Illustration by Mitchell Priefer for Decryption
This week has seen several surprising developments in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, some positive and some worrying.
On Monday, an Ethereum NFT was released for the image that inspired the Dogwifat meme and ultimately billions of dollars. Same angle A phenomenon sold at auction – for a huge sum $4.3 million worth ETH.
This sale price immediately made Dogwifhat the most expensive meme-inspired NFT ever sold, leading to its elimination Doge, former champion in that category. Dogwifat's price has risen by more than $3 but has stabilized at approximately $2.25 as of writing.
The stunning sell-off signals a return to the health and potential of the memecoin economy Full back throat From the NFT market.
The South Korean owners of Achi, the dog featured in the Dogwifhat meme, later revealed that the payday from the NFT sale was much, much more than they ever expected. roadsaid the pseudonymous facilitator of the Dogwifhat NFT sale Decryption The same.
On the same day as the historic Dogwifat sale, Binance found itself embroiled in a minor controversy afterwards Accusations were circulated on Twitter that a company employee may have been behind a suspiciously timed purchase of a new meme coin, BOME, which was shortly thereafter listed on a cryptocurrency exchange — a development that sent the token's price soaring.
The hype — fueled in part by the secrecy surrounding how Binance makes key decisions about which coins to list on its platforms — quickly grew large enough that the company felt obligated to respond.
In a statement published on On Binance's Chinese-language Twitter account, the company referred to the matter as the “so-called BOME rat warehouse incident” and said it conducted an internal investigation that concluded that the transaction in question was not conducted by a Binance employee.
However, Twitter users still argue that Binance should be more transparent about its token listing process. For example, BOME was listed just two days after its inception, a somewhat unusual move in an industry where such decisions often take months.
However, the biggest surprise of the week came on Wednesday, when reports emerged that the Ethereum Foundation – the Swiss organization that manages the network's technical operations – is currently working on under investigation By an unnamed “state authority”.
While the state authority involved has not yet been officially confirmed, subsequent reports have confirmed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also subpoenaed US cryptocurrency companies over their ties to the Ethereum Foundation – raising concerns that the SEC may… Preparing to conduct an investigation. Peace be upon you, Mary. The attack on the Ethereum network itself.
Some Twitter users immediately ignored this news, likely emboldened by what happened recently from the Securities and Exchange Commission. string to Related to encryption Setbacks In federal court.
However, others cautioned that — regardless of previous findings — the prospect of a US government-backed effort to censure one of the most important technical teams in the cryptocurrency ecosystem is no laughing matter.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
