Upstart ‘Degenerate’ Crypto-Culture Publication Bets on Print

SALT
LAKE
CITY
—
Crypto’s
got
a
demographic
problem:
too
many
men.
The
scene’s
newest
culture
magazine
wants
to
leverage
that
imbalance
harder
than
a
memecoin
trader’s
credit
line.

Superbasedd,
a
month-old
wannabe
lifestyle
rag
with
deep
LA
roots,
is
planning
to
stand
up
a
print
publication
that
appeals
to
the
crypto
space’s
baser
instincts.
On
the
front
page:
a
cover
girl.
On
the
back:
an
authoritative-looking
male
startup
founder.
And
in
between:
tales
from
crypto’s
trader
trenches.

“We’re
all
dudes,
we’re
all
degenerates,
and
if
there’s
one
thing
I
know
about
degenerate
dudes,
they
love
women.
And
that’s
a
really
good
way
to
start
a
brand,”
said
Superbasedd
founder
Steve
McHugh.

Women
are
the
“bait”
for
what
McHugh
and
his
co-founders
described
as
an
authoritative
but
edgy
magazine
that
brings
web3
culture
to
male
audiences
over
the
world.
Lure
in
readers
with
alluring
photos
and
then
smack
’em
with
“really
good
culture
and
profile
pieces
highlighting
this
industry.”

Whether
sex+culture
can
still
sell
magazines
is
an
open
question.
Playboy
is
only
just
plotting
its
return
to
newstands
with
an
annual
glossy
edition.
That
once-vaunted
dude
institution
published
articles
that
had
appeal
for
pretty
much
anyone
up
on
the
culture.
Meanwhile,
Superbasedd’s
content
will
tap
a
far-smaller
pool
of
younger
guys
who
like
crypto,
though
McHugh
said
its
female-forward
marketing
targets
“guys”
at
large.

Superbasedd’s
“dangerous”
content
strategy
complements
its
staff.
McHugh’s
lanky
business
partner
Jake
Hillhouse
was
slated
for
an
undercard
bout
at
the
upcoming
Karate
Kombat
fight
night
in
Singapore
in
a
few
weeks.
Then
he
blew
up
his
elbow
in
a
dune
buggy
accident;
Hillhouse
showed
up
to
our
impromptu
interview
in
an
arm
sling
and
a
hospital
wristband
barely
48
hours
old.

Still,
the
publication
has
some
capital
to
burn.
Earlier
this
month
Superbasedd
generated
almost
$1.1
million
by
selling
NFTs
that
come
with
a
three
year
subscription,
which
hasn’t
yet
launched.
Another
subscription
option
will
offer
one
year
of
access
for
$99.

McHugh
plans
to
feature
a
part
of
crypto
that
the
established
media
brands
are
either
missing
or
have
abandoned.
Of
the
major
crypto-focused
publications,
only
Decrypt
has
reporters
dedicated
to
documenting
the
often
zany
ways
this
industry’s
participants
express
themselves.

Those
stories
often
veer
toward
the
insane,
and
even
obscene.
Seemingly
every
week
the
memecoin
factory

Pump.Fun
sees
another
ridiculous
stunt
of
token
creators
embarrassing,
or
injuring
themselves
to
make
the
token’s
price
climb
higher,
like
that
time
a
guy
smoked
crack
and
had
his
head
shaved
by
a
stripper
on
a
livestream.

“Our
edginess
is
going
to
start
with
the
girls
and
then
end
with
crackhead
dev,”
said
Hillhouse.

Superbasedd
plans
to
tell
those
tales
alongside
in-depth
features
of
the
leading
male
figures
in
crypto.
During
our
interview
McHugh
toyed
with
getting
Solana’s
founders
Raj
Gokal
and
Anatoly
Yakovenko
for
the
first
edition,
coming
in
October.

There’s
something
deeply
strange
about
a
crypto-focused
publication
betting
on
print
for
distribution.
It’s
a
critically
endangered
medium
within
the
twenty-first
century’s
fast-dying
institution,
journalism.

Superbasedd’s
team
thinks
tactile
formats
will
nonetheless
work
when
paired
with
the
lessons
of
the
Instagram
age.
First,
use
pictures
of
sexy
women
to
capture
guys’
attention.
Then,
hold
that
attention
with
snappy
articles
that
tell
stories
in
digestible
ways,
perhaps
by
outlining
them
like
a
thread
on
X.

McHugh
harbors
visions
of
elevating
Superbasedd
into
“high
snobciety”
with
enough
caché
to
sit
atop
any
moneyed
coffee
table
in
the
Hollywood
Hills.
he’s
betting
that
America’s
trickle-down
celebrity
culture
should
make
the
magazine
broadly
relevant.

For
now,
though,
Superbasedd
is
leaning
hard
into
overtures
that
would
only
mean
something
to
the
most
dedicated
NFT
swapper
on
Solana,
the
chain
for
which
this
magazine’s
publishers
seem
most
aligned.

Superbasedd
recently
bought
the
intellectual
property
for
Catalina
Whale
Mixer
–
a
once-popular
NFT
collection
with
a
$2.5
million
market
cap
–
for
less
than
$50,000,
according
to
McHugh.
It
is
planning
to
take
over
the
Thug
Birdz
NFT
collection
next.

The
publication’s
three-man
team
came
to
mtnDAO
to
work
on
outreach
to
other
crypto
founders,
said
McHugh,
a
two-time
attendee.
In-person
crypto
workspaces
can
help
startups
move
faster
on
the
strange
business
propositions
of
this
industry,
like
standing
up
a
token.

Their
background
diverges
from
the
norm
at
this
twice-a-year
hacker
house,
now
in
its
sixth
edition.
Every
August
and
February
a
growing
flock
of
Solana
developers
decamp
to
Salt
Lake
City
for
one
month
of
collaborating
on
projects,
which
often
tilt
toward
new
financial
primitives.

“We’re
not
devs,
we’re
not
builders,
we’re
startup,
content
guys,”
McHugh
said.