Anatoly Yakovenko Compares Meme Coins and NFTs to Loot Boxes, Faces Backlash

Anatoly Yakovenko, one of the co-founders of Solana , described meme coins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as "digital slop", even though Solana has seen growth from these assets.

His comment was made during a July 27 discussion on X with the creator of Base, Jesse Pollak, who argued that digital content, such as NFTs, can hold value in the same way as physical art.

Pollak compared NFTs to paintings in a museum. He said the artwork remains valuable regardless of whether people pay to see it.

However, Yakovenko stated that meme coins and NFTs only gain value through market demand, rather than anything they offer on their own.

To make his point, he compared these tokens to loot boxes in mobile games. Loot boxes are common in free-to-play mobile games and often encourage users to spend repeatedly without knowing what they will receive.

Yakovenko admitted that without meme coins, Solana might not be as successful, but he added that Apple also relies on in-app purchases, such as loot boxes, for revenue.