Founder and artist of @frico_xyz 🐧 Nads in Monad
Joined March 2016
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Who, What, How and Why $ANSEM? (and where the risk actually is)
Part 1: Who
To understand why a coin with no team, no roadmap and no product could run to nine figures in under two weeks, you have to understand the person it's named after.
Ansem, real name Zion Thomas, is one of the most-followed voices in crypto — close to a million followers as @blknoiz06. He's been around since 2017: a Georgia Tech computer science grad and former software engineer who moved into trading, and today he runs research at TCG Crypto, an investment arm of The Chernin Group. His reputation is built on real calls — he was early and loud on Solana when it bottomed near $8 after FTX, and early on memecoins like WIF and BONK.
But an honest "Who" includes the criticism, because it's directly relevant. On-chain investigator ZachXBT has accused him of promoting low-cap memecoins that spike on his attention and then collapse — BODEN, HOBBES, ZEUS and WYNN all fell more than 98% after he highlighted them. Ansem has defended himself (he called WIF at a ~$100k market cap before it ran to billions) and has even admitted that backing some celebrity coins was a mistake. So: a genuine track record, and genuine baggage. Both matter here.
Part 2: What
The correct mental model for $ANSEM is a coin that Ansem did not create, but chose to adopt.
An anonymous deployer launched the "Black Bull" version on Pump.fun around June 17, 2026, and airdropped most of the supply straight to Ansem's wallet. The deployer walked away with about $5,500. Ansem — who has said for years "i dont launch coins" — technically still didn't. He inherited roughly 60% of the supply and leaned into it.
That's the single most important fact: $ANSEM isn't a project with a team shipping a product. It's a token attached to a name, and its entire value rests on that name's attention. No whitepaper, no roadmap, no utility. That's not a hidden flaw — it's the whole design.
Part 3: How
Two things happened at once: a price run, and an unusual mechanic.
The run: from a market cap in the tens of thousands to roughly $125m in about twelve days — over 26,000% in a single week. It minted real winners; one wallet turned ~$2,300 into ~$614,000, verifiable on-chain.
The mechanic is what made people pay attention. Instead of launching his own coin to capture the hype (the usual influencer playbook), Ansem announced he'd redistribute the creator fees he earns on Pump.fun back to holders — reportedly ~$7m so far — with a stated goal of one million holders. His stake, ~604m tokens, sits in a public wallet anyone can watch on Arkham. In a corner of crypto where influencers usually extract and exit, "I'll give the fees back and you can watch my wallet" is genuinely unusual.
Part 4: Why (it's more interesting than the average influencer coin)
Here's the steelman, stated plainly.
The operator is doxxed, not anonymous. His holdings are transparent and trackable, so he can't quietly dump on you — if he moves, everyone sees it. The attention is earned over years, not bought. And there's a macro pattern behind it: Solana has a habit of producing something people call legendary right when the timeline is writing its obituary — the $8 bottom, the airdrops, the memecoins that minted millionaires. Attention is the asset on Solana, and Ansem has more of it than almost anyone.
If you're going to make a constructive case for $ANSEM, that's it: a transparent, aligned-ish, culturally alive coin fronted by a real person with real reach.
Part 5: The risks (why you should still be skeptical)
This probably reads one-sided, so here's the other half — because both halves are true at the same time.
The concentration is the issue. Even after airdrops, Ansem still holds ~58.7% of the supply in one wallet, up ~$75m. And the "community" airdrop was less even than it sounds: of a $9.43m distribution, about 74% went to just seven wallets — and those seven already sold over a million dollars worth. Generosity with an asterisk.
Liquidity is thin relative to the market cap, so a few holders can move the price faster than buyers can react. Some analysts go further and allege the deployer handoff was a pre-arranged promotion deal — that's an allegation, not a proven fact, but it's on the table. And the backdrop is rough: the memecoin sector is down ~84% from its 2024 peak, and in markets like that, vertical moves usually end with late buyers holding the bag.
You can draw two conclusions from the same facts:
Conclusion A:
A transparent operator with skin in the game and real reach is exactly the kind of setup that can sustain a culture coin — and Solana rewards this pattern every cycle.
Conclusion B:
A coin where one wallet holds the majority, liquidity is thin, and the biggest airdrop recipients are already selling is a familiar setup that tends to hurt whoever arrives last.
Both are defensible. That's exactly why it's interesting — and why it's dangerous.
TL;DR
Who — Ansem (Zion Thomas): real track record, real baggage.
What — a coin he didn't launch but adopted; no team, no utility, pure attention.
How — ~26,000%/week run + an unusual "give the creator fees back" mechanic.
