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The current mood on Crypto Twitter: Speculation is dead and fundamental revenue drivers are back in.

“Speculation is dead” indicates the growing consensus that memecoins are a fading trend. The controversial LIBRA memecoin launch last month was a significant turning point, revealing the extractive practices of memecoin projects, such as quickly sniping their own tokens at launch.

Are memecoins dying? While activity isn’t at its peak, data shows they aren’t dead yet. For example, Pump.fun launched 187k new tokens last week, generating $8.1 million in revenue. Base memecoin launchpad Clanker even recorded an all-time high in memecoin launches (10.8k) recently, raising questions about the narrative that memecoins are declining.

Via: @0xSharples

Why would memecoins die? Historically seen as a casino game, Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi compared them to a video game “simulacrum of crypto trading.” Given ongoing access to blockchains and human greed, the appetite for gambling is likely to persist.

The argument for fundamentals regaining prominence is compelling. A noteworthy piece from Decentralised.co suggests that revenue-generating apps will become more attractive as capital allocators are more discerning and the market is flooded with tokens. Faced with the dilution of attention and without the assurance of previous market dynamics, investors prioritize fundamental value.

Many notable crypto firms, including Jupiter, Hyperliquid, Raydium, Sky, and Jito, have recently signaled a return to fundamentals by announcing token buybacks, akin to stock buybacks in traditional finance (TradFi). Successful companies in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Teledyne, utilized extensive buyback strategies, which led to significant stock performance improvements.

However, what worked in TradFi might not apply in DeFi. Many crypto products, like Aave or Uniswap, have potential for growth and sustainable revenue. Therefore, reinvesting in product development and user acquisition could generate greater long-term benefits than mere buybacks.

Source: Decentralised.co