JK Rowling, the world-famous author behind the popular Harry Potter fantasy novel series, tweeted on Friday that she wanted to understand what Bitcoin is. A weekend has passed and after a swarm of attention from the Bitcoin community, she wants no more to do with it.
"3. Never be flippant about Bitcoin on Twitter," she said today, on a list of things to avoid, adding, "On point 3: my mentions are still full of people trying to get me to buy Bitcoin or to explain it to me. It’s very kind of you, but I swear, I now feel fully educated on the subject."
On point 3: my mentions are still full of people trying to get me to buy Bitcoin or to explain it to me. It’s very kind of you, but I swear, I now feel fully educated on the subject.
How did this all start? Well, on May 15, JK Rowling first tweeted about Bitcoin, in response to Coindesk reporter Leigh Cuen. Over the next couple of days, she received thousands of responses from the avid cryptocurrency community, many doing what they could to try and convince Rowling about the benefits of Bitcoin—despite the tweet being directed at Cuen and civil liberties advocate Marvin Ammori, rather than the community at large.
I don’t understand bitcoin. Please explain it to me.
Several prominent figures in the crypto space also got involved, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and the mysterious owner behind the @Bitcoin Twitter account. IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson even made a whole video about it. Elon Musk then got involved—the billionaire engineer behind electric car manufacturer Tesla and space transportation services company SpaceX.
Rowling should probably heed this advice. Image: Shutterstock.
"Pretty much, although massive currency issuance by govt central banks is making Bitcoin Internet 👻 money look solid by comparison," tweeted Musk in response, following which he revealed exactly how much Bitcoin he owns.
Pretty much, although massive currency issuance by govt central banks is making Bitcoin Internet 👻 money look solid by comparison
Despite this, Rowling seemingly couldn't wrap her head around the subject, even when Bitcoin was explained in Harry Potter language. ("Wizards still need to trust Gringotts Bank. Bitcoin fixes this." said @Bitcoin.) But then things turned sour.
"This started as a joke, but now I’m afraid I’ll never be able to log in to Twitter again without someone getting angry I don’t own Bitcoin. One day you’ll see a wizened old woman in the street, trying to trade a Harry Potter book for a potato. Be kind. She did try to understand," tweeted Rowling on May 15.
Worse, several Twitter accounts were changed to resemble Rowling's own profile. Then, pretending to be her, they tweeted that she had now bought Bitcoin.
The CEO of Coinbase responded to a fake JK Rowling tweet and encouraged it to buy shitcoins pic.twitter.com/cy1zo2yCZZ
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to a fake account which proclaimed they had just bought $100 worth of Bitcoin. Armstrong urged the fake account to get onto Coinbase and start exploring the “many other cryptos out there."
Because what Rowling really wants, is to find out there's 5,000 more cryptocurrencies out there.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Grayscale has challenged the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s move to pause the debut of its exchange-traded fund that holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cardano, alleging its investors are “suffering harm” as a result of the hold-up.
In a letter dated July 8, the asset manager urged the Securities Commission to allow its Digital Large Cap Fund to begin trading.
Grayscale added that it may file a petition to force the regulator to allow its fund to begin trading as soon as possib...
SharpLink Gaming shares rose on Friday after the largest publicly traded Ethereum treasury firm said that it had acquired $30 million worth of Ethereum from the Ethereum Foundation.
SharpLink’s stock was changing hands around $20 per share, a 71% gain over the past week, according to Yahoo Finance. The performance coincides with Ethereum’s climb above $3,000 for the first time in five months, a 17% gain, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko.
The non-profit organization that funds research...
Stablecoin platform Agora has raised $50 million in a Series A round led by Paradigm, with additional backing from Dragonfly Capital, as it seeks to capitalize on growing interest in the potentially lucrative sector.
The funding will support the expansion of Agora’s all-in-one system for issuing and managing stablecoins, as well as the introduction of its new white-labeled stablecoin product, the company announced Thursday.
The raise comes as the U.S. Congress is considering stablecoin legislati...