Why — doxxed, transparent, aligned-ish, and Solana rewards this pattern.
Risk — one wallet holds ~58.7%, thin liquidity, top airdrop wallets already dumping.
Not financial advice — just the facts, both sides. Verify the contract, and only risk money you can afford to lose.
🐂 🀄️
Milan💜 retweeted
SEASON 1 IS LIVE… PRE-DEPOSITS NOW OPEN!
It is officially time to start AURAmaxxing
Deposit now on early.bulk.trade/deposit
Milan💜 retweeted
Chog, the Mascot of Monad.
Launching soon on mainnet.
premint.xyz/chognft/
Milan💜 retweeted
Monad Mainnet will launch on November 24th, 9am ET
Waiting room 👇 teapawt.net/i/broadcasts/1OyKAjABX…
Milan💜 retweeted
Monad Cards and Monad Monad Boxes are our team's attempt to create a memorable, fun, and unique experience while distributing airdrop tokens ahead of the public network launch.
Significant input went into the airdrop design. On the community side, we built completely new tools like the Recognizer app to gather community input. We analyzed a huge volume of social activity data using techniques like graph analysis. The Community team spent months manually reviewing profiles. And after the initial strength indicators became public, there also was a vouching process for community members to vouch for people that might have been missed. Your initial stake in the Monad network was a result of these factors.
The airdrop also included wallets and social identities that are not currently members of the Monad Community. Monad is a big project, with big ambitions to be a significant epicenter of financial activity. It is important to offer people who are very active in crypto more generally and who create significant value through their DeFi/trading activity, investing activity on platforms like Echo or Legion, or membership in other communities, an opportunity to be a stakeholder in the future Monad network.
I recognize that not everyone is satisfied with their allocations. It is an imperfect process, and when the stakes are this high, emotions run high. This is the start of the Monad Mainnet, and there will be many more opportunities. I would encourage everyone to be kind to each other, now but also more generally.
Monad is a big and ambitious project, and if what our team - and all of the developers and community builders in the Monad Ecosystem - have built is meaningful, then it will be a point of discourse on Crypto Twitter for many years. In the future, critics will make Monad a big part of what comes out of their mouths, oftentimes preying on emotions, because cynicism and negativity get strong engagement. It is part of the price of relevance.
To the members of the Monad Community, your voices have grown substantially over the past few years. As the mainnet begins and the Monad world grows, it is your time to step into your role as a larger commentator in the crypto community. What you do and say shapes the direction of the space, so wield the power with kindness and judiciousness.
Milan💜 retweeted
How to Prepare for the Upcoming Monad Mainnet Launch
Airdrop:
- The airdrop claim portal goes live on Tuesday (in 2 days)
- The claim portal link will be tweeted from the @monad account
- I will be sending a “How to Claim” post from this account on Tuesday. There will also be a few guides on this from official channels. It will be super easy but there will be guides anyway :)
- BEWARE OF SCAMS. There are going to be a large number of people trying to scam you. Move slowly, be careful and double check links/accounts
Staying up to date:
- The @monad account will post all major updates and milestones - it’s the #1 place for staying up to date
- @keoneHD is the best source for thought leadership and insight into how the Monad Foundation is thinking about things
- @pipeline_xyz for high quality media, podcasts and livestreams
- @monad_eco, @monad_dev, @Monad_APAC good if you’re interested in any of these aspects of Monad
- Monad Memo newsletter (linked below)
Ecosystem - Over $100M raised so far by teams building on Monad! There is a ton going on in the ecosystem and this is the best possible time to dive in and get familiar with it
Ecosystem overview:
- You can use wallets you already have like Phantom, MetaMask, etc
- There will be plenty of ways to bridge (more details coming soon)
- Fully EVM compatible so apps you know and love like Uniswap, Curve, etc etc work the exact same - but faster and lower fees
- USDC day 1 for stables
- Tons of Monad native teams & apps to check out
- Keep an eye out for apps that will be in the Monad Momentum incentives program - more on this later
- Monad Day 1 trading stack (linked below)
- Ecosystem directory (linked below)
Highly recommend checking out the teams building on Monad! If you're building on Monad, maybe drop a comment on this thread so new people can find you 👇
Monad Mainnet is launching this quarter - time to get ready
Milan💜 retweeted
№ 17 INTERVIEW WITH BUILDER NFT COLLECTION FRICO
Gmonad everyone!
Today we're dropping an interview with the founder of the NFT collection @frico_xyz and just a straight-up dope dude - @milanweb3 .
Big thanks for taking the time, man.
Keeping it classic, 10 questions for you.
