A recent “speedrun” video demonstrates how anyone can create a completely new cryptocurrency in under 30 seconds.
A viral video has emerged explaining how simple it is for anyone with an internet connection to create a whole new cryptocurrency from scratch. Memecoins have recently caught the attention of the wider crypto industry.
Digital artist Johnny Shankman, also known as whitelights.eth on Twitter, created and deployed an entirely new token, jokingly called “EASY_MONEY,” in just 27 seconds in a “speedrun” on May 6. The record was then surpassed the next day with a time of 22.45 seconds.
The phrase “speed run” comes from the gaming world and refers to beating a level or game in the shortest amount of time feasible.
memecoin deploy% speedrun 27s ⏱️ pic.twitter.com/OYaXGb5ITR
— whitelights.eth ⌖ (🦇🔊) (@iamwhitelights) May 5, 2023
In the now-viral video, Shankman demonstrates how anyone can easily create a new token using the Contracts Wizard application developed by the cryptocurrency cybersecurity company OpenZeppelin. With a few quick cursor clicks, the Contacts Wizard tool generates code for an ERC-20 token. Users can choose from a variety of possible attributes for their token on the software.
In order to deploy the token’s smart contract on a certain blockchain network after the code has been written, Shankman uses a program called Remix. In the video, Shankman chooses to use the Ethereum testnet to distribute his EASY_MONEY (EZ) coin.
He clarifies in the comments that the video was “for educational purposes only” and that by setting up EASY_MONEY on the Ethereum testnet, it is not a valid token to be traded.
Notably, Shankman’s video was reposted by prominent accounts on Crypto Twitter, like Loopifyyy, who has since helped the video amass more than 3 million views across numerous accounts.
Shankman’s post went viral at a time when “shitcoins” have experienced a sharp increase in popularity across the whole crypto sector. An “entirely useless” frog-themed currency called Pepe, whose value has increased by more than 5,000% since its launch on April 14, has played a major role in the recent memecoin craze.
After pointing out that someone had already made a token with the same name as his explainer, Shankman revealed that he “did not make it” and that he would “not be buying it.”
A subsequent video from another Twitter account that showed the same procedure completed in just 22.45 seconds set a new unofficial memecoin speedrun record less than 24 hours later.
memecoin deploy% speedrun (rug skip, autocomplete skip) 22.45s (WR)⏱️ @iamwhitelights pic.twitter.com/LDOsfbYNV4
— diid (@0xdiid) May 6, 2023
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