Adam Back Says Altcoins, Memecoins, and “Air Tokens” Will Eventually Fall to Zero
Talik Evans
- 2 min read
Image Credit: Reddit
Key Takeaways
- Adam Back predicted altcoins, memecoins, and air tokens will fall to zero, citing the efficient market hypothesis in X posts on May 23-24, 2026.
- Back said he has held this view for over a decade and has never personally held altcoins; Bitcoin fell nearly 40% from its all-time high before recovering in the weeks prior.
- The New York Times named Back as Bitcoin’s most likely creator in April 2026, though he denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back, named last month by the New York Times as Bitcoin’s most likely creator, predicted this week that altcoins, memecoins, and what he called “air tokens” will eventually fall to zero, citing the efficient market hypothesis in posts on X on May 23 and 24, 2026.
Back Cites Efficient Market Hypothesis in X Posts
In a post on May 23, Back wrote:
“Buy Bitcoin, HODL, repeat. I was expecting efficient market hypothesis to kick in with alts and price them at $0. But I was making that call a decade ago, so I am quite surprised it took this long for the efficient market to catch-up with air tokens, altcoins, memecoins etc.”
He added that he has never personally held altcoins and has long expected them to fail. The following day, he posted: “The efficient market is coming for the memecoins, smart contract coins, and air tokens alike. Buy Bitcoin, HODL, repeat.”
Bitcoin Dropped Nearly 40% From Its All-Time High Before Recovering
In the weeks before Back’s posts, Bitcoin fell nearly 40% from its all-time high above $126,000 before staging a partial recovery to $80,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $77,224.
Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and smaller cryptocurrencies recorded steeper losses over the same period, with memecoins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu among the hardest hit, according to CoinMarketCap.
NYT Investigation Named Back as Most Likely Satoshi Nakamoto
On April 8, 2026, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Carreyrou published a 12,000-word investigation in the New York Times arguing that Back is most likely the person behind the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym.
Back proved the closest match in each of three writing analyses performed in the investigation. Carreyrou said he is “somewhere between 99.5% and 100%” certain he has identified Bitcoin’s creator. Back denied the claims the same day the investigation was published, posting on X: “I’m not Satoshi.”
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Talik Evans
Journalist and Financial Analyst
Talik Evans is a financial writer and crypto researcher with a growing focus on digital assets, Bitcoin markets, and blockchain innovation. Since 2021, she has been exploring the world of cryptocurrency, writing about everything from exchange comparisons to regulatory updates and security practices.