1. How long have you been in WEB3?
I have been grinding in web3 since early 2022. I heard about crypto way before that, but I was just chilling on the sidelines, watching my homies stacking cash in the space. Back then, I thought it was some rich-kid vibe, and crypto was all about trading coins. In 2021, my close buddy hit me up to level up accounts in Axie Infinity for a cut, but I passed (cannot even remember why, lol). But that is when NFTs hooked me, and I started diving deep. Early 2022, me and my crew started farming whitelists for all sorts of NFT projects. At first, we were clueless on how to pull it off, but the game-changer was our first video for that Solana NFT project "The Heist," which scored us 5 whitelists. After that, shooting videos became our daily hustle, and it was paying off big time back then.
2. How did you find out about Monad?
I peeped Monad on Twitter because I was always scouting for fresh and hype stuff in web3. We were snatching every opportunity back then, and besides NFTs, we started scoping other crypto vibes too. Hands did not get to Monad until kind of late, in my opinion. It was sitting on the shelf for like half a year before we started showing activity.
3. What caught your eye about the project?
I could say it was the tech that pulled me in, and yeah, probably was)))
But keeping it real, the project had solid investments, and that is always a shot at grabbing some tokens on the low. Some people got scared off by how tough it was to snag roles, but that fired me up. Means they are not handing them out like candy, so it makes sense to stick around long-term. Plus, it is lit that you can roll up and do what vibes with you, level up skills on the fly. Does not matter if you are a developer, artist, editor, or just a shitposter - you are always welcome here.
4. You are building your NFT collection on Monad. Spill on the struggles and the experience you have racked up.
Honestly, at first there was zero plan to build an NFT collection. Frico started as just a monanimal, nothing more. I was basically using it to flex my art skills (which I still think suck, lol). I began drawing regular arts with other monanimals, then thought, why not cook up something original? Next came Frico draws with profile pictures for the Monad crew, and after that, I started messing with traits for Frico just because it was fun as hell. Building the actual collection has a ton of headaches if it is your first rodeo. If I do something like this again, it will be way smoother. From my experience, it is clutch to have more than one artist (like one handles the collection, draw events, maybe server stickers, and another does arts for shitposts, collabs, etc.). Maybe I am wrong and one person can juggle it all. Super important to have mad art content - it boosts your marketing like crazy. Sadly, we are slacking on that. But overall, I got some fire and valuable experience.
5. What is the future plans for the collection?
Frico is more about the grind and experience than going all serious. I always tell people not to expect some epic stuff. Plans are to drop in mainnet as a freemint. That will be the clean wrap-up to this story. Though maybe a gen2 down the line, but way more thought-out than this one. For sure, I will bounce back with fresh ideas after stacking more experience. And I am not ruling out doing it on Monad again.
6. Drop some tips for newbies just jumping into Monad.
“Nah, no point advising newbies now, mainnet is dropping soon, nothing left to do” - that is what some farmer or drop hunter would spit.
But for real, just dive deep into the Monad ecosystem. I think mainnet is just the start, and we are going to see a bunch of wild stuff. Even for drop hunters, there is plenty of work. Plus, the community is straight fire - you will not get bored.
7. What is missing from the Ukrainian community in your opinion? Also, what do you dig about it?
I straight-up love our Ukrainian peeps, every single one. But in my opinion, we were missing some driving force and unity to team up and push one big thing, like how other local crews do it. We are kind of split into little squads, so the focus gets blurry. But looking at everyone solo, we have got super creative folks, and I am proud as hell of that.
8. Your thoughts - when is the mainnet launch for Monad?
I would have said October before, now I am thinking November. Later I might say December )
9. In your opinion, which direction in Monad will blow up first with hype and FOMO cases?
To me, it is obvious - NFTs. Even checking the OTC market, people are dropping big bucks for whitelists on Monad NFT collections. And FOMO cases are already popping in testnet. Skrumpeys are eating good. But the whole NFT value question is still up in the air. So I am hoping teams drop some dope utilities post-mint to keep it going longer. We will see, but I believe Monad can revive the NFT scene.
10. Who is your favorite from the Ukrainian community for straight-up dedication?
1) Artem Creator.
But no cap, I love everything Arich does. Probably top 1 for dedication. Jumapel are building now how I wish Frico went down. Stoked we have got another collection from Ukrainians. Mazaka, Arich, Mikey - big props, you all are killing it.
Milan, massive thanks for this real-talk interview. Wishing you mad success with the collection’s growth. Make sure to smash that follow on Milan’s X - @milanweb3
and the NFT project Frico - @frico_xyz .
Collection of all interviews - toothsome-tomato-5d4.notion.…
