How popular are they? Enough that some fools are spending $$$$ on them - Block 868188 had 10.442 BTC in fees and the few before and after it were nothing to sneeze at either...
Humans are quite creative in creating ways to scam one another
So this ain't the end of this parasitic dance.
There must be something going on here. With all the inflated prices and the easy-money and get-rich-quick kinds of things, a lot of dirty money might have been washed clean in the process. Or perhaps I'm just underestimating the craziness of men.
A possibility but most just dive in because it promises overnight wealth(greed).
Never trusted and never would trust anything that promises getting risk quick.
Shitcoins, NFTs, ordinals and whatever they are called or would be called would come and would go
And people would get rich by extorting others and the extorted and future extortee would never learn.
TON tokens were hyped few months ago
Now check their pefomance.