Tag: twitter

Categories
Dogecoin Markets Payments Social media

Dogecoin Rallies on the Back of Elon Musk’s Twitter 2.0 Plans

The price of everyone’s favourite dog-themed meme coin, Dogecoin, has surged over the past week on the back of a tweet from the new Twitter owner, Elon Musk. Musk’s tweet got the Doge army’s tails wagging as it outlined his plans for the social media platform, which included a vague reference to payments.

Data from CoinGecko shows Dogecoin’s price jumped from US$0.088 before Musk’s tweet on November 27 to US$0.108 at the time of writing, an increase of 22.2 percent. Over the week, Dogecoin is up a whopping 37.9 percent: a significant increase given the current bear market.

What Did Musk Tweet?

Ever since Musk purchased Twitter last month, Dogecoin enthusiasts have been hopeful that the famously Doge-interested billionaire would somehow integrate the coin into Twitter. 

In his Tweet on November 27, Musk outlined the progress he’d made since taking over the platform and also listed some future plans for what he referred to as Twitter 2.0 — The Everything App.

Some of the new features Musk listed included encrypted direct messages, long form tweets, relaunched ‘Blue Verified’, and a vague and mysterious reference to payments. 

Despite no direct reference to Dogecoin, the mention of payments coming to Twitter was enough to spark FOMO, triggering something of a buying frenzy and causing the meme coin’s price to spike.

Musk’s mysterious slide deck image with a blank space for payments. Source: @elonmusk on Twitter

Earlier Rumours Contribute to FOMO

Previously, just after Musk’s purchase of Twitter in late October, rumours had begun circulating, fuelled by speculation from tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong, that the company had commenced work on a crypto wallet that would allow users to deposit and withdraw crypto. This earlier speculation saw Dogecoin’s price jump 40 percent at the time and may have played a part in the excitement about Musk’s tweet.

Some in the crypto community have poured cold water on the idea of Dogecoin for payments — pointing out that unlike many other distributed ledgers, Dogecoin doesn’t natively support smart contracts and may not be suitable as a payments platform due to shortcomings in security, privacy and capacity for scaling. 

Categories
Crypto News Dogecoin Markets Social media

Dogecoin Surges Over 90% Following Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover 

With Elon Musk finally taking the reins at Twitter last week, the value of Dogecoin rallied by more than 90% — jumping from US$0.05 to $0.14 briefly on October 30 before dropping to 11 cents at the time of writing.

Seven-day price data for DOGE. Source: CoinMarketCap

Despite the latest surge, in defiance of the prevailing crypto winter, DOGE remains down 84% on its all-time-high of US$0.73 in May 2021 according to CoinMarketCap. Dogecoin now ranks eighth in the market, overtaking Cardano (ADA) with a market cap of US$15.6 million.

Musk has long been a supporter of the meme coin, and has been attributed as the cause of several major DOGE price pumps, including when he first announced his intent to buy Twitter. 

The Twitter acquisition process was fraught, with Musk seeking to renege his offer and then backflipping in early October —ostensibly to avoid legal action brought about by Twitter. At the time, Musk’s confirmation that he’d close the deal led to a small bump in Dogecoin’s value of around 9%. 

Officially becoming Twitter’s boss has come with some surprising learning opportunities for Musk:

Musk loves DOGE

CEO of electric car company Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX, Musk has touted his admiration for Dogecoin in various tweets and interview mentions since 2019. He also began accepting Dogecoin as a payment in exchange for merchandise of his companies. 

Musk had also hinted that he was considering making DOGE a payment option for Twitter users to authenticate their accounts. Since the acquisition was finalised, Cardano’s founder and CEO Charles Hoskinson went as far as predicting DOGE could be integrated with the social media platform:

Musk’s support for DOGE has not been without controversy. In June this year a US$258 billion class-action lawsuit was filed against Musk and his companies, alleging Musk had been essentially running a Ponzi scheme — intentionally manipulating the price of the coin for profit.

Categories
Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs Social media

Twitter Will Allow Users to Buy and Sell NFTs Through Tweets

NFTs are set to become an even more prominent part of the Twittersphere, with Twitter sharing news today that it’s making it possible for NFT images and details to appear in tweets for the first time.   

Twitter’s development team announced that tweeting links to some NFTs —from select NFT marketplaces— will now show a larger picture and useful details like the artwork name and its creator. 

Potential Boom For NFT Sales

Not only will Twitter users be able to visually showcase their NFTs more easily, the new feature includes a link to marketplace listings, which could significantly boost sales and the value of the NFT market more broadly. 

