Key Takeaways:
- WEN is a cat meme coin based on a fractional NFT of a poem penned by @weremeow entitled ‘A Love Letter to Wen Bros’.
- WEN was created by splitting the NFT into a trillion pieces trading as regular tokens on the Solana blockchain.
- The Wen Foundation distributed 70% of WEN tokens via airdrop and 20% to a liquidity pool, with the remaining 10% held in strategic reserve.
- WEN acts as a Proof of Concept for the Wen New Standard (WNS): an open-source NFT standard developed by The Wen Foundation.
- The Wen Foundation actively burns WEN, reducing its supply over time.
What Is Wen?
Founded by The Wen Foundation, WEN is a cat meme and community coin created by splitting a non-fungible token (NFT) into a trillion pieces. The original NFT is a poem titled ‘A Love Letter to Wen Bros’ written by @weremeow. Each piece trades as a standard token on the Solana blockchain, representing proportional ownership of the poem.
The Wen Foundation is an organisation dedicated to giving back to the Solana community by supporting the development of public goods and amplifying the message of what is only possible with Solana. The term ‘Wen’ is slang in the crypto community, with popular sayings like the ‘Wen Lambo?’ meme. The token’s developers state, “Wen means you are wanted, wen means people are interested in what you’re doing. If you’re not getting wens, you’re probably doing something wrong.”
The Wen Foundation created WEN using the Wen New Standard (WNS), an interface for building NFTs with token extensions without relying on third parties. Instead, the majority of functionality derives from foundational Solana code. ‘A Love Letter to Wen Bros’ was the first NFT created using WNS and aims to “push the limits of Solana.”
Wen’s white paper states that the cat aspect exists because “cat coins are an extremely underserved niche in the market that has massive potential.” The Wen team’s marketing materials consistently refer to its cat as the “cutest cat,” and The Wen Foundation partnered with TOYMAK3RS to create a line of plushies celebrating the mascot.
How Does WEN Work? (And Why Some in the Solana Community Are Excited About It)
Although created from an NFT, WEN is fungible like a fiat currency or Bitcoin. It uses the Solana blockchain, so it has the same basic functionality as Solana; users can buy and sell tokens, and transactions are stored on a decentralised public ledger. WEN tokens do not have numbers and do not correspond to specific pieces of the poem. Similarly, trading one WEN token for another does not result in gaining or losing value.
Many in the Solana community embrace WEN because The Wen Foundation is committed to Solana, as WEN was created to highlight the functionality of Solana’s blockchain. The development team also created a Wen Validator and wenSOL, which represents SOL staked to the Wen Validator.
Tokenomics and Governance of WEN
WEN launched with a total of one trillion tokens. Of these, the team earmarked 70% for airdrops to the Solana community, stored 20% in a liquidity pool, and held 10% in a treasury. However, the development team burned 272 billion tokens slated for airdrops instead, permanently reducing supply. WEN’s circulating supply is over 720 billion, and more than a quarter of the original trillion tokens have been burned.
The Wen Foundation governs WEN and acts as a central authority while maintaining it as a decentralised finance (DeFi) project. The foundation is committed to decentralisation and plans to announce a governance programme in the future.
What Does 2024 Hold for WEN?
WEN reached an all-time high (ATH) of $0.0005105 on 27 March 2024 amid the March 2024 meme coin boom. Meme coin popularity has increased the past few months, and WEN maintains visibility by being available on trustworthy platforms like Crypto.com.
Crypto traders may consider WEN a deflationary asset because of its decreasing supply, which gives it the potential for price upside. The Solana Foundation supports the project, and a trustworthy development group backs it, along with a comprehensive white paper. However, it’s impossible to say with certainty that WEN will appreciate in value.
As a meme coin, WEN may be more volatile than other crypto assets. Unforeseen macroeconomic factors and broader cryptocurrency market trends may dramatically affect its price. Similarly, The Wen Foundation seems to hold as much interest in Solana as WEN, and scarcity alone doesn’t guarantee value.
How to Purchase WEN on Crypto.com
Traders can quickly and easily buy WEN in the Crypto.com App. To start, simply download the free App on a favourite device, where it guides users through a simple sign-up process. After that, users need to fund their account.
Funding the account instantly is possible using a debit card, credit card, or Apple Pay, while choosing a bank account might result in a few days’ wait. Once the account is funded, users can immediately buy WEN and more than 250 other cryptocurrencies.
Conclusion
WEN combines the meme appeal of a cute cat mascot with a strong development team and mission. The project clearly outlines its goals in its white paper, and the token’s supply should decrease substantially moving forward. However, the developers may have more interest in supporting Solana long-term, and interest in meme coins can prove fleeting.
When buying any cryptocurrency, it comes down to risk tolerance and goals, and that’s especially true for community tokens like WEN, which lack the price history of the big names. Always remember that crypto traders should never put more funds into virtual currencies than they can afford to lose.
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