Gay coins on the new internet
Gay coins on the new internet
Don’t bet your bottom’s dollar on MariCoin — the first LGBTQ cryptocurrency
Thanks for logging on to Queer Computer. In this inaugural issue of the newsletter, I’d like to set the record gay and give you my candid opinion on this so called ‘new internet’, the latest iteration of the World Wide Web known as Web 3.0. From the metaverse, virtual reality and augmented reality, to decentralisation, cryptocurrency and NFTs, it’s pretty fucking exhausting. Over the last ten years there’s been this persistent promise that these ventures are going to radically change our lives for the better but so far all we’ve got is Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton flogging badly drawn apes for millions of dollars.
Still, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I somewhat believe in the promise of the new internet. Yes, I’m incredibly sceptical and yes, you should be too … but Queer Computer exists within the potentiality of this promise. We are at a tipping point of a new internet, and everyone wants in. With big companies like Facebook grasping at virtual straws to stay relevant in an increasingly cynical and fragmented market, the internet is for the taking and we’re standing on the edge of a shitly rendered 3D cliff overlooking a new world order, in PlayStation 2 graphics. This is a rat race to the moon and I’m betting on queers to get us there. So, without any further speculation, come with me on this gay af journey through the good, the bad and the downright ugly of the queer internet.
Don’t bet your bottom’s dollar on MariCoin
It was only a matter of time before we got our ‘first LGBTQ cryptocurrency’ and here it is: MariCoin. (Yes, it’s a play on the Spanish slur ‘maricón’, meaning ‘faggot’.) These fag-bucks were recently available through a now-closed google forms waiting list, but if you want in, the plan is to trade on major crypto exchanges this coming March, along with some vague, if not ominous plan of going ‘international’ at WorldPride. The coin was started by hairdresser Juan Belmonte and to be honest, until recently I wasn’t taking it very seriously because the only official documentation I could find was this manifesto in the form of an acrostic poem. As they’ve translated this for an English-speaking market, the fabulous poetics of acrostic have been lost:
We vindicate the spirit of Stonewall and the right to be whoever you want to be and to love whoever you want to love.
We invite all the LGBT collective and all those people who agree with its purpose, to be part of the “Maricoiner” community.
The evocation of the ‘spirit of Stonewall’ while simultaneously targeting a minority group to invest in a crypto fund that promises to make its founders at least 50 million dollars within two years is somewhat ludicrous, yet nothing new. Corporations bank on the buying power of the ‘pink economy’ every year during Pride seasons, releasing their shoes, t-shirts and even bank cards featuring the ever-innocuous rainbow flag. All you have to do is look at MariCoin’s White Paper to see that they’re one and the same — stressing the economic disadvantage of belonging to the LGBTQ+ community whilst stating the ‘enormous potential’ of the pink economy and its global purchasing power.
And while MariCoin claims to be ‘the first cryptocurrency built for and by the LGBT community’, this concept was already approached 5 years ago by LGBT Token — which itself stopped posting any news in early 2020. It’s not the first cryptocurrency to fade into obscurity and I’m betting it’s not the last. Notably, MariCoin isn’t technically a cryptocurrency — it’s a token built on top of the Algorand blockchain. It’s comparable to an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain (if that makes any sense to you). There has been 10 billion MariCoin tokens mined, and unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, or even fiat currencies, no more can be produced — it’s a finite resource. Nothing screams levelling the financial inequality of the LGBTQ+ community quite like a finite resource.
No amount of pinkwashing can hide the fact that this is merely an act of assimilation into an already broken capitalist system. Though MariCoin, and similar enterprises, will have you believe that cryptocurrencies are inherently democratising because of their ‘decentralised and transparent nature’, the entry level into any cryptocurrency is decided by your socioeconomic position, because alas, it’s value is pegged to the American dollar, and with that, everything that comes with American imperialism.
To finally add some legitimacy to the much-derided project, MariCoin has been picked up by the Algorand Miami Accelerator, a 2-week mentorship program that financially backs and supports the scaling of projects on the blockchain. Demo day for the program is this 25th February, so I’ll update you if there’s anything of interest. I’m guessing they’ll just reiterate their roadmap for the next two years, which includes releasing limited edition NFTs in June and launching the MariVerse in February 2023. Unfortunately, they too will be creating their own metaverse, alongside Facebook and Microsoft. From the released roadmap it appears they have 6 increasingly bleak islands planned for their version of the metaverse:
1. Artists’ island
2. Music island
3. Business island
4. Island of amusement parks
5. Commercial island
6. Play to earn island
Finally, a place for queers to gamble. It’s about damn time!
Queer Computer Island
Thanks for bearing with my cynicism this issue, I needed to get it out of my system. If you wanted to share your thoughts on MariCoin, both good and bad, I would love to hear them.
The coming issues will feature some very promising queer internet projects so if this wasn’t your jam then maybe that’ll be.
Logging off.