Memes get their value from their remixes, reshares and re-edits. They have the ability to spread by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and these often carry symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. Let’s take for example Pepe The Frog. While the original artist, Matt Furie, completely deserves the reward he received for creating one of the most famous memes, the original piece is not what gave it true value. It is the memes, emojis, stickers, etc. that were created using Pepe The Frog as a theme.
However, memes are notoriously difficult to monetise. Anyone can create memes with little control over how they are subsequently used. Most people monetise memes via social media (by turning memes into content for the purpose of advertising) and meme selling in bulk (creation of memes on demand). More often than not, the original creator of the meme has no way of benefiting from the subsequent success of their meme.
On Meme Markets and Memetic Assets…
This is exactly where the Meme Markets idea comes into play. The exploration of value and rewards behind memes and how these very “remixers” are equally if not more deserving for the popularity rise of a certain meme. So, how exactly can a community behind a meme be rewarded for recognising an early trend? Enter Memetic Assets, which are coins and collectibles based on memes whose value is determined by how people want to engage with them and trade them.
Meme.com is uniquely positioned to become the leading Memetic Asset protocol…
Launched in January of 2019, by Johan Unger and Mattias Tyrberg, Meme.com (previously Marble.Cards) is one of the oldest NFT projects on the Ethereum blockchain. Currently there are over 100 thousand NFT cards minted by users on this platform. Meme.com enables people to quantify the value of trends using meme coins and crypto collectibles. These collectibles are called Marble cards. When you find an article, video or anything else you like that has a URL, you can “marble” it into a crypto collectible card. “Marbling” is based on the ERC721 protocol and every URL can only be marbled once. People can amplify content they like to generate attention and traffic towards a URL with that content. In other words, to “marble” is to mint a frame for a URL. No 3rd party content is claimed or saved on any blockchain. On top of all this, Meme.com have also created the Metagame for the internet where you can create, battle and trade these unique URL-based bookmark cards.
People can use Meme.com and “marbling” to show appreciation for a given web page by marbling a unique frame for a link to that web page. The most notable benefits for the creators include:
- Encouraging fans to create and collect stories around creators’ content.
- Encouraging creators to sign cards and get positive visibility when fans show off their favourite cards.
- Enabling creators to earn fees when verified cards sell or do well in the game.
- Enabling verification of cards that creators think resonate with their image.
- Allowing control of what cards to verify, with a bidding system to allow for monetization.
Meme.com has raised $5 million from blockchain-focused venture capital funds including Digital Finance Group, Morningstar, Blockhype, Spark Digital Capital and other investors. Over a dozen investors contributed to the round, with additional funding coming from angel investors Gabby Dizon, CEO of Altitude Games, and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.
Jamie Burke: “Memes are the meta narratives that drive culture today. They are perhaps the ultimate language and social currency and drive the majority of sharing, attention and ultimately ad spend on the internet. Yet their creators, both the originators and participants in their evolution or syndication often derive little financial gain from their success.
Dogecoin, whilst controversial, has shown memes can be monetised and have financial value. Allowing people to take a stake in a meme, any meme and share in its value and lifecycle is the ultimate market for the Robinhood degen generation, whether you like it or not.”
About Base Camp
The Base Camp program was launched in 2014 after several years of Outlier Ventures working with startups and having gained both a wealth of experience and an extensive mentor and investor network.
The bespoke program runs over three months where Outlier Ventures helps refine business strategy, product-market fit, community growth, token design and governance as well as leveraging the investor and mentor network to assist in the ultimate goal of fundraising.
Applications are open now! Join here and 10x your business.
Startups that join Base Camp are typically looking for help with fundraising also to accelerate their proposition to customers and investors alike.
About Ascent
The Ascent program works with both graduates of Outlier Ventures’ Base Camp accelerator and other more established startups that are looking to launch or refresh a token.
Alongside a structured process of token development, Outlier Ventures activates key partners from their network, which range from VCs to community capital pools, DAOs and both centralised and decentralised exchange partners.
Thanks to an established onboarding program, a strong signal to the market is provided, as well as cutting short the amount of due diligence our partners need to conduct