NFT marketplaces included in the test include Rarible, Magic Eden, Dapper Labs, and Jump.trade.

Twitter is a popular playground for crypto and web3 enthusiasts, with Twitter’s own trends report released in March 2022 showing a huge jump in tweeted conversations on topics including NFTs, DeFi, DApps, and DAOs.

Twitter Developing for Dynamic Experiences 

Twitter began testing its customisable tweet formatting feature called Tweet Tiles in August this year with the accounts of major news outlets The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. In introducing Tile Tweets, Twitter said: “These formats are designed to easily engage with content and make your timeline more dynamic and visual.” 

This latest move to include embedded NFTs in Tweet Tiles expands the social media platform’s support for NFTs following its work earlier this year to allow users to use NFTs from their collections as their Twitter profile picture.

Categories
Crypto News Dogecoin Social media

Elon Musk Revives Twitter Buyout – Dogecoin Rallies

twitter logo on mobile phone with Elon Musk in the background

Tesla CEO and part-time crypto memelord, Elon Musk, has sent a letter to Twitter through his lawyers indicating he is now willing to purchase the company for the originally agreed price of $US44 billion, or US$54.20 per share. The letter was also filed with the SEC. 

This surprising move comes after Musk had previously reneged on his offer to buy Twitter, citing the social media giant’s lack of honesty and transparency around the extent of spam bots on the platform.

Immediately following the letter’s release, the price of DogeCoin, the meme coin Musk is so fond of, surged eight percent — changing hands at the time of writing at US$0.0656, up 9.2% on the day.

Doge Coin Chart
Dogecoin chart over the last seven days. Source: CoinMarketCap

Deal to Close Twitter’s Case Against Musk

Musk’s new offer to buy Twitter specifies that the social media platform must immediately drop its legal action against him — relating to the retraction of his previous offer to buy the company — which was due to go to trial in just two weeks.

With Musk’s new offer, it appears the legal action has been dropped, and the deal, as originally agreed, will be closed:

The timing of this new offer begs speculation that Musk was trying to avoid going to trial, perhaps because he received legal advice that he was unlikely to win or in hopes of preventing information from being released at trial (already a large trove of Musk’s private text messages have been released as part of the case).

Musk has given the impression that he simply decided Twitter is, once again, a company he wants to purchase for strategic reasons. Following the release of the letter, Musk tweeted that the purchase of Twitter is an important part of his plan to develop ‘X’, something which he describes as ‘the everything app’.

Musk And Twitter: A Brief History

Musk originally offered to buy Twitter in April of this year, promising his purchase would bring a renewed commitment to freedom of speech on the platform — but the deal quickly ran into problems. 

Just three months after announcing his intention to purchase, Musk was backing out of the deal claiming that Twitter had provided him with misleading data about the prevalence of fake accounts and spam bots.

Twitter, for their part, insisted they had provided accurate data and took their case to the Delaware Court of Chancery to attempt to enforce the contract. 

Categories
Crypto News Social media

Elon Musk Wants Out of $44 Billion Twitter Deal, Twitter Likely to Sue

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has retracted his US$44 billion offer to buy Twitter. A notice of termination was filed through the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that Twitter had breached multiple provisions of its initial agreement with Musk:

‘Misrepresentations’ Made by Twitter

Just three months after Musk’s April announcement that he would purchase Twitter, the billionaire has declined to finalise the deal citing various breaches of the initial agreement, according to an SEC filing from his attorneys:

Twitter … appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr Musk relied when entering into the merger agreement, and is likely to suffer a company material adverse effect.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

The SEC filing also suggests Musk had sought the necessary data to independently assess the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform. Twitter had reportedly failed or refused to provide this information:

Despite Musk’s change of heart, Twitter has no intentions to go down quietly. Bret Taylor, one of its chairmen, has shared that the company’s board seeks to close the transaction as per the original agreements. The social media giant says it will be pursuing legal action.

Initial Promise All About ‘Free Speech’

Musk initially purchased Twitter with the intention of privatising the social media giant. The billionaire touted the notion that freedom of speech would reign supreme, tweeting that he hoped that “even [his] worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means”. However, the decision was met with a sizeable backlash suggesting the move would be “dangerous for democracy”.

Categories
Crypto News Market Analysis The Crypto Den Trading

TradeRoom: Our Weekly Crypto Trades Analysis – May 2, 2022

Welcome to this weekly series from the TradeRoom. My name is Dave and I’m the founder of The Crypto Den, an Australian-based crypto trading and education community aiming to give you the knowledge to take your trading game to the next level.

