HOTMOM, DOOD, IKUN. These handles are hot right now across the Solana ecosystem, delivering wealth and fellowship. HOTMOM, the meme coin darling HOTMOM, the NFT project token IKUN, drawing whales like moths to a flame. The numbers are impressive: millions in market cap, thousands of holders, and enough daily transaction volume to make your head spin. Let's cut the crap. These tokens truly democratizing finance, or is this just another vehicle through which those who are already rich can become richer.

HOTMOM Mania: Who Really Profits?

HOTMOM. Just the name, enough to make people’s eyebrows raise. A meme coin that’s cashing in on the trend of virality, driven by influencers and get-rich-quick schemes. 52,000 daily transactions? $8.7 million in trading volume? Impressive, sure. At the end of the day, who’s really cashing in on this industry-wide frenzy? Is it well-intentioned Joe Sixpack who wants to buy a little extra profit on his next flip? Or are the threadguys, Crypto Ninjas and other influencers just using their influence to pump and dump?

Think about it. Meme coins are inherently volatile. They thrive on hype and speculation. Who bears the brunt when that bubble bursts? It’s not the whales. The whales can afford to take a bath on a few thousand dollars. It’s that retail investor, the guy who can’t afford to lose it all and invests his life savings in search of a big return. They’re the ones who are left holding the bag when the music stops. It's like musical chairs, but instead of a chair, you're fighting for financial survival. This isn’t awe, this is anxiety masquerading as opportunity.

DOOD: NFTs Get Tokenized. For Us?

Then DOOD, the official token of the Doodles NFT collection community, exploded on the scene. In only three days, it gained almost 160k holders! Another success story, right? Then, zoom in, and you find the same pattern starting to unfold. Whale accumulation. Between May 9th and May 12th, whale holdings of DOOD exploded from 69,202 tokens to 250 million tokens. That's not organic growth; that's strategic control.

This trend of NFT projects launching tokens is alarming. That certainly evokes the memories of the 2017 ICO craze. In those early days, every project and their dog started an ICO, each one claiming to offer revolutionary solutions. Of those projects, how many are still standing today? How many delivered on their promises? This isn’t past coming back to haunt us, this is history playing the same song, and that song is too often a mournful one.

Is DOOD really delivering tangible benefits for NFT holders? Or is this simply a ploy for the Doodles artists to milk additional profits from their existing fanbase? And what of the promise of widespread insider trading and market manipulation? Unrealistic speculation. Are we really to be expected to think that the playing field was level for all purchasers to acquire DOOD at the initial launch pad? Come on.

IKUN: Decentralized or Whale-Controlled?

More than $12 million market cap, almost 6,000 holders and an absolutely mind-blowing 112,265 transactions in one day. Yet on closer inspection, the old canard rears its head. Whales still are adding more IKUN, which implies that there is still confidence from large investors even now. Unipcs, the largest IKUN whale, holds 12.45 million tokens ($150,000 value).

So, let me get this straight. One individual holds about 63% of the total IKUN supply. How decentralized is that, really? This is not a community-directed initiative, this is a whale-ran establishment. And when that whale decides to sell, what then? The price plummets, and the little fish go to slaughter. This isn’t bliss, it’s a fear and greed-based shell game with the planet’s future.

Accra's Reality: Can We Afford This?

I'm writing this from Accra. Here, the exclusion from consistent public financial services is a regular fight for most people. The potential of easy wealth from crypto in general and especially from meme coins is just so alluring. It's incredibly dangerous. We’re talking about communities where financial literacy is low, and access to consistent and reliable information is even more scarce.

Targeting the promotion of extremely volatile crypto assets such as HOTMOM, DOOD and IKUN to susceptible people with little financial accountability is downright dangerous. It’s like giving a guy a lottery ticket when he can’t even buy meals for his kids. It's unfairness on steroids. What happens when these tokens crash? What happens when people lose their savings? The consequences can be devastating.

We need to ask ourselves: are we truly serving the needs of our communities, or are we simply exploiting them for our own financial gain? This is not a question of technological innovation, but rather, ethical responsibility.

Beyond the Hype: A Call for Caution

Look, I'm not a crypto hater. Yet I see tremendous opportunities for innovation and disruption. But I see the risks. The HOTMOM, DOOD, and IKUN projects can provide some laughs and money-making opportunities to a select few. But all they do is tinker around the edges of this country’s persistently bad issues like inequality and financial exclusion.

We should be demanding more regulation, more transparency and more social responsibility from the crypto ecosystem. It’s time to prioritize projects that solve acute pain points and drive greater financial inclusion. We can’t afford for us all to get eaten up by initiatives that only whale out influencers.

So, before you jump on the next hype train, ask yourself: who is really benefiting from this? And is it worth the risk? Like in all things crypto, like in all things life, skepticism is your best friend. If it seems too good to be true that’s because it is. It’s no longer about wonder, but it is about worry as well as the yearning for something brighter to come. Let’s build that future, prudently — but not at the expense of the most vulnerable among us.