This Week on Crypto Twitter: Binance Faces More Insider Trading Allegations

Crypto this week was a mixed bag. After three weeks of consecutive growth, the fourth full week of 2023 saw Bitcoin prices virtually unchanged since last weekend, and while Ethereum depreciated a little, several altcoins like Aptos (APT), Axie Infinity (AXS) and Avalanche (AVAX) managed sizeable rallies. 

On Monday, Conor Grogan, a director at Coinbase, alleged that there has been some pretty obvious insider trading at Binance in the last 18 months. This is not the first time such allegations have been made.

Researchers from crypto financial services platform Matrixport last weekend said that the end of the first day of Chinese New Year is an optimal time to open up long positions in crypto, because—based on the last eight years—selling 10 days later nets an average profit of 9%. Their findings were shared widely on Monday. 

On Tuesday, crypto whale news account @unusual_whales announced the latest assets to be seized by authorities in the ongoing investigation into the now-bankrupt FTX exchange’s disgraced former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. And we all thought he was down to his last $100k!

That day, El Salvador’s Bitcoin-obsessed authoritarian President Nayib Bukele posted a multi-thread string of hit pieces criticizing his decision to coerce his country into accepting Bitcoin as legal tender. In his thread, he wants everyone to know that El Salvador is doing just fine. That day, his government paid out an $800 million bond that had matured. 

Crypto lender Genesis claims it is owed $21 million by one Roger Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus.” Roger has other ideas and responded that Genesis needs to be solvent before he fulfills his obligations, as allegedly stipulated in their contract. 

Republican U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga on Tuesday had some sharp words for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulator which has redoubled its efforts to control the crypto industry after the spate of recent bankruptcies. 

Also that day, Twitter user Paul (@darkport) found a fascinating get-out clause buried in the legal bumf of Porsche’s NFT minting page. According to Paul, a clause like this opens up discussions about the refundability of NFTs—discussions that regulators no doubt would like to hear more of. 

Twitter user @Degentraland, who regularly tweets about NFTS, on Wednesday posted hefty stats from the launch week of Yuga Labs’s new Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)-inspired, crypto-integrated arcade game Dookey Dash.

Robinhood’s official Twitter account was hacked midweek. Luckily, it was an obvious hack. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao helped raise the alarm. 

Crypto analyst Adam Cochran got offended when McDonalds’ official account appropriated some hip cryptospeak. 

On Thursday, crypto user @AutismCapital, who regularly rants about industry news stories, posted a comprehensive list of FTX creditors.

And on that note, news also emerged this week that FTX execs were throwing their capital behind disgraced New York Congressman, Republican George Soros, who is currently on the wrong end of a Department of Justice criminal probe for being—allegedly—a compulsive scammer, and certainly a liar. 

Finally, one of the Bored Ape Yacht Club founders had a somber announcement to make on Saturday and will be taking time off from the space.