Top Stories This Week

Coinbase calls Pepe a ‘hate symbol,’ prompting calls to boycott the exchange

An email sent out to Coinbase customers describing the Pepe the Frog meme as a “hate symbol” co-opted by alt-right groups has drawn significant ire from the PEPE memecoin community this week. Two hours after the email was sent, the hashtag “#deletecoinbase” hit the trending sidebar on Twitter, with over 14,000 comments calling on users to boycott the exchange. Paul Grewal, the Coinbase’s chief legal officer, took to Twitter to respond to the outrage and apologized: “We screwed up and we are sorry.”

Florida governor signs CBDC bill into law, restricting some uses of US and foreign CBDCs

United State’s Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill restricting the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the state. The new law prohibits the use of a United States federal CBDC “as money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).” It also bans the use of CBDCs issued by foreign governments and calls on other states to use their commercial codes to institute similar prohibitions. DeSantis said he was spurred into action by White House studies of the new financial technology. The law takes effect on July 1.

Milady memecoin surges 5,250% after Musk tweet, exchange listings

Milady (LADYS), the self-organized memecoin based on the anime avatar NFT collection of the same name, surged by over 5,250% on May 11 after Elon Musk tweeted a meme using the imagery of a Milady NFT. The tweet also boosted the collection’s average sale price. “LADYS is a meme coin without any intrinsic value or expectation of financial return. There is no formal team or roadmap,” said the token developers. “The coin is completely useless and for entertainment purposes only.”

Ordinals good or bad for Bitcoin? Supporters and opposers raise voices

Bitcoin Ordinals continue to inspire debate among the Bitcoin community. Soon after their introduction in January 2023, opponents of the technology began to raise concerns about its perceived flaws, citing slow speeds and rising transaction costs. Meanwhile, its supporters claim that the ordinals provide more opportunity, improve decentralization and ensure freedom of expression. The technology enables adding text, images and code on a satoshi — the smallest unit of Bitcoin.

To catch a scammer: Kraken builds fake crypto account to ‘bait’ fraudsters

Crypto exchange Kraken has provided a novel method for flagging malicious wallets — building a fake crypto environment to “scam bait” bad actors. Kraken created the “custom environment” for popular streamer Kitboga to frustrate a scammer posing as U.S. President Joe Biden. The punchline comes when Kitboga, who portrays an elderly person with a $450,000 balance in Bitcoin, infuriates the scammer after incorrectly typing his wallet address before sending over all of the funds.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $26,707, Ether (ETH) at $1,803 and XRP at $0.43. The total market cap is at $1.12 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Kava (KAVA) at 15.28%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) at 5.19% and PAX Gold (PAXG) at 0.20%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) at -54.43%, PancakeSwap (CAKE) at -27.15% and WOO Network (WOO) -24.48%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“A blanket pause on AI’s training, together with existing trends that seem to be de-prioritizing investment in industry AI ethics efforts, will only lead to additional harm and setbacks.”

Christina Montgomery, chief privacy and trust officer at IBM

“The tokenization of real-world assets may offer an unprecedented opportunity to create new market infrastructure and drive efficiency in the trading of products across the globe.”

Cathy Clay, executive vice president, global digital and data solutions at Cboe Global Markets

“The metaverse is dead! Let’s organize an online wake so that we 600,000,000 monthly active users in Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, PUBG Mobile, Sandbox, and VRChat can mourn its passing together in real-time 3D.”

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games

“We screwed up and we are sorry [about comments regarding Pepe the Frog].”

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase

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

Neil Tan, chair of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong

“The key lessons learned from the Terra LUNA crash include proper diligence. Doing due diligence on each project would save potential investors future heartache.”

Obinna Uche Uzoije, Twitter analyst

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin enters $26K ‘bearadise’ as BTC price approaches 2-month lows

Bitcoin neared two-month lows on May 12 amid fears that a “head-and-shoulders” pattern would put bears 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 risk assets, Bitcoin failed to capitalize on the potential for gains as bid liquidity headed lower.

This “head-and-shoulders pattern” would create a negative precedent if confirmed. “We simply cannot let the #Bitcoin head and shoulders crowd win,” said pseudonymous financial commentator Tedtalksmacro, before adding that if Bitcoin climbs back above $27k things could get “very interesting.”

FUD of the Week 

Bad actors have taken notice of the hype surrounding the Pepe memecoin, resulting in scam attempts that now plague the crypto community. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, at least 10 memecoin scams have been created over the past few days. The firm reported scam tokens that recently had their liquidity removed, rug-pulling investors. Fake Pepe claim sites are also starting to become increasingly common on Twitter.

‘Bitcoin is not under attack:’ BTC maxis allay fears of a DoS offensive

A sudden rise in Bitcoin transaction fees and unconfirmed transactions sparked concern on Crypto Twitter over the week about a potential denial-of-service attack on the network. Bitcoin average transaction fees were at $19.20 on May 8, according to BitInfoCharts, while the backlog of transactions stood at 459,341 on the same day. The increased demand on the network has even caused total fees per block to temporarily exceed the block subsidy reward of 6.25 BTC. Bitcoin analysts and commentators have rushed to allay community fears.

ParaSpace team clashes with CEO over alleged whereabouts of protocol funds

NFT protocol ParaSpace published several alleged irregularities tying its CEO Yubo Ruan to mismanagement of funds equaling 2,909 Ether. The funds had previously been stolen during a hack, but were later recovered thanks to white hats. Ruan, however, returned only a portion of the funds to the protocol treasury. ParaSpace employees have now taken full control of the protocol and are calling on Ruan to step down. The CEO denied any wrongdoing.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Cryptocurrency trading addiction: What to look out for and how it is treated

Treatment centers are seeing an uptick in clients struggling with cryptocurrency addiction. Although the symptoms are not difficult to spot, some crypto traders may not even be aware of what’s troubling them.

