Degen

Degen is short for degenerate. In crypto the word has lost its insult and describes someone who trades the riskiest assets: tokens a few minutes old, leverage, tokens with no history. Many memecoin traders use it about themselves with a wink.

Behind the joke is a plain reality. Most new tokens lose nearly all their value within hours or days, and bots and creator-linked wallets hold the edge in the first minutes. A degen is someone who accepts that many buys will end in a loss in the hope of a rare big move. Being a degen is no excuse to skip checking the address and the contract's authorities.