DED or PINK? Looks like meme season’s kicking off in the Polkadot world, huh?
Have you noticed a mysterious force brewing recently in the Polkadot ecosystem?
Indeed, two meme coins within the Polkadot community are “sneakily evolving,” and have already started creating a buzz in the Crypto circles on Twitter.
Essentially, meme coins are crypto coins with a nonsensical cultural twist.
Meme coins usually don’t emphasize technical development or practical applications. Instead, they gain popularity through humorous memes and jokes, like Dogecoin, the “leader” in the meme world, recognized from its Shiba Inu mascot frequently seen in memes.
A key characteristic of meme coins is that they are typically born out of communities, driven by community members, and quickly gain attention through viral spread.
Recently, explosive meme coins have emerged in various blockchain ecosystems, like Bonk and Silly (Silly Dragon) in the Solana community, Coq Inu in Avalanche, and the newly born but already popular Porygon in the Polygon ecosystem.
Compared to these, the Polkadot ecosystem has always lacked a highly viral meme coin. However, that might change soon.
Two new meme coins, PINK and DED, have recently appeared in the Polkadot ecosystem. The Polkadot meme season might indeed be upon us.
Before officially introducing these two, let’s have a fun quiz: Can you guess which community released these two images?
PINK
PINK takes a sassy approach.
Named “PINK,” it represents the iconic Barbie pink of the Polkadot ecosystem, with a logo featuring a pink bow.
Its slogan is “Less tech, more PINK,” a playful take on Gavin Wood’s famous “Less trust, more truth.”
PINK’s philosophy is to attract attention to the Polkadot ecosystem first with simple narratives and fun memes, rather than bombarding with technical jargon like Coretime, Asynchronous Backing, and OpenGov.
Besides creating various memes, another key way PINK engages the community is through the PINKDROP game.
PINK has launched a web-based mini-game called PINKDROP, which can be played by connecting an EVM wallet (hinting that PINK might later be deployed on one of Polkadot’s EVM-compatible chains, perhaps Moonbeam?).
The game involves matching logos of Polkadot and its parachains in a classic “match and merge” style. When two identical logos touch, they combine into a larger one. I tried it out and have to admit, it’s surprisingly addictive.
Playing PINKDROP is currently the main way to participate in the PINK community, with future PINK Airdrops based on the game’s high scores.
In just a week since its launch, PINKDROP has already attracted 2,677 players, with a total of 37,551 games played, and the highest score recorded at 4,440 points.
PINKDROP game details:
- Game link: https://dotispink.xyz/game.html
- Duration: At least four weeks
- Scoring: Based on each wallet’s highest game score record, not cumulative total scores
- Airdrop proportion: The first and largest round of PINK Airdrops will go to PINKDROP players. The more players, the larger the Airdrop, encouraging more friends to join.
- Extra rewards: Post your game score screenshots on Twitter and tag @pinkonomic. This is a retrospective reward added after the end of the PINKDROP event.
- Special OG benefits: Extra bonuses for posting videos of playing the game on Twitter and tagging @pinkonomic.
PINK’s official Twitter mentioned that to prepare for the community activities in 2024, all 2,300,001,221 PINKs have been minted on the Polkadot Asset Hub, a system parachain.
DED
If PINK is about sass, DED embraces a “funereal” vibe.
DED, phonetically “Dead,” features a logo with a dead pink bird and the slogan “Polkadot is DED.”
They even wrote a “eulogy” for Polkadot.
Of course, DED isn’t genuinely pessimistic about Polkadot. It’s an expression of self-mockery in the community, aimed at drawing more attention to Polkadot.
As @0xtherealbatman mentioned on Twitter, “Statements like ‘Polkadot is dead’ are not uncommon on Twitter and Reddit. The technical complexity of Polkadot hinders regular users from utilizing DeFi apps in the ecosystem. Misunderstood and unfairly criticized, Polkadot doesn’t deserve this.”
DED originated from a few people in the Polkadot community and grew in a Telegram group, where community discussions gradually refined DED’s narrative and direction.
According to the DED website, DED plans to distribute airdrops proportionally to DOT holders.
Holding DOT in self-custody wallets (including but not limited to SubWallet, Talisman, NovaWallet, Polkadot.js, etc.), or in native staking (including direct nominations and joining nomination pools), qualifies for the DED airdrop.
Additionally, DOT staked for liquidity through Bifrost will also receive airdrops. The DED community is also communicating with other liquidity protocols in the Polkadot ecosystem to support airdrops for their staking users.
Several Polkadot ecosystem projects have tweeted about integrating DED after its launch, including SubWallet, Talisman, NovaWallet, Bifrost, and StellaSwap.
DED also plans to launch NFTs based on its iconic twin birds.
Yesterday, a marketing agency called Lunar Strategy initiated Referendum #385 in Polkadot OpenGov. They proposed a marketing plan to promote DED, including influencer promotion, PR, and marketing strategies, seeking 91,557 DOT from the Polkadot treasury. The referendum currently has low support, and the DED community is mobilizing members to vote in favor.
Choosing to apply for marketing funds from the treasury instead of allocating a portion of DED’s circulation for marketing was decided after discussions between Lunar and the DED community. They believed this was the fairest approach, allowing maximum distribution of DED through Airdrops instead of reserving it for the “team.”
Conclusion
PINK and DED each have their unique community cultures, but they share a common goal: to break the technical and serious image of the Polkadot ecosystem and attract more attention in a humorous and fun way. Their emergence fills the gap of meme coins in the Polkadot ecosystem.
So, the question is, PINK or DED — which one will you pick?
About PolkaWorld
PolkaWorld is a Polkadot global community founded in 2019. We have gathered more than 50,000 Polkadot enthusiasts, and have always been committed to spreading Polkadot knowledge, training Substrate developers, and supporting Polkadot/Kusama ecosystem.
From 2019 to 2021, PolkaWorld was funded by the Web3 Foundation and worked alongside them to establish the Polkadot Chinese community. After June 2021, PolkaWorld collaborated with the Polkadot Treasury to establish an Open Social Contract, successfully passing 9 motions! Following the launch of OpenGov in July 2023, PolkaWorld continued its operations, having passed two referendums in a row, thereby continuing to contribute to the Polkadot community.
Twitter: @polkaworld_org.
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