Axie Infinity and Ronin co-founder Jeff Zirlin stated that the use of revenues to compare the success of altcoins and memecoins is an “inductive fallacy,” as regulatory clarity still holds back these tokens’ potential.
Murad Mahmudov, a crypto trader and influencer who first gained recognition for his Bitcoin analysis, recently pivoted to memecoins. He recently claimed during his panel at Token2049 in Singapore that memecoins are more attractive than regular altcoins because the latter generate low revenue.
Zirlin, known as Jihoz on social media, argued that Murad’s prediction, which suggests that altcoin revenues will remain unattractive compared to meme coins, overgeneralizes the current market conditions and dismisses future potential.
He further criticized the thesis for glossing over Uniswap, which he believes is a “sleeping giant” that has shown remarkable growth over the past few years.
Uniswap as a proxy
According to data shared by Jihoz, Uniswap has experienced significant increases in trading volume, growing from $6.42 billion in 2021 to a staggering $383.01 billion projected for 2024.
He emphasized that if Uniswap had activated its fee switch mechanism, the DEX could have accumulated $314 million in its treasury, which is governed by token holders.
This capital could then be used for a buyback and burn of approximately 43 million UNI tokens, a move that could substantially impact the circulating supply on major exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.
According to Jihoz:
“While this will not happen today, it’s possible in the future. Especially as regulatory clarity enters the token market.”
Utility as a rally driver
Jihoz also pointed to the 2021 success of Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn platform, which generated over $1 billion in revenue.
He highlighted how the utility of the AXS token in the Axie “breeding” process caused a supply crunch that saw the token rise from $0.10 to $160 within a year, reaching a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $40 billion at its peak.
The token AXS plays a role in the “breeding” process of new Axies, the game’s assets needed to play battles. As more players interacted with Axie Infinity, AXS’ price jumped from $0.14 to nearly $165 in one year.
In his critique, Jihoz argued that Murad is ignoring past events like the Axie rally and the potential future of altcoins such as Uniswap. He added:
“He’s telling us what we already know, but markets are about predicting where the puck is going rather than summarizing and acting on the present as if nothing will ever change.”
