Coinbase Fails, Florida Bans CBDCs, Ordinals Face Controversy: Hodler's Digest, May 7-13

Table of Contents

Coinbase calls Pepe a “symbol of hate,” calling for a boycott of the exchange

An email sent to Coinbase customers calling the Pepe the Frog meme a “hate symbol” chosen by alt-right groups sparked outrage from the PEPE memecoin community this week. Two hours after the email was sent, the hashtag “#deletecoinbase” hit Twitter’s trending sidebar, with more than 14,000 comments calling on users to boycott the exchange. Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, took to Twitter to respond to the outcry and apologized: “We screwed up and we’re sorry.”

Florida governor signs CBDC bill into law, restricting certain US and foreign CBDC uses

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill restricting the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the state. The new law prohibits the use of a US Federal Reserve digital currency “as funds within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).” It also bans the use of CBDCs issued by foreign governments and calls on other countries to use their trade tokens to enforce a similar ban. DeSantis said he was prompted to take action by White House studies of new financial technology. The law goes into effect on July 1.

Milady memecoin surges 5,250% after Musk’s tweet, exchange lists

Milady (LADYS), a self-organizing memecoin based on the anime avatar NFT pool of the same name, rose more than 5,250% on May 11 after Elon Musk tweeted a meme using Milady NFT images. The tweet also boosted the group’s average selling price. “LADYS is a meme currency with no intrinsic value or expectation of a financial return. There is no official team or roadmap,” said the token developers. “The coin is completely useless and for entertainment purposes only.”

Ordinal Elements Good or Bad for Bitcoin? Supporters and opponents raise their voices

Bitcoin Ordinals continues to inspire discussion among the Bitcoin community. Soon after its introduction in January 2023, opponents of the technology began raising concerns about its perceived flaws, citing slow speeds and high transaction costs. Meanwhile, its supporters claim the arrangements provide more opportunities, improve decentralization and guarantee freedom of expression. This technology makes it possible to add text, images and code on satoshi – the smallest unit of Bitcoin.

To Catch a Fraudster: Kraken Creates Fake Crypto Accounts for ‘Bait’ Fraudsters

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has introduced a new method for reporting malicious wallets – building a fake crypto environment to “fool” bad actors. Kraken has created a “custom environment” for popular streamers Kitboga to thwart a scammer posing as US President Joe Biden. The letter comes when Kitboga, who portrays an elderly person with a balance of $450,000 in Bitcoin, enrages the fraudster by incorrectly typing his wallet address before sending all the money.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) in $26,707ether (ETH) in 1803 US dollars And XRP in 0.43 USD. The total market value of $1.12 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, Kava was the three biggest gainers of the week (reward) At 15.28%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) by 5.19% and PAX is gold (PAXG) by 0.20%.

The three biggest altcoin losers for the week are Pepe (beep) at -54.43%, PancakeSwap (cake) by -27.15% and WOO Network (woo) -24.48%.

For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most memorable quotes

“A mass cessation of AI training, along with current trends that seem to deprioritize investment in AI ethics efforts in the industry, will only lead to more harm and setbacks.”

Christina MontgomeryChief Privacy and Trust Officer at IBM

“Tokenization of real-world assets may provide an unprecedented opportunity to create new market infrastructure and drive efficiency in trading products around the world.”

Cathy ClayExecutive Vice President, Global Data and Digital Solutions, Cboe Global Markets

“Metaverse is dead! Let’s get online so our 600 million monthly active users of Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, PUBG Mobile, Sandbox, and VRChat can mourn their passing together in real-time 3D.”

Tim SweeneyCEO of Epic Games

“We failed and we’re sorry [about comments regarding Pepe the Frog]. “

Paul GrewalCoinbase’s chief legal officer

“People are actually adopting [crypto] within their wallets. Whether you’re talking about the retail side or the high net worth people or the institutional investors, everyone is looking at their portfolios and trying to get that kind of exposure.”

Neil TanChairman of the Hong Kong FinTech Association

“The main lessons learned from the Terra LUNA crash include due diligence. Doing due diligence on every project will save potential investors from future pain.”

Obinna Uche UzoijeTwitter Analyst

predict the week

Bitcoin enters $26K “bearadise” as BTC price nears two-month lows

Bitcoin approached a two-month low on May 12 amid fears that a “head and shoulders” pattern will put sellers ahead.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $26,100 on Bitstamp — its lowest since March 17. Despite encouraging macroeconomic conditions for risky assets, Bitcoin failed to capitalize on potential for gains as bid liquidity declined.

This “head and shoulders pattern” will create a negative precedent if confirmed. “We simply can’t let Bitcoin win head and shoulders,” the pseudonymous financial commentator Tedtalksmacro said, before adding that if Bitcoin were to rise again above $27K, things could get “very exciting.”

FUD week

The Pepe memecoin craze is getting unwanted attention from scammers

The bad actors noticed the hype surrounding Pepe memecoin, which led to scam attempts that now plague the crypto community. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, at least 10 memecoin scams have been generated over the past few days. The company has reported scam codes that have had their liquidity removed recently, which has led to investors being ripped off. Locations of Pepe’s fake claims began to spread increasingly on Twitter.

‘Bitcoin is not under attack:’ BTC maxis calm DoS attack fears

A sudden spike in Bitcoin transaction fees and unconfirmed transactions has raised concerns on Crypto Twitter throughout the week about a possible denial-of-service attack on the network. Bitcoin transaction fees averaged $19.20 on May 8, according to BitInfoCharts, while the transaction backlog stood at 459,341 on the same day. The increased demand on the network even caused the total fee per block to temporarily exceed the block subsidy reward of 6.25 BTC. Bitcoin analysts and commentators were quick to assuage the community’s concerns.

ParaSpace team clashes with CEO over alleged whereabouts of protocol funds

NFT protocol ParaSpace has published several alleged irregularities linking its CEO Yubo Ruan to mismanaging funds equivalent to 2,909 Ether. The money had previously been stolen during a hack, but was later recovered thanks to the White Hats. However, Roan only returned a portion of the money to the Protocol Treasury. ParaSpace employees are now in full control of the protocol and are calling for Rowan to step down. The CEO denied any wrongdoing.

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