JellyJelly can be “an antidote” to the tech world’s obsession with rapid scaling.”>
When Iqram Magdon-Ismael co-founded the payment app Venmo with his college roommate Andrew Kortina in 2009, something in his brain chemistry began to change. “I’m addicted to making startups, going from something very tiny to something that impacts lots of people,” he told Observer. At first glance, his latest endeavor—a social media platform with built-in authenticity guardrails and an integrated memecoin—seems like a dramatic departure from Venmo. But the two ventures have more in common than it appears. “From my time at Venmo, I learned a lot about how money movement works,” Magdon-Ismael explained. Combining the blockchain’s ability to move assets with a system for tipping creators, the result resembles a modern street performer with QR codes linked to their Venmo profile taped to their guitar case.
Magdon-Ismael’s new platform, JellyJelly, allows creators to publish largely unedited short-form videos—known as “jellies”—that can go live instantly. Artificial intelligence handles the transcription and captioning. When a video is posted, the app activates a phone’s front and back cameras, letting users share what they’re doing in real-time. It’s like BeReal meets TikTok but with a transactional twist.
Running in tandem with the app is Jelly-My-Jelly (JMJ), a memecoin built on the Solana blockchain. Users can access their JMJ wallets through their JellyJelly profiles, and the team is actively developing crypto-enabled e-commerce features—including tipping creators directly with JMJ. To generate revenue, JellyJelly charges a 1 percent transaction fee.
“As with all products, you figure out ways to monetize,” said Magdon-Ismael. “As we were brainstorming ways for our user base to monetize either their content or for us to make money as an app, we were exploring multiple angles for how to integrate payments.”
Memecoins, once considered a fringe element of the crypto world, have steadily gained traction in recent years as both speculative assets and community-building tools. Magdon-Ismael recognized their potential as a way to generate buzz and loyalty around a product. “And it relates to payments, transactions, collectibles and commerce the way people want to do it in a modern way,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you throw jelly at the wall, and this one stuck.”
But the platform’s name isn’t just a nod to sticky marketing ideas—it’s actually inspired by the immortal jellyfish, or Turritopsis dohrnii, a Mediterranean species capable of reversing its aging process through cellular transformation known as transdifferentiation. In theory, it can repeat this cycle indefinitely—unless something external interrupts it.
“That was a nice little compliment to the everlasting jellyfish,” said Magdon-Ismael. “Hopefully, it’s a forecast for how Jelly will be. We don’t want to die, and we don’t want your jellies to die.”
“The best content wins.”
That kind of longevity is a tall order in an ecosystem known for big promises and often little follow-through.
On the social media front, Bluesky and Threads are steadily gaining ground on X, formerly known as Twitter. Then there are apps like Clubhouse, which briefly captivated global attention before fading from the cultural radar. “One of the things that I don’t like about Twitter, even though we have to use it sometimes to talk to a lot of these crypto people, is that it’s very obvious to me that it is run in an unfair manner,” Magdon-Ismael said. “There’s almost a nepotistic judgment call inside the product.”
For Magdon-Ismael, JellyJelly is a direct response to the overly produced, addictive environments fostered by platforms like Instagram and TikTok. “Imagine if every Zoom meeting you had was filled with filters and over-produced content, and we had to do all these crazy things to even show up to a video meeting. I think that’s people’s frustration with social media now,” he said. “Our take at Jelly, we don’t have any filters, none of that. We make it a level playing field for everyone to do that. The best content wins.”
“Rule number one, you’re not going to see all my posts, like you see Elon Musk’s posts by default, whenever he decides you have to see it,” he added. JellyJelly’s feed is strictly chronological and based on who users follow—much like the early days of Instagram. Content moderation is designed to be community-driven, with users able to flag inappropriate material, while A.I. moderation will be scaled up as the platform grows.
A memecoin backed by a real product
On the cryptocurrency side, the stakes are even higher. The space is riddled with rug pulls—from memecoins to non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—that have wiped out savings and shattered trust, even in projects that initially seemed legitimate. HAWK, the token tied to the now-infamous Hawk Tuah Girl, is just one recent example in a sprawling digital graveyard.
“I feel like the community is kind of traumatized from people that put out coins and then just disappear,” said Magdon-Ismael. “There’s a lot of that, but I have to say, there’s a lot of that in everything. Most things start in unregulated, uncharted territory, in a way that’s so unrestrictive, and then the true signs of humanity show up.” Where bad actors lurk, he said, so too can builders—people committed to creating real value and community.
JMJ sets itself apart by being directly tied to a functioning platform with a real product and company behind it. “When we take money from our investors, we must deliver on certain timelines and give them quarterly updates. I think the crypto community craves that more than ever,” he said.
Though early adopters are largely drawn from the crypto world, Magdon-Ismael wants JellyJelly to expand beyond that core base. He believes users shouldn’t need to understand the mechanics of crypto to participate. “We will present it as just, you’re swapping currency back and forth without even knowing what you’re doing,” he said.
JellyJelly is backed by investors, including Observer Capital and Sam Lessin’s Slow Ventures. Observer Capital has been involved since the beginning, supporting the team as they built their marketing strategy and shaped their approach to crypto. Magdon-Ismael said he meets with Lessin weekly to discuss product development. “I love having investors that are involved and really want to see you succeed, as opposed to just cutting your check,” he said.
Other backers include Karman Ventures, led by a team of former Uber (UBER) executives; A* Capital, co-founded by Eventbrite’s Kevin Hartz; and Betaworks, which Magdon-Ismael called “the OG New York City incubator.” Influencers like Nas Daily and Joseph Yaeger—best known for MyTechCEO—also have equity in the company. His former Venmo co-founder, Andrew Kortina, now serves as an advisor.
JellyJelly is still in beta, operating on an invite-only basis and not yet available for Android users. Even so, the platform is cultivating an early community by rolling out features iteratively and distributing JMJ coin drops to active participants. Magdon-Ismael said he hopes JellyJelly can be “an antidote” to the tech world’s obsession with rapid scaling. His Venmo experience, he added, left him with a lasting desire to “help somebody,” rather than dominate markets at all costs.
