Vitalik Buterin sketches a creator coin model built around curated DAOs

Creator tokens have repeatedly struggled because hype and short-term trading dominate price moves, and there is no consistent way to evaluate a creators work across platforms.

In a recent post on X, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out a structure that treats curation as the scarce resource and turns token trading into a signal around who deserves distribution and revenue.

The model starts with creators launching tokens, then applying to join a “creator DAO” that acts like a selective label. Members vote on which creators or content get accepted. Traders can participate by buying contracts tied to those decisions, with prices reflecting the crowd’s expectations about which applications will pass.

Once a creator is accepted, the DAO can use its funds to buy back and burn that creator’s tokens. The mechanism links attention and membership to a supply reduction that can support price. It also gives speculators a clear job: stay profitable by predicting DAO choices, which pushes them to find creators worth backing early.

Buterin framed the current creator-coin landscape as one where popularity dominates discovery. He pointed to platforms such as BitClout and Zora, where top creator coins often belong to celebrities or people with high social status. That dynamic can leave smaller creators competing against fame instead of competing on work.

He also referenced SocialFi cycles that burn hot and cool quickly. Friend.tech, a Base-based app that sold access “keys” to private chats, drew criticism as prices became detached from content value, and it shut down in September 2024 after activity fell and its token slid sharply.

Buterin also emphasized that creator DAOs should pick a lane. A group can focus on a specific format, audience, country, or political niche. The idea is to build a recognizable brand and bargaining power, while keeping decision-making tractable.

Buterin turned 32 on Jan. 31, with the milestone marked publicly by his father, Dmitry Buterin, who recalled late-night family conversations that fed into early Ethereum drafts as the network approaches its 11th year.