Will Smith memecoin slapped down

Ryan Watson, a 29-year-old landscaper and cryptocurrency investor from Binghamton, New York, slept through the Oscars, including the infamous moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. But two days later, he was elated to see what the event had spawned: a memecoin, dubbed Will Smith Inu.

The slap’s near-instantaneous minting into coin isn’t a surprise. Memecoins are cryptocurrency tied to viral moments and internet jokes, with a fleeting value that tends to rise and fall quickly. Some memecoins, like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, have endured and are accepted by Tesla and GameStop as payment. Most, like Space Kim — a token satirizing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — are jokes, a risky investment without any tangible purpose.

But those who get in early can walk away with a tidy profit. Which is why, two days after the Oscars, Watson bought $5,000 worth of Will Smith Inu. The coin garnered more than $3 million in trading, collapsing back to nearly zero within a week. Its temporary rise worked well for early investors like Watson, who cashed out with $20,000, but for thousands of others, it prompted a furious sell-off.

Once considered a humorous version of cryptocurrency, memecoins are now rife with scams, making them a particularly dangerous product that provides a bounty for few at the cost of many. Nearly all analysts agree that participation is essentially a form of gambling.

“It’s a zero-sum game,” said David Hsiao, chief executive of the crypto magazine Block Journal. “If somebody is getting rich, a lot of other people are losing money.”

— THE WASHINGTON POST