🚀 GM,
Grab your favorite beverage (even if it’s a little early, we won’t tell), and get ready for the juiciest headlines that have been lighting up the Internet this week! 📰
💰 Margot Robbie Shades Bitcoin, Mattel Swoons Over NFTs!
🚫 Fact Check: SEC Didn’t Tell Coinbase to Ditch Bitcoin, Phew! 🚫🔍
💻 Bald Token Rugpull Reveals SBF-Alameda Connection 🔗💥
🎨DeFi’s Post-Curve Hack Future: What Lies Ahead? 🕵️♂️💰
Margot Robbie Disses Bitcoin, Says It’s Just for ‘Kens’—While Mattel Goes NFT Crazy
📰 Margot Robbie, the fabulous star of the “Barbie” movie, recently joked about Bitcoin and the whole crypto madness. 🤣 Apparently, she and the director, Greta Gerwig, had a lot of fun teasing some of the male producers, including David Heyman (yes, the Harry Potter guy) and even her own husband, Tom Ackerly, for constantly talking about cryptocurrency during the film’s preparation.
During an interview, Robbie hilariously mimicked the guys and said, “When David and Tom would start blabbering about Bitcoin, Greta and I would be like, ‘Oh no, they’re being such Kens!'” 😂
And this “Ken” reference has become quite popular on social media, describing those vain, overconfident, and sometimes patriarchal behaviors that make us roll our eyes.
Now, here’s the funny part: while Robbie isn’t known for discussing her crypto views, the parent company behind “Barbie,” Mattel, has been more vocal about embracing blockchain technology. They see it as a fabulous way to generate revenue and keep Barbie up-to-date with the times. 💁♀️
Lisa McKnight, the Global Head of Barbie, even mentioned how they’ve been modernizing Barbie to stay in tune with culture. Mattel has been diving into the NFT market too. They teamed up with Boss Beauties, a women-led crypto media brand, to create Barbie-themed NFTs.
It’s clear that Mattel is serious about blockchain. They even launched a marketplace on the Flow blockchain, giving users the chance to buy and sell Mattel NFTs.
And as if that’s not enough, “Barbie” itself has been a mega success at the box office, raking in a whopping $775 million in just two weeks! 💰💰
Fack Check: No, SEC Did Not Ask Coinbase To Delist Bitcoin
Coinbase is denying a report claiming that their CEO, Brian Armstrong, said they were once told by the U.S. securities regulator to delist all cryptocurrencies on their platform except for Bitcoin. 🚫📉
According to an interview with the Financial Times, Armstrong supposedly claimed that the SEC wanted Coinbase to kick out around 250 tokens before they even filed a lawsuit against them. Talk about a dramatic entrance! 💥 But hold your horses, because Coinbase is having none of it! They’re saying the FT report lacks context and accuracy. 🤔
A spokesperson from Coinbase clarified that the SEC didn’t specifically request the delisting of any assets. Apparently, such a request would require a majority vote from the SEC’s commissioners.
The spokesperson mentioned that the views shared in the FT article might have represented the views of some SEC staff at the time, but not the Commission as a whole. Looks like there are differing opinions within the regulatory agency. 🤷♂️
The SEC, in response to the FT, stated that its enforcement division doesn’t formally ask companies to delist crypto assets. However, their staff may share their views on actions that could violate securities laws. In other words, they may chime in with their thoughts, but it’s not an official request. 🗣️📝
Bald Token Rugpull Reveals Connection to SBF, Alameda
The rug-pulling of the meme coin BALD sure has quite the cast of characters involved! 🎬
🚀 But here’s the burning question: Is our buddy Sam Bankman-Fried in the mix? 👀
According to some on-chain data, there seem to be interactions between BALD’s deployer contract and a wallet belonging to Alameda Research, the trading company founded and controlled by none other than Bankman-Fried himself.
🕵️♂️ These findings were cited by blockchain sleuths on Twitter (or should I say the platform formally known as Twitter).
Apparently, another wallet address has also been tied to Alameda, showing some serious technical capabilities and being quite the savvy DeFi user. This wallet was even active on popular exchanges like Binance, FTX, and Coinbase, and was heavily involved in early DeFi projects like Yearn Finance and Cream. 🤓
Now, before we jump to conclusions, let’s hear what Igor Igamberdiev, Wintermute’s head of research, has to say. He believes that while the actions point towards someone from Alameda, it’s unlikely to be our friend Bankman-Fried himself. 🧐 According to Igor, the track record and lack of interaction with other players suggest that someone else from Alameda might be responsible.
Over the weekend, the hunt for meme coin fortunes led traders to flock to Coinbase’s new blockchain called Base.
