What is a 'hype coin'?

Or space-bound and delicious, like AstroCake, which was described this way: “Created 5 minutes ago. SAFE.” Hype coins, as they’re known, sit squarely on the flashy, speculative end of the cryptocurrency business. Every day, dozens of them are created around the world by developers promising fortunes to would-be investors. It usually ends poorly.

Are hype coins a spectator sport?

Plus, hype coins have elements of a spectator sport. There’s a sense that the louder a coin’s fans shout — on social media, rather than in the stands — the richer they will get. Frenetically boosting a coin online is known as “shilling,” and everyone in the cryptosphere knows people who shilled one night and were flush the next morning.

Should a hype coin be a crash test dummy?

The point was to demonstrate that creating a hype coin doesn’t take expertise and that many are flimsy and dangerous. Idiot Coin would be a crash test dummy designed to underscore the wisdom of seatbelts. And while laws provide guardrails for these investments, they are mostly ignored. Developers operate with little oversight.