We Like the Nouns

Crypto, still largely valued on nothing more than the collective belief of its users, is the ultimate example to date of the power of a network, in every sense of the word. That that collective belief is a point of leverage for companies that can aggregate believers is the most natural outcome imaginable, even if it means that the lack of technical... See more

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

However, at early stages, the notional value of tokens is determined almost entirely by narrative rather than utility. The zeitgeist of an incipient token can be understood as a kind of decentralized branding, whereby permissionless narrative formation is driven by speculative desire. Whether financial, social, or owing to a genuine affiliation wit... See more

These projects succeed by leveraging a core dynamic of crypto: A token’s worth comes from users’ shared agreement — and this means that the community one builds around NFTs quite literally creates those NFTs’ underlying value. And the more these communities increase engagement and become part of people’s personal identities, the more that value is ... See more