This Week on Crypto Twitter: CZ Calls Out Justin Sun, Sun Apologizes

The Fed’s mid-week announcement of the tenth consecutive interest rate hike since March 2022 capped crypto’s growth this week, leaving many leading cryptocurrencies level with—or a little south of—the prices they were trading at this time last week. 

On Monday, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao flagged Tron CEO Justin Sun’s $56 million token transfer to the exchange, suggesting the Tron founder might use the funds to farm a soon-to-be-launched token called SUI.

Sun immediately set the record straight on his end, calling the transfer a mistake and offering CZ an apology. Tron reps later confirmed to Decrypt that the refund had been executed.

Zhao’s argument that Binance’s launchpool airdrops are “for our retail users” has broader significance when you consider the not-so-retail-friendly token distribution of SUI, as seen in this chart by crypto analyst Tom Dunleavy (@Dunleavy89). 

Crypto researcher and critic Molly White (@Molly0xFFF) called out the “super weird reporting” around Binance’s claims that somebody with links in Congress is using ChatGPT to launch a smear campaign against it.  

Democrat 2024 Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday added to the conspiracy theories on Crypto Twitter when he said he believes there is a top-down “war on crypto” that had something to do with the recent collapses of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate and Signature. Looks like Kennedy is getting ready to doxx himself as a man of the (crypto) people. 

Web3 enthusiast and NFT collector Moritz (@Moritz_Web3) on Wednesday synthesized fifteen different media reports to start a rumor that Amazon will launch an NFT marketplace on May 15. He makes some big claims over the course of his fourteen-tweet thread. 

Seb Krier, the International Policy Manager at Google’s Deepmind, tweeted news on Thursday of the White House’s cooperation with tech giants to ensure responsible AI innovation. Twitter/Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk added his two cents. 

El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib Bukele, who made Bitcoin legal tender in his country, on Thursday announced that he signed into law an act that aims to help develop the country’s tech sector. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Friday her “nation-leading legislation to tighten regulations on the cryptocurrency industry.” 

 Remember last week when electro-pop star Grimes offered an even split on royalties for any creator who succeeds in crafting a pop hit using her AI-generated voice? She appeared to be encountering some difficulties in the venture this week. 

Finally, NFT enthusiast @CirrusNFT followed the trail of hype from one project to another.