There’s no need to keep up with cryptocurrency news on a daily basis when Decentral Publishing brings you the most important and interesting topics of the week. Welcome to the Decentral Weekly Crypto News Wrap-Up, where our colleagues Neil and Em review trending crypto news and debate, declare, or deny: “Is this a thing?”
This week’s news includes Elon not being able to stop Shiba’s success, Walmart letting you buy Bitcoin (at a hefty price), Mastercard getting into the mix, and the dystopian future that Worldcoin thinks we deserve.
Elon shade can’t stop Shiba Inu
When it comes to crypto, there appears to be a “new dog” in town. Shiba Inu has gone on quite a run recently, even doubling within the past week. Over the past month, Shiba Inu has increased in value by over 700%.
It’s the latest dog-inspired cryptocurrency that is often compared to Dogecoin, another dog-inspired token that originally started as a joke. Its supporters even describe the cryptocurrency as the “dogecoin killer,” and it’s been described as such in cryptocurrency news headlines.
Elon Musk has been open that he supports Dogecoin, but he recently confirmed on Twitter that he didn’t own any Shiba Inu tokens. This didn’t stop an unknown whale from purchasing over $11 million in Shiba Inu cryptocurrency, sparking what many consider to be a “meme coin war.” The purchase helped propel the Shibu token, SHIB, to new all-time highs.
Neil says:
I’m not a fan of Elon’s ability to affect the price of a cryptocurrency that much. It kind of goes to show that even with decentralization, Elon still has a massive amount of influence. The one good thing here is that he couldn’t stop Shiba, so maybe that’s changing.
Em says:
Everyone likes to dog (ba dum tss) on Elon for being such a DOGE shill. And, of course, it’s funny to see him get answered by SHIB, but I’m all for meme coin wars. It’s fun, it’s part of crypto culture, increases awareness, and takes retail degens out of the serious hodl positions. I say keep it going.
Bottom line:
Neil doesn’t think Elon’s influence is a good thing, but Emily thinks meme coin wars serve a purpose.
What do you think about the meme coin wars??
Comment on twitter using the hashtag #memewars and tag @decentralpub –> your tweet could be featured in an upcoming shout out
Crypto gets political
While many politicians are questioning the legitimacy of cryptocurrency, Rand Paul is taking a very pro-crypto stance recently. Paul said that he was now thinking about whether cryptocurrency could become the world’s reserve currency, and eventually replace the dollar. He made the comments in an interview that aired last Sunday on Axios.
Rand Paul is a well-known Republican senator from Kentucky. This isn’t the first time that Paul has made crypto news. He previously made headlines in 2015 when he announced that his campaign would accept Bitcoin donations.
Paul thinks that part of the reason the cryptocurrency sector has grown so much was because more people worldwide were losing trust in government. Paul is quite the controversial figure, as he made headlines for being banned from YouTube for his claims about the COVID-19 pandemic.
In other political cryptocurrency news, Matt West, a former Yearn.Finance developer, is running for Congress. West will be running as a Democrat and will have a pro-crypto platform.
Neil says:
I think more politicians should be talking about crypto, but I’m not sure whether Rand Paul really cares about crypto. I have to admit a bias here—this guy isn’t really the best advocate, in my opinion. Pro-crypto or not, he doesn’t seem too big on transparency.
Em says:
Lots of people don’t like Rand Paul, so maybe it’s bad PR. But his small-government politics can fit pretty well into the decentralization and take-back-our-finances attitude of a lot of crypto enthusiasts. Plus, we need pro- crypto politicians; so, I say this is a good thing, whichever side you’re on politically.
Bottom line:
Neil thinks Rand Paul isn’t the crypto advocate we need, Emily thinks this is a good thing regardless.
Do you agree with Neil or Em?
Facebook's whistleblower lives off of crypto
One of the biggest news stories these days is the fact that there is a Facebook whistleblower. Her name is Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, and she has turned over tens of thousands of internal documents to journalists. Facebook has even changed its name to Meta in the wake of the whistleblower news.
What would a Facebook whistleblower have to do with crypto news? Well, believe it or not: she says that she’s financially stable because of crypto. Haugen even told The New York Times that she moved to Puerto Rico specifically to be with her “crypto friends.” Puerto Rico is a favorite destination among crypto millionaires.
Neil says:
Facebook is definitely dealing with all sorts of optics issues right now, and it’s definitely interesting that she can make a living while also sticking to her morals. I’m not sure where the billionaire backing plays into this…but I also do know that Facebook doesn’t care about privacy at all. I guess this is a net positive in terms of crypto news.
Em says:
I don’t know if anyone is beating anyone when it comes to big tech vs government. They all have their reasons for crypto dreams and I’m sus that any of those have to do with democratizing data or finances. Call me a cynic, but I think the whole controversy was manufactured and I don’t care about it.
Bottom line:
Neil thinks it’s a good thing overall, Emily disagrees about intentions and agenda.
Who’s right? Weigh in.
