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As so-called “memecoins” have caught the attention of the wider cryptocurrency industry in recent weeks, a viral video has surfaced detailing how easy it is for anyone with an internet connection to create an entirely new cryptocurrency from scratch.
A May 6 video from digital artist Johnny Shankman, who uses @whitelights.eth on Twitter, shows him completing a “fast walk” to create and deploy a brand new token, jokingly named “EASY_MONEY”, in just 27 seconds. The record was broken just a day later, showing 22.45 seconds.
The term “speedrun” comes from the gaming community and is generally 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 video, which has gone viral, Shankman shows how any user can quickly create a new token using the Contracts Wizard program, created by cryptocurrency cybersecurity firm OpenZeppelin. The Contact Wizard tool generates code for an ERC-20 token with a few quick cursor clicks. In the program, users can select a range of potential features for their token.
After generating the code, Shenkman uses an application called Remix that compiles the smart contract of the token and deploys it on the given blockchain network. In the video, Shankman chooses 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 a real token that can be speculated on.
Notably, Shankman’s video was picked up by several large cryptocurrency Twitter accounts and was posted by people like @Loopifyyy who have now seen the video reach over 3 million views on several different accounts.
The viral popularity of Shankman’s post came at a time when “shitcoins” were skyrocketing in popularity throughout the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem. The recent memcoin boom was largely fueled by a “completely worthless” frog-themed token called Pepe, which has surged in value over 5,000% since its inception on April 14th.
In a follow-up comment, Shenkman pointed out that someone actually created a token with the same name as his explainer, but revealed that he “didn’t make it” and “won’t buy it.”
Less than 24 hours later, a new video surfaced from another Twitter account showing the same process completing in just 22.45 seconds, setting a new unofficial memcoin traversal speed record.
memecoin deploy% speedrun (rug skip, autocomplete skip) 22.45s (WR)⏱️ @iamwhitelights pic.twitter.com/LDOsfbYNV4
— (@0xdiid) May 6, 2023
