Labubu and Fartcoin are the economy people can actually participate in. They’re a form of symbolic participation, what happens when ownership is out of reach and when expression replaces accumulation.

Both represent a form of aspirational displacement. This is the idea that when you can't afford a house, you buy mystery boxes that might contain a rare variant and then that’s good enough. It’s a way to perform relationship to consumer culture. When you feel shut out of institutions, you buy meme coins that turn financial nihilism into a form of cultural expression.