This blockchain, mind you, isn’t even officially open to the public yet. Still, that didn’t stop people from pouring in over $68 million in ether and generating over $200 million in trading volumes. And what were they trading? BALD tokens, of course! 😅
Things seemed promising for a while, with BALD’s market cap skyrocketing to $85 million. Some lucky traders even turned $500 into over $1.4 million!
But then, on Monday, the BALD deployers decided to pull the rug out from under everyone’s feet. They swiftly and without warning removed millions of dollars in liquidity, leaving thousands of holders in a state of panic. As you can imagine, prices plummeted as people scrambled for the exits, with some experiencing a whopping 90% loss. ! 😱
Now, here’s the funny part: all of this madness happened on a blockchain that isn’t even fully open yet! 😂 Base, created by Coinbase, is still in its testing phase and won’t officially launch until later this year. But that didn’t stop the meme coin frenzy from taking over.
So, back to the original question: Is Bankman-Fried involved in this wild roller coaster ride?
Well, probably not. You see, as part of his bail conditions, dear Sam’s internet access is highly restricted. He’s only allowed to visit a limited selection of news, sports, and educational websites, and he’s even stuck using a good ol’ flip phone. 📵 So it’s safe to say that this rug-pulling escapade is likely not his doing.
Editor’s Wrap: After the Curve Hack: What’s Next for DeFi?
The world of decentralized finance (DeFi) has certainly been hit with a string of attacks lately! 💥 And the bad guys made off with a whopping $70 million, including a heist on Curve Finance, one of the biggest decentralized exchanges out there.
The attacks didn’t stop at Curve. Lending protocol Alchemix, yield platform Pendle, synthetic asset tool Metronome, and even the decentralized NFT protocol JPEG all got some unwanted attention from these sneaky hackers. They were like a bunch of crypto ninjas, striking wherever they could. 🦹♂️🕵️♀️
Predictably, the chaos sent shockwaves through the DeFi world. Lenders panicked and started withdrawing their funds from other platforms like Aave, causing borrowing fees to soar. It was like a DeFi roller coaster ride, and not the fun kind. 🎢 The Defiant even reported that things could have been worse if it weren’t for those white-hat hackers (the good guys) swooping in to save the day. 🦸♂️
Now, let’s get technical for a moment. These attacks seem to be exploiting vulnerabilities in a programming language called Vyper, which is used to launch smart contracts on Ethereum. The smart contract wizards behind Vyper, who were backed by the Curve team, revealed that older versions of the language were susceptible to “reentrancy” attacks. 🐍 Well, it seems like somebody skipped their spell-checking classes.
You might think that crypto hacks are rare since stolen funds can easily be tracked on the blockchain. But oh no, my friend, that’s not the case. 😬 In fact, according to CertiK, a security audit firm, crypto users lost a mind-boggling $303 million from exploits in July 2023 alone! It’s like a digital game of hide-and-seek, except everyone can see where the hidden treasure is.
All this chaos has certainly made people question the future of decentralized exchanges (DEXes). Just when we thought we had UniswapX on the horizon, promising lower transaction fees and off-chain mechanics, the DeFi world gets a reality check. Some are even considering moving aspects of crypto-trading off-chain to ensure “best execution.” It’s like taking a detour in the middle of a wild roller coaster ride, hoping it will make things smoother. 🎢
But hold on a second! Doesn’t all this recent drama show that even on-chain trade execution can go terribly wrong? 🤔 It feels like a super risky move to give up the one thing that blockchain brings to the table: immutability and transparency. Sure, we all want innovation and lower costs, but shouldn’t we iron out the kinks in crypto first before diving headfirst into a brave new world?
Meme Coin Corner
💰Dogecoin: Two more roadblocks to 2023 highs
🚀Shiba Inu Lead Shytoshi Kusama Makes Major BONE Minting Move
🔥PEPE Stuck in a Narrow Price Range While SHIB and BONE Surge
Top Reddits This Week That Got Our Attention
A Veteran’s Approach to Bitcoin and Patriotic Defiance with Mike Hobart
How does bitcoin help prevent inflation?
Imagine we’re in 2030 and after WW3 all current fiat currencies have collapsed. Slowly bitcoin takes hold as the only hard money still available to exchange for goods and services…
12 years ago, Satoshi stopped contributing to bitcoin
He said the project was in good hands “for everyone.” Today, only 0.06% of the lines of code in the Bitcoin Core repository remain unchanged since Satoshi wrote them. We are all Satoshi!”
Twice weekly crypto goodness, coming your way! Catch us every Tuesday and Friday. Mondays, read our All-In-One crypto newsletter. And hey, don’t forget to check us out on Wednesdays for all the latest AI news – because why limit yourself to just one kind of intelligence?