Crypto Market Outlook

The TOTAL market cap lost US$100 billion over the weekend and is currently having a small retrace of that loss. I suspect this will be pretty short-lived, which would bring us to a very important last line of defence. If the TOTAL drops below US$1.58 trillion, there’s huge potential for a US$400 billion loss. This will undoubtedly hurt a lot of people, so please investigate stop losses and make sure you’re prepared for the worst-case scenario!

TOTAL market cap

The BTC monthly closed just below that monthly support and has a window of opportunity to keep us in a ranging situation. Failing that, we get another bearish month and it’s anyone’s guess how low we could drop from here. If you zoom right out and take a good look at the monthly chart, you will see there’s really no structure between US$34,000 and US$14,000.

BTC monthly chart

I’m putting forward some very bearish cases here and that does not mean it’s game over. There’s still opportunity for BTC to bounce, but it must happen above US$30,000! If that level breaks, then it will be a long winter in my opinion.

BTC/USDT 1D chart

BTC is currently sitting on a weekly 100 EMA and some daily support. My bias is still that we see a bear flag that I wrote about last week play out over the next month or two. If so, ALTS will bleed hard.

Last Week’s Performance

ADA/USDT

ADA, like many others, is also at its last line of defence. I entered short last week and am now currently sitting at around 120% ROI. I’d like to see this trade reach approximately 800% in 10x.

ADA/USDT

DOGE/USDT

This entry was partially TA and partially luck! Last week I wrote about my thoughts on DOGE dropping 70%, then Elon decided to buy Twitter (as you do) and DOGE pumped. The luck part was that I didn’t enter right away and instead got in a short on the pump. I’m currently sitting at 170% ROI.

DOGE/USDT

This Week’s Trades

TORN/USDT

I’ve been watching TORN since last week and have just entered a short trade today. Candlestick analysis is showing a lot of indecision at a crucial level of daily resistance. R:R looks good enough for me to enter.

TORN/USDT

TRX/USDT

A 2017 fan favourite, TRX, looks like it could be setting up for a short trade. It’s currently sitting at both daily 200 EMA and daily resistance. If we see BTC drop, this could present a prime entry for short trades.

TRX/USDT

Introducing TCD’s New Social Platform

The Crypto Den now has a FREE purpose-built social platform to share investment ideas, trade chat, connect with like-minded people, share info and more, without the censorship of Facebook. The platform is designed for those more focused on the investment/profitable side of the crypto world.

Are You a Trader?

Invite to Join our TradeRoom

If you’d like to become a better trader, you’re invited to join our TradeRoom where we share daily charts and market analysis. In our community we strongly encourage and teach correct risk management strategies to keep our members safe in this new volatile crypto market.
Join our “Apprentice” plan now for your 7-day trial.

The Crypto Den was created in 2017 to help the rapidly growing crypto community learn and understand the fundamentals of digital currencies and how to trade them. 

Since then we have taught thousands of members the basics of technical analysis and trading strategies to further progress and perfect their trading abilities.

In the TradeRoom, you will be included in a supportive environment which encourages personal growth, education and community support.

It’s a place to share your trading ideas and follow other experienced traders’ feeds to help keep your finger on the pulse of such a volatile market!

Categories
Crypto News Payments Polygon Social media

Stripe Tests New Crypto Payments Product Using Twitter and Polygon

Global payment processing giant Stripe has introduced crypto payouts to its Stripe Connect service, partnering with Twitter to pilot the technology before expanding it to other platforms in coming weeks.

The pilot will allow select creators who use Twitter’s monetisation features – such as Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows – to be paid for their content and receive their payouts in crypto via the Polygon network. Stripe has chosen to use the Ethereum scaling solution as the first network to process its crypto payments because of its “low fees, high speed, integration with Ethereum and broad wallet compatibility”.

Initially, Stripe will only support payments in the USDC stablecoin, but this will presumably expand in future as the technology matures and grows beyond Twitter.

Aim is to Streamline Traditional Payment Systems

In the announcement, Stripe’s product manager of crypto, Karan Sharma, cited the complexity and heterogeneity of traditional payment systems as a key factor in the decision to integrate crypto payments into Stripe Connect:

While we are continuously expanding our geographic coverage, many countries remain out of reach in part due to the intrinsic complexity involved in supporting heterogeneous local payments systems. Unfortunately, this makes participation in the online economy harder for many of those who stand to benefit most.

