Vitalik Buterin Proposes DAO Model to Fix Creator Coins

• Vitalik says AI driven content abundance broke creator tokens by rewarding output volume, speculation, and social status over merit.

• He points to Substack as proof that curation and early judgment, not open markets alone, surface high quality creators.

• Buterin proposes small DAOs that curate creators and burn tokens on approval, turning traders into quality filters.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined a new framework for creator coins, shifting focus from volume to quality. He shared the proposal addressing crypto’s decade-long struggle with creator incentives. According to Buterin, unlimited content supply, driven by AI, has exposed deep flaws in token-based creator economies.

Why Past Creator Token Models Fell Short

Buterin said crypto platforms have tried creator incentives for nearly ten years. Early efforts included Bihu and Steemit, followed later by BitClout, Zora, and SocialFi tools. However, he said none solved the core issue.

Notably, content scarcity no longer exists. AI can now generate massive volumes at minimal cost. As a result, systems that reward output increase noise rather than value. Buterin said quality discovery, not production, remains the real challenge.

He added that creator coin rankings usually reflect social status, not merit. On BitClout and Zora, top tokens often belong to celebrities. Meanwhile, new creators struggle to gain visibility based on content alone. Speculation, rather than usefulness, has driven prices.

Friend.tech followed a similar pattern. The Base-based SocialFi app linked access to tradable keys. Prices surged, yet usage fell. The platform shut down in September 2024 after activity collapsed and its token lost about 95%.

Substack as a Reference Point

Buterin pointed to Substack as the strongest real-world example of creator incentives. He said the platform consistently surfaces high-quality writers. Many would not have gained visibility without Substack’s structure.

Importantly, Substack did not rely on open markets alone. Instead, it actively curated creators during launch. It also offered revenue guarantees to selected writers. This hands-on approach shaped standards early and encouraged pluralism.

According to Buterin, creator coin platforms lacked this layer of judgment. They set mechanisms and stepped back. As a result, speculation replaced curation.

DAO-Based Curation With Token Burns

To address this, Buterin proposed small, opinionated creator DAOs. These groups would not use governance tokens. Members would vote anonymously to admit or remove creators. Each DAO would remain under roughly 200 members, splitting if needed.

Anyone could still launch a creator coin. However, DAO admission would change incentives. Once accepted, part of a creator’s DAO revenue would burn their tokens. Supply would fall as approval increased.

In this structure, speculators predict which creators DAOs will accept. According to Buterin, this turns traders into filters. Final decisions remain with creators, not markets.