As memecoin traders continue to lose money, some crypto leaders are calling for social pressure as a deterrent against insider-driven scams. On Feb. 17, Paradigm researcher Samczsun floated the idea of a social solution to memecoins’ insider problem. The researcher stated that if people agree that insider-driven memecoins are detrimental, they could start by “formally ostracizing” the individuals involved in meme token scams. Samczsun suggested that this could make the potential benefits of one-time gains not worth the drawbacks of becoming “persona non grata” or unwelcome in the community.
Some community members supported this idea. One X user remarked that the community needs to start making a serious effort to hold individuals accountable or risk losing the industry altogether. Another community member expressed that this approach could be effective, adding that the Mango Markets exploiter Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg was first convicted in the “court of crypto social public opinion” before facing criminal charges.
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko stated that social layer “pitchforks” are problematic, as they react to an outcome rather than having predefined rules. He noted that it would be challenging for a memecoin to implement this, as the only way to do so would be to force users to have a social credit score and to reject coins with low score distributions. He further noted that while the community could ostracize a key opinion leader (KOL), the cabal behind the project would simply transition to a different KOL. 
Crypto trader Jordan Fish, known as “Cobie” on X, asserted that there is no way to “effectively socially shame the shameless.” Fish remarked that this phenomenon had been occurring even before the rise of memecoins. He stated that each time someone was shamed, they merely leveraged the attention and counter-accused. Fish pointed out that there are YouTubers who remain popular despite constant shaming. He wrote: “The only people I’ve ever seen shamed off this app were relatively credible individuals who made a mistake, or who didn’t need to use it to make money. The individuals who should be shamed off here already know what they are doing, and they have chosen that path.”
Meanwhile, DoubleZero co-founder and former Solana Foundation strategy lead Austin Federa mentioned that the social layer is effective at punishing sandwich attackers and poor products. However, he argued that it is nearly impossible to target scammers and influencers because these individuals are not part of the existing social layer.
The debate over memecoin fraud has intensified following high-profile political token scams. On Feb. 11, Chainalysis data revealed that over 800,000 crypto wallets lost $2 billion after purchasing the Donald Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, which has since fallen 80% from its peak of $72.60 on Jan. 19. A similar situation occurred with Argentina President Javier Milei’s LIBRA token. After Milei endorsed the token on X, its market capitalization surged to $4.5 billion before insiders cashed out over $100 million, leading to a significant decline in its value. The ongoing memecoin frenzy has reignited concerns about the integrity of the crypto market, with industry leaders divided on whether social accountability can effectively curb fraud or if stronger regulatory measures are necessary.