know how fragile the space without structure is. “If we want to bring in institutions, we have to clean up the area.”

He believes that the early returns on crypto have distorted founder incentives.

“I have talked to VCs that say if you don’t get a 5x return in two years it is not worth it. That’s not the norm. In traditional markets 5x in 10 is good.”

Gulinski’s message is crystal clear. The memecoin age served its purpose. However, the ecosystem requires evolution.

“It is time to build real infrastructure.” We are here because of the degens. It’s now time to make this work for everyone else.