As so-called “memecoins” have caught the attention of the wider crypto industry in recent weeks, a viral video has surfaced describing how easy it is for anyone with an internet connection to create a brand new cryptocurrency from scratch.
May 6 video by digital artist Johnny Shankman – who walks around @whitelights.eth on Twitter — showing him completing a “speedrun” of creating and deploying a brand new token, jokingly called “EASY_MONEY,” in just 27 seconds. The record was broken just one day later, reaching a time of 22.45 seconds.
The term “speed run” originates from the gaming community and is usually used in reference to completing a game or level in a game as quickly as possible.
Memecoin deploy% speedrun 27s ⏱️ pic.twitter.com/OYaXGb5ITR
— whitelights.eth ⌖ () (@iamwhitelights) May 5, 2023
In the now-viral video, Shankman shows how any user can quickly create a new token using a program called Guide to Contracts, created by crypto cybersecurity firm OpenZeppelin. The Contacts Wizard generates the code for the ERC-20 token with a few quick clicks of the cursor. In the program, users can choose a number of potential functions for their token.
After creating the code, Shankman uses an application called Remix, which compiles the token’s smart contract and deploys it to the given blockchain network. In the video, Shankman decided to deploy his EASY_MONEY (EZ) token on the Ethereum testnet.
In the comments section, he notes that the video was “for educational purposes only” and clarifies that the deployment of EASY_MONEY on the Ethereum testnet is not an actual token to speculate on.
Notably, Shankman’s video was picked up by several major Crypto Twitter accounts and was reposted by people like @Loopifyyywhich has now seen the video gain over 3 million views across a number of different accounts.
The viral popularity of Shankman’s post comes at a time when “shitcoins” have drastically gained popularity throughout the broader crypto ecosystem. The the recent memecoin boomwas largely led by a “completely useless” frog-themed token called Pepe, who saw his value in an increase of over 5000% since its inception on April 14.
In a follow-up comment, Shankman pointed out that someone had actually created a token with the same name as his explainer, but revealed that “it didn’t work out” and he “wouldn’t buy it.”
Less than 24 hours later, a new video surfaced from another Twitter account showing the same process being completed in just 22.45 seconds, setting a new unofficial record for the speed at which memecoins run.
% deploy memecoin speedrun (skip carpet, skip autofill) 22.45s (WR)⏱️ @iamwhitelights pic.twitter.com/LDOsfbYNV4
— (@0xdiid) May 6, 2023
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