In this post:
- Nic Carter claims that this year’s trend toward meme coins in the cryptocurrency market was caused by the SEC’s strict restrictions.
- A Republican victory, according to Columbia professor Omid Malekan, might put an end to the craze for meme coins by loosening laws and redirecting cryptocurrency toward beneficial endeavors.
- Murad, a meme coin expert, thinks that more than political changes, the growing global money supply is the reason meme currencies are here to stay.
The SEC’s tight grip on the cryptocurrency market is drawing criticism from all sides. When online celebrity Nic Carter jumped on a post by professor Omid Malekan of Columbia Business School, who claimed that the SEC’s policies are pushing people into meme currencies, he didn’t hold back.
Carter supported this by claiming that the hype and speculation surrounding meme coins are the result of the so-called “oppressive SEC regime.” He thinks the market wouldn’t be drawn to hype-driven assets like these if it weren’t for the SEC’s relentless hammering.
Memecoins: An emblem of financial discontent?
Malekan had predicted that meme coins would die in the event of a Trump victory or a Republican sweep, which is rated at 50% by betting site Polymarket. He views these coins as a form of “economic populism,” opposing dubious venture capital-backed coins that insiders run.
In response to the “toxicity of the Gensler/Warren regime,” Malekan argued, “memecoins are a form of economic populism,” causing coins to deviate from the norm. He outlined the reasons why meme currencies flourish as protest emblems under the current regime’s incessant geo-blocks, VPN bans, and regulatory crackdowns.
He claims that a Republican victory would restore global airdrops, initial coin offerings, and tokens with “sanity,” and that such a realignment would put an end to the craze for meme coins.
Malekan put it this way: meme coins are a means for ordinary investors to rebel against the “grifty tokenomics” of VC-controlled coins, not just mindless hype. Malekan claims that the SEC’s hard hand is essentially pushing these venture-backed tokens into the market.
Every restriction and block? They’re the result of what he calls a “Gensler/Warren regime,” the driving force making meme coins attractive by default.
So, if a Republican sweep happens, Malekan claims the scene will change. He says it would roll back the geo-blocks, end the VPN bans, and welcome back ICOs and airdrops for everyone—not just those who can find a loophole.
Malekan argues that this kind of shift would refocus crypto on decentralized apps (dApps) and other projects that actually offer real use, unlike meme coins.
He said that these adjustments would also reinstate dividends and fee shifts, which are systems that give holders actual value rather than just hype, leaving meme coins behind. He believes that meme currencies may face a protracted, chilly bear market if the regulatory uncertainty subsides.
Nic Carter, however, had an easier perspective. “Memecoins = in large part reaction to oppressive SEC regime,” he said, quoting Malekan’s essay and getting right to the point. There will be less need or motivation to trade memecoins if the SEC finds sanity.
“There will always be some baseline desire to trade memecoins as there has been for the last decade,” Carter continued, adding that meme coins aren’t completely going away.
The cryptocurrency community responds
Naturally, Carter’s remark sparked a domino effect. Murad, a meme coin expert, wasn’t persuaded and didn’t believe meme currencies were concerned about the SEC or political winds. He retorted, “99% of memecoin buyers couldn’t care less about politics.”
According to him, the “persistently rising Global Money Supply” is far more responsible for the popularity of meme coins. Murad contends that a growing money supply means there will be more money available, which people would eventually invest in riskier commodities like meme coins.
He claimed that the majority of meme coin buyers are indifferent to genuine initiatives with “legit revenues” or fee swaps. Their sole purpose is to capture a moonshot. He says that if cryptocurrency moved toward initiatives that resemble equity trading—dividends, fees switches, all that serious finance stuff—it would actually kill a chunk of the market.
“No one comes to crypto because they want to trade equities,” Murad argued, saying people come here “to find Parabolas,” a.k.a. the wild price spikes meme coins offer.
With global money supply on the rise, he predicts “the importance of Attention will increasingly predominate over Fundamentals and Cashflows.” That road, Murad says, “only goes one way.”
And then there’s Kook, who gave no room for subtlety. He told Carter flat out, “you are wrong / see a doctor (cope overload).” According to Kook, meme coins are just “fast fun hyper gambling,” which he sees as a perfect fit for crypto. In his view, they’re the product-market fit (PMF) crypto’s been looking for, and regulation changes won’t stop that.
The harsh tactics of the SEC and the annoyance of cryptocurrency
Gary Gensler’s SEC has increased enforcement in the last year, especially in the wake of tragedies like the failures of the FTX and Terra. When determining what constitutes a security, the SEC mostly relies on the Howey Test.
The SEC seeks control if an asset includes individuals pooling funds in the hope of making money from the labors of others. The SEC hammered the major players hard with 46 enforcement actions pertaining to cryptocurrency this year alone, a 53% increase from 2022.
Ripple Labs’ XRP became embroiled in a back-and-forth that categorized it as a security when sold to institutions but not when offered to regular traders, and Coinbase and Binance were sued for allegedly operating unlicensed exchanges.
Additionally, Kraken was fined $30 million for providing an unlicensed staking program and was compelled to discontinue staking services for consumers in the United States.
Gensler has made it clear why he believes the crackdown is required. He claims that the current regulations are perfectly appropriate for this “new tech” and views cryptocurrency as a haven for fraud.
All of this is not being taken lightly by the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses and advocacy organizations are retaliating by suing to restrict the SEC’s authority.
The Texas-based Crypto Freedom Alliance has beenat the forefront, arguing that certain digital assets aren’t securities at all, hoping to set legal precedents that curb the SEC’s reach.
Industry leaders like Brian Armstrong, Brad Garlinghouse, and the Winklevoss twins are demanding clear legislation to replace the current guessing game of SEC enforcement. They argue that a legal framework is the only way forward, not surprise crackdowns that make up the rules as they go.
