This Week on Crypto Twitter: EU to Vote on Legislation, Pop Star Sia Lays Claim to NFT Persona

Once again emerging as the week's top topic was geopolitics, with both the U.S. and European Union moving closer to a comprehensive framework for regulating crypto.

The European Parliament on Monday is scheduled to vote on a legislative package called the Markets in Crypto-Assets Directive (MiCA). Stefan Berger, chairman of the Parliament’s economics committee and chief architect of the directive, confirmed on Monday the vote was upcoming and hinted at a few items that may be included.

Voting on the directive originally was scheduled for February 28, but, as Berger noted, it was delayed over concerns the draft package “might be misinterpreted as a de facto Bitcoin ban.” The ambiguous language has since been clarified, with Berger hinting that crypto will fall under the remit of the EU’s taxonomy for sustainable activities.

With the EU seeking to be carbon neutral by 2050, the fate of energy-intensive proof-of-work Bitcoin mining remains up in the air.

Across the pond, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order asking existing federal agencies—the FTC, the SEC, and the CFTC—to coordinate regulation efforts, as U.S. policymakers seek better means to manage the crypto boom while minimizing potentially negative effects on consumers, businesses, and investors.

Reactions varied wildly. Jeremy Allaire, co-founder of payments company and stablecoin issuer Circle, called it a “watershed moment for crypto, digital assets, and Web 3, akin to the 1996/1997 whole of government wakeup to the commercial internet.”

But Bitcoin maxi and ShapeShift founder Erik Voorhees was less enthused, writing: “The crypto Executive Order basically says ‘we're going to look into this stuff’ (as if they haven't been for years) and then lists a number of platitudes about balancing innovation with protecting the financial system.” He signed off: “A perfectly political communication.”

Meanwhile, Bitcoin HODLing Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming is working on a bill to incorporate crypto into the U.S. taxation system. She's been working on the Responsible Financial Innovation Act since last year, and on Wednesday tweeted that she’s “putting the final touches on it.”

Gender inequality

On Tuesday, Twitter’s much-valued non-binary Web3 and NFT educator Dame announced their firing from Ethereum wallet Rainbow.me, a decision over which they're “heartbroken.”

Dame has been mentioned in this column before—just last month, in fact, they were victim of horrific transphobic abuse that was sent through blockchain messages. It’s worth clarifying that Dame isn’t trans, but whoever wrote the messages had assumed that.

In Tuesday’s thread, Dame called out their boss for publicly tweeting misogyny while they were being harassed: “The day that I was receiving the worst day of mass harassment, threats, doxxing, a hit piece, and had to call the police… you know what my boss was tweeting all day about? Boobs.”

Dame added that they'll “share more later” and that their firing was “a direct result of my public efforts to advance diversity & inclusion within the crypto space.”

On Saturday, Meta Angels NFT creator Allyson Downey spotted an extremely disturbing NFT collection apparently for sale, tweeting a screenshot of the so-called Pooping Ladies and adding: “Dear Web3, We need to talk. Sincerely, All Women.”

In a tweet sure to elicit both envy and awe, and one that shows how much crypto has matured, Whale Alert reported on Thursday that an address dormant for more than a decade had been activated—and it contained more than $20 million in BTC. In 2010, those 489 BTC were worth about $50.

Big, if true

Elsewhere, pop star Sia on Tuesday claimed she's the persona behind the NFT-collecting Twitter influencer @BiancaMedici69.

But eagle-eyed Twitter user @Ape2047 wasn't convinced, linking to a tweet by Snoop Dogg in which he claimed to be Bianca Medici’s “grandfather” Cozomo. Are Sia and Snoop Dogg just trolling us together?

And finally, Jamie Burke, CEO of metaverse company Outlier Ventures, tweeted some potentially massive gossip on Saturday: “Rumour is Disney is about to make a big NFT acquisition.”

Details on any possible deal were scarce, but a global brand making a sizable NFT acquisition does call to mind how Nike announced three months ago it was buying RTFKT Studios.