In the last month, multiple “simp DAOs” have formed, pining after Twitch streamers, OnlyFans models, singers—and selling their images as NFTs.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, or DAOs, are essentially clubs for the crypto-set; most are functionally digital co-ops, where there isn’t one leader but a group that makes decisions about the future of the organization together. Some DAOs have membership caps that limit how many people can participate, or a limited number of membership tokens that they’ll mint to keep things exclusive. DAOs as a concept have been around for years, but they’ve recently exploded. ConstitutionDAO banded together to buy the Constitution (and failed), SpiceDAO bungled $3.8 million on a copy of Jodorowsky’s Dune, CityDAO is a bunch of people who bought land in Wyoming… you get the picture.
One of the first simp DAOs was IreneDAO, dedicated to 28-year-old Chinese crypto influencer Yuqing Irene Zhao. She has a fan community on Telegram, and Zhao told Cointelegraph that after creating a sticker pack of her images to use in Telegram, someone suggested she mint them as NFTs. She agreed, and the community of simps tokenized the stickers into 1,106 NFTs, which served as passes to join their DAO. They sold out in minutes
Zhao told Cointelegraph that the money will be used by the DAO to “experiment the best ways of integrating Web3 into the creator economy.” The DAO’s motto is “Simplicity, Integrity, Meaning, Purpose.” Zhao has her own startup platform, Socol, an “all-in-one alternative to platforms like Discord and OnlyFans, powered by NFTs,” according to her.
There’s been a lot of drama around IreneDAO; people have been skeptical that she’s actually behind the DAO, claiming that a man is behind her public image and that her simps are being catfished. She’s debunked this a few times, appearing in live streams and video events in support of the DAO. Former hedge fund manager and current CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners Mike Novogratz bought in, and YouTuber Logan Paul bought 20 of her NFTs for $270,000. The current floor price is 0.69 ETH, or about $2,156 USD.
IreneDAO seemed to inspire a flood of simp DAOs. But while Zhao has embraced her simp DAO, it’s unlikely that others have as cozy a relationship with the public figure that inspired them.
Crypto Dictionary
Simps are super-fans of someone—usually severely online men who idolize influencers (Twitch streamers, models, public figures, etc.) who are women—and who sometimes take their admiration to a parasocial level by becoming reply-guys or sending unsolicited DMs. Simping seems like the perfect product market fit for DAOs, where fans can gather with the singular purpose of talking about how great and hot their fav is. But not just talking; these crypto-simps are putting their money where their mouths are.