$3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin: The Silk Road hacker’s story

The Silk Road hacker lived the high life for a decade with his stolen billions — but was caught due to a transfer of pocket change.

William Clemente III tips Bitcoin will hit six figures toward end of 2024: Hall of Flame

Will Clemente III ditched school to become a crypto analyst and says Bitcoin has a strong chance of hitting six figures toward the end of 2024.

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Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of the most relevant crypto and economic development news from Latin America during the last week. In this issue, Bolivia passes a law to sell gold for dollars, the Central Bank of Argentina bans fintech companies from using crypto, and Fitch improves El Salvador’s credit rating.

Bolivia Passes Law to Sell Gold for Dollars

Bolivia recently passed a law that will allow the government to sell up to 50% of its gold reserves in dollars, easing the internal scarcity of dollars. The law gives faculties to the government to negotiate the sale of 22 tons of gold out of the almost 44 available in the local reserves.

The initiative had been presented back in 2021, but it was only recently rescued and passed by the Congress, which is dominated by the party of Bolivian president Luis Arce. Jorge Richter, a presidential spokesperson, explained the objective of the swift approval of the law. He stated:

The country has a tool so that these events and situations of the past days that we have known are not repeated, difficulties in the production of North American currency.

Almost all Bolivian banks had previously established a $300 daily withdrawal limit for their users, and the Central Bank of Bolivia had to organize direct sales to satisfy the local demand for foreign currency.

Central Bank of Argentina Bans Fintech Companies From Using Crypto

On May 4, the Central Bank of Argentina issued a communication banning certain fintech providers from using cryptocurrency assets or offering services linked to digital assets or other assets “not regulated by the competent national authority and authorized by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic.” to their customers.

The measure would only affect fintech companies that provide direct payments accounts, including Ualá, MercadoPago, Personal Pay, DolarApp, Nubi, and MODO, among others. Bitcoin Argentina, a national NGO, rejected this measure, stating that it “is surprising and unconsulted. It is not understood what objective the central bank is seeking by prohibiting an activity that today is entirely satisfactory and useful for the clients of the local exchanges.”

Fitch Ratings Improves El Salvador’s Credit Rating

Fitch Ratings, one of the big three credit rating agencies, upgraded the credit rating of El Salvador, even with the adoption of bitcoin as a legal tender. Fitch upgraded El Salvador’s rating from CC to CCC+, stating that this was the consequence of “successful completion of the exchange and payment of significant global bond write-downs early in the year, and reflects Fitch’s view that another event of default no longer appears likely.”

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele celebrated the change, explaining he could not wait for Fitch wait to “upgrade it even more, once we announce our budget surplus for 2024.”

What do you think about the developments in Latin America this week? Tell us in the comment section below.

Sergio Goschenko

Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist based in Venezuela. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price rise happened during December 2017. Having a computer engineering background, living in Venezuela, and being impacted by the cryptocurrency boom at a social level, he offers a different point of view about crypto success and how it helps the unbanked and underserved.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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A federal judge in Brazil has ordered the temporary suspension of Telegram in the country and established hefty fines due to the supposed lack of collaboration of the company in a national crusade against school violence. Telegram failed to deliver information regarding the actions it is taking against neo-Nazi groups, and now it has been blocked by most internet providers in Brazil.

Brazil Blocks Access to Telegram Apps

A federal judge ordered a nationwide ban on Telegram, the popular messaging app, on April 26, due to its perceived lack of collaboration in a push against school violence. The company behind the app failed to turn over documents regarding the existence of neo-Nazi groups and the measures it is taking against them on Telegram, according to reports from the local journal O’Globo.

In addition, the Brazilian justice system is also fining Telegram for this lack of collaboration to the tune of 1 million Brazilian reals (approx $200,000) for each day that passes without the platform turning in the required documents.

The ban is already in effect, with customers of Vivo, Claro, Tim, and Oi, the main internet providers of the country, being unable to access Telegram’s services. In the same way, the main app providers for mobile operating systems have already removed access to Telegram in their stores.

This was confirmed by Netblocks, an internet observatory organization, which certified that the leading internet service providers (ISPs) are already blocking the access of their users to Telegram; however, Netblocks noted this block could be circumvented using available virtual private network (VPN) apps.

Pavel Durov Speaks

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, defended the actions of the company, stating that it was impossible to deliver the data requested by the Brazilian federal court. On his personal Telegram channel, Durov stated:

In Brazil, a court requested data that is technologically impossible for us to obtain. We are appealing the decision and are looking forward to the final resolution. No matter the cost, we will stand up for our users in Brazil and their right to private communication.

Durov reinforced Telegram’s principles, stating that its mission is to “preserve privacy and freedom of speech around the world.” This is not the first time that Telegram has been subject to this kind of measure. Back on April 2018, the company was also banned in Russia for similar reasons, with Iranian officials calling for a ban on the application that same month.

What do you think about the ban enacted against Telegram in Brazil? Tell us in the comments section below.

Sergio Goschenko

Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist based in Venezuela. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price rise happened during December 2017. Having a computer engineering background, living in Venezuela, and being impacted by the cryptocurrency boom at a social level, he offers a different point of view about crypto success and how it helps the unbanked and underserved.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Serge Vo / Shutterstock.com

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