30s Summary

MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay created memecoins on Ethereum and Solana to explore trust dynamics in Web3. He faced criticism when his tokens rapidly accrued value but lacked clear purpose, highlighting how investors willingly risk money without understanding what they’re investing in. Finlay related this to consent debates in the digital realm, noting instances where user consent is overlooked. He emphasized the need for systems augmenting trust, clarity, consent, and user control in digital transactions, cautioning against the domination of major investors, hate, and threatening behaviour.

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Dan Finlay, who is a co-founder of MetaMask, a digital wallet for cryptocurrency, played around with Internet money known as memecoins to figure out how trust works in the world of Web3.

To do this, he created two new tokens – one called “Consent” on a platform called Ethereum and the other termed “I Don’t Consent” on Solana. He didn’t love the experience and it even got a bit scary, exploring how excitement can lead to lack of responsibility.

Finlay’s learnings are really important because they shed light on the confusion between what is visible to the public and what users expect. He thinks that we need clearer rules for consent, trust, and responsibility. He believes that we shouldn’t let hate and threats rule the community, and doesn’t want big investors to take control of the shares.

His experiment showed how memecoins can be a risky business, especially those like the ones he created using Clanker bot and Pump.fun. When he first launched the tokens, he saw their value shoot up quickly, to almost $100,000. However, because the tokens had no clear purpose or structure, there were high financial risks for people getting involved with them.

Finlay faced criticism from investors who wanted to know his long-term plans for the tokens, even though they were just simple by design. He highlighted how, in this environment, everyone is willing to spend money without knowing what they’re getting into.

Finlay also connected his experience with memecoins to the debates about consent in the digital world. He specifically noted Bluesky, an instance where public posts were used for AI training without direct user consent. This shows how consent can be a grey area, both on platforms like Bluesky and in the memecoin world.

The lessons he learned from this experiment show the need for better systems to handle issues related to consent and user expectations. Tools that make it more fun and useful to interact with memecoins are required, as well as a way for people to have more control over their own tokens, like being able to limit them to certain communities.

As AI and blockchain continue to evolve alongside memecoins, Finlay’s experiment highlights the need for systems that build trust, align with user expectations, and ensure transparency around consent.