Fantom Foundation, the organization behind the Layer-1 blockchain Fantom, is aiming to promote the concept of "safer memecoins" by dedicating $6.5 million worth of its native FTM token as a reward for developers. The goal is to attract a share of the nearly $50 billion memecoin sector while ensuring projects are not scams or rug pulls.

CEO Michael Kong expressed a desire to create an environment where "safer memecoins" can thrive, introducing technical and non-technical measures to prevent projects from being outright scams. This initiative comes in response to the recent surge in memecoin trading, particularly on networks like Solana and Base, which have seen significant trading volumes.

To attract memecoin traders to the Fantom blockchain, Kong announced a 10 million FTM prize pool, valued at $6.5 million, to be awarded to memecoin teams. The aim is to leverage the popularity of memecoins to drive customer acquisition and grow the Fantom network.

The Foundation's co-founder, Andre Cronje, proposed additional measures for safe memecoins, including issuing tokens with the Fantom Foundation as a co-controller of the token's startup liquidity. Cronje also suggested a token supply split, with a portion allocated to the team and marketing, and the majority placed in an FTM paired liquidity pool.

Despite the memecoin phenomenon, Fantom remains focused on growing its network in a sustainable manner. Currently, Fantom is the 38th largest blockchain network by total value locked (TVL), with $108.3 million locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, according to DefiLlama.