The Viability of Coins for Creators: A Critical Perspective by Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has raised significant questions about the viability of creator coins as a sustainable economic model. Rather than outright dismissing the concept, Buterin identifies the real challenge facing this ecosystem: the need to filter and select high-quality content, beyond simply incentivizing excessive creation.

The Real Issue: Curation over Quantity

According to reports from NS3.AI, Buterin argues that the traditional approach of creator coins makes a fundamental mistake: confusing volume with value. The growing concern is not just whether these coins work, but how to ensure they reward the best creators rather than just favor those who produce more content. For this reason, Buterin highlights the model implemented by Substack, which uses curated and actively supervised methods to support quality creators.

A Structured Proposal: DAOs and Prediction Markets

To address these viability limitations, Buterin proposes an alternative architecture based on two pillars. First, he suggests creating small decentralized DAOs without token issuance, whose role is to select and validate the most promising creators. Second, he reimagines creator coins not as traditional speculative assets, but as prediction instruments that reflect the future potential of creative content.

This approach fundamentally transforms how success is conceived in the creator economy, prioritizing rigorous evaluation over uninformed speculation.