• As NFTs cool and markets reset, a new thesis is taking shape: that meme coins, creator tokens and prediction markets are converging into a measurable asset class built on attention flows.
• By blending blockchain tooling with prediction markets and institutional infrastructure, experts think raw cultural interest could soon become a tradable market. 

Crypto's having one of its periodic wobbles. Prices are shaky, liquidity's thinning, and sentiment is drifting toward fear. Historically, it’s the kind of moment when smart investors start looking for the next structural shift. One of the more intriguing ideas is attention assets: financial primitives that derive their value from cultural heat, not cash flows. 

If the concept sounds familiar, it is. Web3 thinkers have spent years talking about the attention economy – though usually in the context of creator monetization and social tokens. Attention assets are something altogether new, investable instruments whose price directly reflects the intensity, direction, or volatility of public attention. 

What Are Attention Assets? 

The closest analogues already exist: NFTs, memecoins, and SocialFi assets. Their prices move with hype cycles and cultural momentum, but they suffer from a structural problem: they capture attention-adjacency, not attention itself. They're proxies. 

A formal attention-asset class would aim to model, index, and trade attention as a measurable quantity, not just vibes. Think exposure to "Taylor Swift attention," "Trump attention," "AI attention," or "Bitcoin Price attention." If attention drives value in culture, markets, and technology, then investors should be able to trade it directly – or so the thinking goes. 

Li Jin, Co-founder of crypto VC firm Variant Fund, says attention assets could capture and measure that transitory value in real time.  

"In Web3, everyone in the value chain can benefit from being owners of attention assets, whether they originated the object of attention or merely paid attention early." 

From Intangible to Tradable 

The argument for formalizing a new attention asset class rests on three pillars. 

First, clarity. Definitions and standards would help investors distinguish attention-driven assets from more fundamental ones. Today, memecoins sit awkwardly beside L1 tokens and DeFi governance assets. Once you classify an asset, its volatility and lifecycle make more sense. 

Second, structure. Formalization would create space for building indices, ETFs, risk models, hedging tools, and professional liquidity. 

Third, symmetry. Today's attention-linked tokens (memecoins and NFTs) are effectively one-way bets – long, retail-driven plays. The options for shorting, robust hedging, and liquid index exposure are still limited. 

Tapping The Wisdom of Crowds 

Adding prediction markets is where things get interesting. Attention has always been notoriously hard to measure. Social data is noisy, sentiment analysis can be gamed, and raw activity doesn't always map to the next "Current Thing" bubbling up through the zeitgeist. 

Prediction markets offer a potential cut through. Event contracts (e.g., "Will X happen by date Y?") concentrate liquidity and information around culturally relevant questions. Their price movements can be treated as attention signals, with speculation acting as a filter against spam and manipulation. You might, for example, create an attention index from clusters of prediction markets, creating a live, economically grounded measure of narrative heat. 

Multicoin's Vision 

Arguably, the most substantial roadmap for this space comes from investment firm Multicoin Capital. They frame attention as a third category of financial asset, distinct from both cash-flow assets like equities and supply-demand assets like commodities. Partner Eli Qian argues that "with proper construction, Attention Assets could transcend to a bona fide asset class." 

The upside? A full market structure for cultural exposure: indices, hedges, thematic baskets, even memetic premiums on equities. The risk? Liquidity, oracle design, regulatory ambiguity, and the fact that not all topics attract deep enough markets. 

What Needs to Change? 

Crucially, on-chain infrastructure will need to mature before attention assets become investable at scale: 

• Reliable attention feeds: prediction-market oracles, social-graph data, search trends, bot-resistant engagement metrics. 

• Composable instruments: perps, ETFs, vaults, or structured products tied to attention indices. 

• Identity and trust layers: decentralized social graphs (Farcaster, Lens, Bluesky/AT Protocol). 

• Market plumbing: custody, compliance, regulation, and liquidity providers who are willing to make markets in non-fundamental assets. 

• Quality scoring: frameworks that distinguish organic cultural momentum from spam or manipulation. 

The Opportunity 

How big is the addressable market? No one has produced a definitive valuation yet, but we have enough data points to paint a picture: 

First, consider the creator economy. It's value was estimated at roughly $205 billion in 2024 and some forecasts have it growing to $894 billion by 2032. That suggests a deep and expanding pool of monetizable attention opportunities already exist off-chain, and could be tokenized. 

Then there's the NFT market. It’s up and down, and estimates vary, but data from CoinGecko pegs the total market cap at ~$3.22 billion. With fractionalization, NFT index funds, and emergent derivatives, parts of that value could be re-expressed as tradeable attention exposure. 

Finally, look at meme-coins, where the top five have a cumulative market cap of around $38 billion. That puts them in the same realm as mid-sized altcoins.  

Taken together, if even a modest fraction of the creator economy and roughly half of the meme-coin and NFT value were converted into purpose-built attention assets (indexed, hedged, or as direct exposure), you could easily be talking about an on-chain opportunity in the tens-of-billions. 

The Wheels Are Already In Motion 

There's real momentum beneath the surface: 

• SocialFi platforms positioning creators as attention merchants. 

• Creator-token platforms like Pump.fun demonstrating that social exposure can be tradable. 

• Farcaster's $150 million funding round signals institutional belief. 

• Bonding-curve experiments lke Friend.tech and Stars Arena to determine the price of a creator’s unique, limited-supply social tokens. 

None of these are fully-formed attention assets yet – but they're evolutionary steps. 

The Take Away 

The attention asset concept stems from a simple truth: human interest is scarce, measurable, and economically valuable. That logic isn't new. Social platforms have spent a decade proving attention can be captured, priced, and resold. 

But academics see a deeper effect. As sociologist Maxi Heitmayer notes, "Attention should be treated as a symbolic currency. It acts as a signifier of reputation and status, with the opportunity to ‘exchange' it for other valuable resources, such as money." In other words: attention behaves like capital. 

And like capital flows, it can be fleeting. Data is noisy. Manipulation risk is real. Regulatory lines are blurry. And the biggest question of all: does anyone truly want to trade raw attention?  

It seems a brilliant idea, but the market has to care enough to pay. 

Quick Hits:

Watchlist: Farcaster ecosystem memecoins like (CRYPTO: DEGEN), (PUMP), (ZORA); plus moves by Polymarket / Kalshi, Lens Protocol, and SocialFi upstarts like Friend.tech V2.

Hot Take: If social graphs and prediction markets converge, the next bull run won't be led by L1s. It'll be fueled by attention liquidity.

Pro Tip: Track attention flow, not price. Tools like Dexscreener "trending" pairs, Dune dashboards for Farcaster casts & follower velocity, and Polymarket volume charts give early reads on where attention concentrates before capital catches up.

Disclaimer: Not financial advice. DYOR.

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.