Anti-SEC ‘CultureCoin’ Emerges Amid Regulatory Crackdown

A small collective of local individuals have united to launch a decentralized memecoin named NotWifGary (NWG). This initiative is designed to challenge the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and support the Ethereum network. The creation comes in the wake of increasing regulatory scrutiny over the crypto landscape.

Despite some members of the NWG project having experience within the zkEVM ecosystem Linea, the project’s founder, Marco Monaco, clarified that NWG is not affiliated with Linea or Consensys. On May 15, Monaco emphasized his personal involvement, stating that the project is driven solely by his individual efforts and not connected to his professional role at Linea. While attempts were made to reach Marco Monaco for further comment, responses were not received before this article was completed.

Monaco stated that his involvement is entirely personal and unrelated to his official position at Linea. He assured that the project operates independently of Linea or Consensys, even though NWG stands in solidarity with similar entities against the SEC. He acknowledged the contribution of 11 “brave friends” in the project, attributing its initiation to the “regulatory uncertainty” affecting Ethereum.

An announcement was made by the official NWG project on May 15, expressing its aim to resist Gary Gensler and the SEC’s perceived unlawful threats to digital property. The memecoin, NotWifGary ($NWG), seeks to become a CultureCoin that will be introduced in a highly decentralized manner, ensuring a fair and transparent launch.

The 12 supporters of the $NWG project have fully disclosed their identities. All token allocations will be placed into a single pool for public access. According to the project’s website, the memecoin will be launched as an ERC20 token on Linea, managed via a multisig wallet involving the original project supporters.

Although the NWG project has not yet been launched, plans are in place to bootstrap its liquidity pool (LP) through community contributions. This approach is intended to guarantee the token’s sufficient decentralization and equitable launch. Importantly, contributors will not receive $NWG tokens in exchange for their donations. Instead, they will be rewarded with the “$NWG Launch Team” SBT as a symbol of their involvement.

The SEC’s recent regulatory actions have not gone unnoticed. On May 4, Robinhood, a prominent crypto company, received a Wells Notice from the SEC. Shortly after, on May 10, another high-profile company, Exodus, experienced delays in its NYSE listing due to similar regulatory pressures.

On May 15, Democratic Party Representative Wiley Nickel criticized the SEC’s actions, suggesting that they were politicizing the crypto issue and unnecessarily compelling President Biden to take a stance. Nickel’s remarks came in response to the proposed Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 rule, which requires SEC-reporting entities to classify custodied crypto as liabilities on their balance sheets.

The sentiments expressed by the NWG project and its founders reflect a broader frustration within the crypto community over increasing regulations. Their stance underscores a growing desire among many in the industry to protect the principles of decentralization and open-source development as they navigate an uncertain regulatory environment.