decrypt.co
It was another underwhelming week for crypto markets as they appeared to cautiously price in the effects of yet another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. While this change was only 25 basis points, U.S. interest rates are now the highest they’ve been in 22 years.
Over on Twitter—or should we call it X? Let’s stick with Twitter for now—many voices reacted loudly to Elon Musk’s rebrand, the first step towards his envisioned “everything app.”
It would take a whole separate article to capture the sprawling outcry, but seeing as both Musk and Twitter hold a place in the hearts of crypto fans, it’s worth highlighting that—according to a tweet by researcher Asuna Gilfoyle—Twitter may be tapping crypto for payments. Musk’s long affiliation with Dogecoin and Bitcoin make them obvious choices for the native currency.
It appears that Twitter Payments LLC (a key entity in the potential "Twitter Coin" system) has obtained licenses from several states to handle crypto payments. cc/ @TitterDaily @nima_owji & @EvaFoxU pic.twitter.com/6666sR2ARR
— Asuna Gilfoyle ⚡️ (@asunapg) July 24, 2023
Also of note, Twitter literally hijacked the original account holder of the @X handle after extensive public speculation as to the handle's potential worth to the company. It’s worth noting here that Twitter prohibits the sale of accounts and reached out offering the former account holder some merchandise and a meeting with the bosses.
NEW: former owner of @x handle tells me he didn’t sell the account: “Twitter just took it essentially”. They offered some merchandise and a meeting https://t.co/gVMq4YbHKr pic.twitter.com/SM2MpMxXeg
— James Titcomb (@jamestitcomb) July 26, 2023
If you’re one of the many who don’t like the aesthetics of the rebrand, you can do something about it, thanks to software engineer @0xCygaar.
I'm not a huge fan of the new X logo so I wrote a chrome extension that reverts the X back to the bird logo.
You can see in the demo that the bird is restored in both the app as well as the tab icon.
Long live the bird. pic.twitter.com/dmkNygEhNO
— cygaar (@0xCygaar) July 25, 2023
Digital artist Beeple, who currently holds the record for the biggest NFT sale ever made after netting $69.3 million for his collection EVERYDAYS: The First 5,000 Days, was seen soliciting advice on Monday for his first ever purchase of an NFT profile pic.
though I have commented on this space many times through the everydays, I have never actually purchased a single pfp until now…
in the market for a punk, any pro tips??? 👀 pic.twitter.com/ZexvIsfQox
— beeple (@beeple) July 24, 2023
On Tuesday, Chinese blockchain journalist Colin Wu reported mass layoffs (30%) at the Seychelles-headquartered KuCoin exchange.
KuCoin responded that it is a normal performance appraisal. KuCoin is actively embracing compliance and focusing on core business development.
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 25, 2023
KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu dismissed the news as unfounded rumors and reiterated the company line about the firings being part of a regular performance appraisal.
3/ The crypto world changes fast. To stay on top, we regularly evaluate our org structure based on employee performance and company development. So it is not layoffs, and it is all about making the organization more dynamic and competitive.
— Johnny_KuCoin (@lyu_johnny) July 25, 2023
That day, crypto law expert @MetaLawMan wrote a thread outlining the four options he believes are left to the SEC in its ongoing lawsuit against Ripple.
SEC v. @Ripple update.
There's a lot of debate about what the SEC will do next in the Ripple case.
I believe there are at least 4 options under consideration...
— MetaLawMan (@MetaLawMan) July 25, 2023
Tweeter @SpreekAway shared news of a major exploit affecting lending protocol EraLend.
Looks like @Era_Lend exploited on zkysnc for $1.7m USDC pic.twitter.com/kyErGYbL3v
— Spreek (@spreekaway) July 25, 2023
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted a video of an around-the-block queue of people waiting to get their eyeballs scanned so they can receive free crypto from his side project Worldcoin. Worldcoin had a slightly underwhelming and controversial launch week, including a short-lived bump in the value of its native token WLD. It didn't help that Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin said the project has “major issues” of privacy, accessibility, centralization and security and said that it could take years for the protocol to work satisfactorily.
day 3 of @worldcoin launch, crazy lines around the world. one person getting verified every 8 seconds now. pic.twitter.com/vHRu1sWMT3
— Sam Altman (@sama) July 26, 2023
A grisly and deeply unfortunate crypto-related murder story made the rounds on Thursday.
BREAKING: Missing millionaire crypto influencer Fernando Pérez Algaba found dismembered in suitcase. pic.twitter.com/Rf0I0QNBm5
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) July 27, 2023
Longtime Yuga Labs hater @PopPunkOnChain said he received calls from people who took one of his troll tweets seriously. See how misinformation sticks?
I'm fucking sobbing right now.
I just got a call from a law firm based in San Diego.
The guy said they're looking to talk to former employees of Yuga Labs and they saw my tweet announcing that I had left Yuga Labs recently.
Milady world order
Log in and spread misinformation— Harrison (@PopPunkOnChain) July 26, 2023
Caution: under no circumstances should you download one particular Korean real-time strategy classic on Steam.
kingdom under fire, a korean rts on steam that originally released in 2001, has apparently been hijacked by a crypto scam company that says the blockchain acts as the master server lol pic.twitter.com/G1YNkeGyt1
— Tegiminis (@tegiminis) July 28, 2023
Jason Lowery, the author of an academic thesis about the military-strategic significance of Bitcoin, was seen doing some self promotion on Thursday. Aaand it sold out!
For those asking what's been going on w/me, I was ordered to take SOFTWAR down & asked to stop talking about the subject publicly. Doesn't appear on MIT's library either.
Can't talk details but things are good & I'm working hard behind the scenes. Appreciate the kind words.
— Jason Lowery (@JasonPLowery) July 27, 2023