Ether keeps outperforming itself
Many crypto investors and traders have been eager to find the next undervalued crypto gem, but Ether has already performed incredibly over the past year. Many have been anticipating a rise in price given the fact that the Altair Upgrade will help Ethereum become more environmentally-friendly. Ether has since reached new all-time highs.
Ether remains the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world. The Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain update has apparently gone smoothly, with the vast majority of nodes already upgraded. The upgrade will reportedly help Ethereum become faster and more scalable.
Neil says:
Ethereum will continue to make new all-time highs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it rises in value over the next year even more than Bitcoin.
Em says:
What the price of ETH is doing today or in the last 12 months probably won’t matter that much if they don’t find a solution to high gas prices and slow throughput. People are waiting for Eth2.0 and even big players (like the second biggest blockchain) can get rekt if they’re outpaced by new solutions…just ask Kodak.
Bottom line:
Neil thinks this is a good thing, Emily thinks that Ethereum needs more changes.
Who do you agree with?
Walmart wants all your ATM fees
It’s always good crypto news when a financial services giant joins the crypto sector, and that’s exactly what happened with Mastercard. Mastercard teamed up with Bakkt and will now be offering cryptocurrency card payments.
There are 2.8 billion Mastercards in use, so this is obviously good cryptocurrency news for those hoping for mass adoption. What percentage of Mastercard holders will begin spending crypto? That remains to be seen. Shares of Bakkt, which only recently began trading publicly, rose over 200% on the news.
Is this just another standard corporate crypto announcement, or will Mastercard help more everyday people get into the markets? Does this REALLY lower the barrier for entry, or is it more of a symbolic move?
Neil says:
Wow…these fees are absolutely insane. This isn’t worth it, even for crypto to be accessible at Walmart. I think this is 100% a bad thing.
Em says:
I see these crypto ATMs as just a novelty to capitalize on the crypto space and make money. If you’re dumb enough to get taken by those fees, they saw you coming. You’ll make a beautiful couple—invite me to the wedding.
Bottom line:
Neil thinks this is a bad idea, and Emily thinks it’s a good idea if you’re dumb enough to fall for it.
Who’s right? Weigh in.
Mastercard + crypto = everywhere you want to be
It’s always good crypto news when a financial services giant joins the crypto sector, and that’s exactly what happened with Mastercard. Mastercard teamed up with Bakkt and will now be offering cryptocurrency card payments.
There are 2.8 billion Mastercards in use, so this is obviously good cryptocurrency news for those hoping for mass adoption. What percentage of Mastercard holders will begin spending crypto? That remains to be seen. Shares of Bakkt, which only recently began trading publicly, rose over 200% on the news.
Is this just another standard corporate crypto announcement, or will Mastercard help more everyday people get into the markets? Does this REALLY lower the barrier for entry, or is it more of a symbolic move?
Neil says:
I used to think that these announcements were a big deal, but I’m not too sure about that anymore. I think the real challenge here is getting people to make everyday purchases in crypto, but these announcements by corporations don’t really move the needle much. It’s good crypto news, but it’s not groundbreaking. I think it’s mostly symbolic.
Em says:
At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite after just ripping Walmart… I say go for it, Mastercard. This is probably also not a great opportunity for serious crypto users as merchants will likely take the same big cuts they always do. But if we’re going to get mass adoption, there’s probably a customer-gouging phase that has to happen in the meantime
Bottom line:
Neil thinks this isn’t a big deal, Emily thinks this can help mass adoption.
Who’s right? Weigh in.
Bad idea of the week: Worldcoin wants to see your iris
Sometimes, there’s crypto news that isn’t just positive or negative: it’s downright depressing. This is certainly the case with Worldcoin, a Layer-2 Ethereum cryptocurrency hoping to be more scalable than Bitcoin. The goal is ambitious: the startup wants to distribute a universal basic income, or UBI, to citizens all over the world.
There’s ONE little tiny baby minor catch [sarcasm]: Worldcoin wants to scan your eyeballs. It wants to do this with a device called “The Orb,” which is already being used in a pilot program in countries like Chile, Kenya, France, Indonesia, and more.
One of the wildest aspects of this story is the way that Sam Altman, CEO of Worldcoin, responded. He seemed genuinely surprised at the fact that millions of people weren’t excited about getting their retina scanned, and said in a tweet that this discourse was all an “interesting update” for him. When Edward Snowden is criticizing you about data privacy, it’s safe to say that you may want to hire a PR firm of some kind.
Neil says:
This is just depressing and dystopian all around. I can’t really believe that he thought this was a good idea, even if his intentions are for a universal basic income.
Em says:
Yay! Let’s all submit our biomedical information into a database ‘cause that’s in keeping with the security concerns of cryptography and decentralization. [sarcasm.] Seriously, what made him think the crypto community would take kindly to this idea? LOL
Bottom line:
Both Neil and Em agree that a crypto startup asking for your eyeballs is a bit too much.
Do you agree?
Meme of the week
We hope you enjoyed your weekly wrap-up of the cryptocurrency news!
Here is your beloved meme of the week.
This meme is possible thanks to Worldcoin, because we are still stunned that they thought scanning eyeballs worldwide would appeal to a community that values privacy. See you next week!
