This Week on Crypto Twitter: Coinbase NFT Flops, Musk Mocks NFTs, Scaramucci Pumps Algorand

By Tim Hakki

Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

Crypto traders are feeling the fear. For a start, the price of Bitcoin fell below $35,000 for the first time since January earlier this morning, though that’s hardly unexpected in light of the fact that most leading cryptocurrencies’ prices are in their fifth consecutive week of decline. 

Still, most industry pundits over on Crypto Twitter refrained from too much bearish negativity this week. The week began with a lot of screaming directed at Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) franchise creators Yuga Labs for an NFT drop last weekend that was considered shambolic by many. Decrypt covered some disgruntled reactions to the mint earlier this week.

Yuga Labs has since refunded 90.57 ETH (about $265,500) to customers who paid astronomical gas fees during the minting frenzy for transactions that failed. Yuga said “it seems abundantly clear” that it will migrate the BAYC ecosystem’s native ApeCoin token off of Ethereum and onto its own blockchain, prompting Ethereum developer Mark Beylin to call the company “con artists of the highest order.”

Also on Monday, crypto podcaster Peter McCormack had something to say about Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 119 (BIP-119). The proposal, pitched to the Bitcoin community by Bitcoin core developer Jeremy Rubin, introduces the controversial new operation code "CheckTemplateVerify'' (CTV) to the network.

CTV brings the idea of “covenants” (conditional transactions) to Bitcoin, meaning that some Bitcoin theoretically could only be spent if specific conditions are met by the wallet holder. For example, one wallet could receive a certain amount of Bitcoin, yet it might only be allowed to send the money on to whitelisted addresses.

Critics like McCormack argue that this potentially undermines the very fungibility of Bitcoin. Covenants also could leave the world’s favorite crypto susceptible to increased regulatory control.

It’s worth noting that others are keen on Rubin’s proposal, citing solid uses for CTV, including the potential to bring elements of smart contract functionality to the blockchain.

On Tuesday, Former White House communications director and current Bitcoin/Ethereum/Algorand HODLing SkyBridge CEO Anthony Scaramucci tweeted his joy at last week’s news that the world’s biggest sports association, FIFA, tapped green blockchain Algorand in a new sponsorship deal. Scaramucci tweeted his love for ALGO behind his Bitcoin-maxi laser eyes.

No, really, Scaramucci was over the moon.

Meanwhile, that same day, Dubai’s crown prince Hamdan bin Mohammed tweeted that his crypto-savvy regulators are opening an office in ... wait for it ... the metaverse! That’s definitely a more confident and dynamic regulatory approach than President Joe Biden’s underwhelming executive order. White House, pay attention!

Ethereum co-founder and CEO Vitalik Buterin jumped on a tweet from Ryan Adams that called Ethereum “not expensive” and gave us a quick update on his creation.

On Wednesday, new Twitter owner Elon Musk changed his profile pic to a BAYC collage and echoed a common sentiment among NFT critics, calling the picture “kinda fungible.”

The image’s original artist had something important to say. Musk quickly changed his profile picture again. Guess it’s not so fungible after all.

The next day, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao alerted followers of the $500 million that Binance provided for Musk’s $44 billion Twitter bid.

By Thursday, Coinbase’s new NFT marketplace had been live for a day and had only attracted 150 new active users. Nick Tomaino of crypto investment firm 1confirmation, a former Coinbase employee himself, tweeted his disappointment, saying the current Coinbase's current NFT platform "is not it." (But as Decrypt's Jeff John Roberts wrote two weekends ago, it would be foolish to dismiss Coinbase's chances at NFT success this early.)

Meta’s lead project manager for its virtual reality Horizon Worlds social game, Dare Obasanjo, highlighted the extensive gulf between people’s lofty expectations of Coinbase NFT and the stark post-launch reality.

Finally, crypto sleuth ZachXBT’s on-chain gumshoe work implicated American boxer and convicted domestic abuser Floyd Mayweather in not one, not two, but three alleged rug pull scams.

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