The Meme Economy

Meme creators who sell NFTs are not greedy hyper-capitalists looking to scam unwitting buyers. They are regular people who, often without their permission, became universally recognized cultural symbols (and sometimes laughingstocks) without any monetary reward… and now they’re finally getting the payout they deserve.

These meme “investors” are competitive, with Forbes having published a ranking of the community’s “top investors.” There are even in-depth guides to help usher in novice meme traders.

Mimetic desire causes people to invest en masse into things that they have little knowledge of beyond who else is a part of the movement.

The meme economy has quickly become a reality, with the creators of the internet’s most iconic memes auctioning NFTs for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars: Doge — $4 million, Disaster Girl — $570,000, Nyan Cat — $515,000.

In the meme economy, the market performance of a stock or cryptocurrency is less about forecasting business revenue than it is about gauging a traded asset’s “memeability.” This user-generated, virality-based investment strategy can best be explained by René Girard’s mimetic theory of desire, which argues that “human desire is not an autonomous pro... See more

The subreddit r/MemeEconomy now boasts 1.4 million followers — self-proclaimed “meme analysts” — each dedicated to uncovering and “investing” in the memes that they believe have the most viral potential.

Memers are already becoming millionaires (deservedly so), and it’s only a matter of time before it will be possible to make a lucrative career for oneself out of meme creation and curation.