Most memes have returned to zero. Why is Iggy Azalea's $MOTHER successful?

Author: TPAN; Compiler: TechFlow

Today's article focuses on the controversial memecoin $MOTHER in the past week. By analyzing Iggy Azalea's strategy, we may be able to learn something from it, or maybe just maybe, there is more to explore about $MOTHER. This article details the current status of celebrity coins and how Iggy Azalea made her memecoin MOTHER stand out through her continued investment in the project.

What are celebrity coins and MOTHER?

Celebrities have been involved in cryptocurrency and Web3 for a long time, and are often associated with scams and "runaway" events. When NFTs became popular a few years ago, many celebrities jumped at the chance but failed to commit consistently, and now they are barely involved in the NFT space. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo's NFT collection, which was exclusively released on Binance, only sold for $9,000 as of yesterday.

As NFTs fell out of favor, memecoin quickly filled the gap. With tools like pump.fun, anyone can easily issue memecoin. Naturally, celebrities have also jumped at the opportunity to make a quick profit.

Over the past week and a half, we've seen a wave of celebrities enter:

• Caitlyn Jenner (May 26)

• Rich The Kid (May 27)

• Iggy Azalea (May 28)

• Moneybagg Yo (post has been deleted)

• Lil Pump (May 29, post deleted)

• Trippie Redd (May 29, post deleted)

• Davido (May 29)

So, how did they perform?

Iggy’s MOTHER coin is an exception, with a market cap of $191 million as of this writing.

Wait, who is Iggy Azalea?

Iggy Azalea is everyone’s favorite Australian female rapper from the 2010s, with hit singles like “Fancy” and “Black Widow.”

Why have other celebrity coins underperformed, while MOTHER has steadily risen over the same time frame?

The simple answer is: she stayed committed to the project.

Almost all of these celebrities have given away their tokens (on the way to selling them and making 6-7 figures), many quitting within the first day.

I know it’s ridiculous to call a celebrity who launches a memecoin that lasts for 10 days “committed.” Most New Year’s resolutions last longer than 10 days, haha. But in a world where we often see things in absolute terms, this is actually (sadly?) impressive in relative terms. That can’t be ignored.

How does Iggy stay committed to this space?

Just a reminder: we’re talking in relative terms, Iggy is new to the scene.

Iggy's X account is focused on MOTHER

Looking at her X account, it is all about MOTHER and has deleted all posts before May 29th, the day of the token launch. Sounds simple, but remember she has 7.6 million followers and has posted 2,245 posts about MOTHER (including retweets, quotes, etc.).

Directing her traffic to CelebrityCoin

While X is the main focus because it fits with the audience, Iggy also placed a link to MOTHER's Telegram channel on her Instagram and paused her OnlyFans, telling fans to go to the Telegram channel.

(By the way, she’s one of the highest-earning OnlyFans creators, that’s awesome)

Interacting with the community

Iggy appears in Spaces in multiple communities. I happened to listen to one (starting at minute 12) and I have to admit, she seems really genuine. Here are some highlights:

• She learned more about crypto and Web3 from her business manager, but wondered “what’s more to it?”

• By onboarding her friends, she shared some valuable insights on friction points. If you’re building a consumer wallet or exchange product, this might be a point worth doubling down on:

• How do I buy Solana?

• What is slippage?

• She plans to work with bigger celebrities through her manager

• She wants to focus on other revenue streams besides selling tokens, as selling is unsustainable

• Two non-crypto projects (mobile web and digital gifting/crowdfunding) will be launched in the coming weeks, both of which will integrate crypto payments, including MOTHER

• She grew up in a digital world, coming home every lunchtime to chat online and browse music forums

• Plans to attend Solana Breakpoint

In Telegram chats, Iggy frequently interacts with the community and replies via voice messages.

She will also appear on the Threadguy podcast released tomorrow.

Exploiting bad actors among peers

Last week, Iggy launched an initiative to destroy some of her own tokens if celebrities sell their memecoins. Earlier today, Hulk Hogan became a new member of this club, which means one thing:

Proof of Burn Transactions

This initiative turned a completely negative event into something that has a positive impact on different communities. Try to make the best of a bad situation, right?

The results are not yet revealed

With the large number of low-quality celebrity coin scams emerging, they should naturally be viewed with suspicion. Both Vitalik and Hayden Adams have spoken out against this latest trend, and I agree with them.

Interestingly, Iggy has just launched the MOTHER website, and the goods can only be purchased with MOTHER. This is one of many steps to move things in the better direction that Vitalik said.

Can Iggy and MOTHER break the trend of celebrity coins? It's only been 10 days, time will tell the answer.