Fantom launches $6.5M dev fund to bet on ‘safer memecoins’
Layer-1 blockchain Phantom is pushing the idea of ”secure memecoins” by putting up a $6.5 million worth of FTM token as a reward for devs as it tries to get a piece of the nearly $50 billion sector.
“We want to create an environment where people can unlock what we call ‘safe memecoins' and introduce technical and non-technical measures to ensure that projects don't become ‘straight mats or scams,'” Michael Kong, CEO of the Phantom Foundation, told Cointelegraph.
Solana and Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 base Much of the recent memecoin trading frenzy has seen trading on Solana, which even outpaced Ethereum at the peak of the memecoin rush in March.
However, about one in six memecoins on base turned out to be scams, and at least 12 meme-based projects of the size of Solana — which raised $26.7 million — were quickly abandoned by their creators.
To attract memecoin traders to Fantom, as well as increase security measures around the tokens, Kong announced during the MemeGlobal event in Sydney on April 30 that the Phantom Foundation is setting up a 10 million Fantom (FTM) prize pool – worth $6.5 million to memecoin groups.
“The current memecoin event is a way for us to get more customers because we have seen success with other chains and we want to repeat that success,” Kong said.
“For us as a chain, our desire is to grow the chain as much as possible and that leads to customer purchases,” Kong added.
“Ultimately it's about what the customer wants. If the customer wants DeFi, give them DeFi. NFTs? Give them NFT, and when it comes to memecoins, give them memecoins – or at least give them an environment that allows people to make memecoins safely.
Kong describes a successful memecoin as “one where you release a lot of tokens to give to the community” and “have a democratic startup that's not concentrated in a few whales or a few bags.”
The foundation's co-founder Andre Cronje proposed measures for secure memecoins earlier in April when memecoin devs shared their tokens with the Fanton Foundation, a co-regulator of token startup liquidity.
Related: Crypto VC sees ‘new class' of profitable memecoins this cycle.
Cronje also proposed a token supply split – 5% for the team and 10% for the market, which would be locked in a multi-sig wallet with at least one foundation member as a co-signer.
The remaining 85% will be placed in FTM's pooled liquid pool (LP) with a foundation of 100,000 FTM – worth $65,000 at current prices.
“If the FTM in the LP token reaches at least 2,000,000 FTM, the proposed 100,000 FTM (5%) will be withdrawn to cover the initial cost and the remaining LP will be burned,” Cronje wrote.
Fantom is the 38th largest blockchain network with a total value locked (TVL) of $108.3 million, Defillama said. For comparison, Solana and Bethesda are the fourth and sixth largest in TVL, respectively.
Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% vulnerable
