I used to get mad at memecoins.
I thought: "This is disrespectful to those of us building real things — why is this industry sabotaging itself? This is not why I'm here".
Over time, you realize this is a silly way of thinking.
Memecoins or "culture coins" are essentially a way of financially "investing" in memes, trends, and virality.
This was not possible before from a capital perspective — the best you could do was to mimic the memes yourself for extra social capital (remember: Harlem shake, planking, ice bucket challenge etc.).
Crypto rails enable new forms of financial transmission, and this is one of them — you don’t get to pick and choose.
Memes and culture are the most fundamental differentiating aspects of what makes humans humans, and now it has been modernized.
This is an entirely new category that didn't exist before — as a result, the early days will be full of rampant misbehaviour as communities converge on some conduct & standards.
BONK was the first example of this where it was pulled off successfully (in my view) — they helped Solana Mobile and Solana Developers during its toughest moments ever and sparked a cultural movement.
These meme coins aren't "distracting" your users — if your product were good, they would use it — your product is probably not good, so don't blame it on the market.
As a "builder", it is unwise to get mad at the market; it does not care — it is even worse to get mad at the human condition.
You can, however, leverage it for good instead of "bad" — just know that being salty about it won't do you any good.