Karan Sharma, Stripe product manager, crypto

Stripe to Handle ‘Crypto-Related Complexity’

Twitter already uses Stripe Connect to handle payouts to creators, so the addition of crypto payments should be smooth. 

Stripe will handle all the “crypto-related complexity and operations” and no code changes will be required by Twitter. Nor will it have to worry about acquiring, storing or transferring crypto – Stripe will handle all of these functions. In addition, Stripe will perform all the required Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

Stripe plans to support crypto payouts via Stripe Connect in more than 120 countries by the end of 2022.

Twitter Expands Range of Payments

Twitter is enthusiastic about offering creators more payment options and potentially expanding the range of users who can take advantage of its monetisation products:

As the Elon Musk takeover is now confirmed, this news marks the latest move by Twitter towards greater crypto adoption, having already rolled out Bitcoin tipping and Ethereum tipping for creators in the past few months.

Categories
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Scams

35 NFTs Stolen in Twitter Phishing Attacks Last Week

A Mutant Ape and a Bored Ape were among 35 NFTs stolen last week via a handful of hacked verified Twitter accounts. The combined value of the phishing attack is assumed to exceed US$900,000.

The phishing incident disguised itself off the back of a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) airdrop that happened earlier this month. BAYC had airdropped ApeCoins to Mutant Ape and Bored Ape holders, which allowed for a copycat attack by scammers who hacked verified Twitter accounts and spread fake URLs impersonating a BAYC link:

Victims of the link who were prepared to pay 0.33 ETH to take part instead encountered code that allowed the hackers access to their wallets. Some victims claimed that, although the links appeared strange, they would nonetheless be safe as they were shared by trusted public figures.

Twitter is yet to comment on the incident, despite many users feeling the social media giant is partly to blame.

Other Recent Phishing Attacks

This isn’t the first large-scale phishing attack this year. Earlier in March, US$790,000 worth of Rare Bears were stolen. The phishing scam behind the NFT theft utilised the weakened security of Discord groups to share around a ‘corrupt’ link.

More recently, a crypto venture capitalist lost US$1.7 million worth of NFTs. Arthur Cheong, the founder of Web3 and DeFi venture capital firm Defiance Capital, had his hot wallet account hacked and 59 NFTs taken.

Categories
NFTs Scams

Crypto Twitter Outraged by Tai Lopez’s NFT Collection, Described as ‘Ridiculous Cash Grab’

Entrepreneur, investor and internet personality Tai Lopez has come under fire this week over his latest NFT collection, which is accompanied by questionably expensive opportunities to meet Lopez. Twitter has uncovered some damning information about the project and has labelled it a “ridiculous cash grab”:

Crypto Influencers Arc Up Over Tai Lopez’s NFTs

Tai Lopez’s ‘OG (Original Garage) Social Club’ NFT collection is “personality-based”, meaning some of the options available to investors include opportunities such as watching a movie with Lopez or shadowing him in his office – for a fee. However, the extreme prices of the actual NFTs are drawing the most extreme reactions from a lot of crypto influencers.

Prominent crypto user @Ox_Beans accused Lopez of immediately siphoning funds to his team’s wallet once an investor mints:

Lopez’s reputation is also being called into question, with many suggesting he may have a inflated sense of his own importance. @EddyisKongz was one of the first to question the sky-high pricing of the OG NFTs and Lopez’s associated inducements:

OG Social Club has also been running several “giveaways”, yet concerns have been raised about their legitimacy with some of the “winners” failing to get a response from Lopez’s secretary. If you’d like to know more about the OG project, check out the video below:

NFT Scams and Rug Pulls

Unfortunately, the NFT industry is rife with dodgy behaviour and the community remains the primary defence. This was seen in mid-February when YouTuber “Coffeezilla” explained how he and a group of crypto users had prevented an alleged scam involving US$20 million.

Earlier this month, NFT project “Pixelmon” disappointed investors who had pooled US$70 million when the release failed to live up to pitch quality. The result was crashing floor prices, which led investors to label the project as “pretty much a rug pull”.

Categories
Crypto News Ethereum Social media

Twitter Adds Feature Enabling Ethereum Tipping

Social media giant Twitter officially enabled Ethereum tipping this week, extending payment options for its “virtual tip jar” feature that enables users to support their favourite accounts and creators.

Twitter first launched its tipping feature in September 2021. At launch it allowed users to send tips to other Twitter users via a variety of payment methods including Venmo, CashApp and Bitcoin.

No Hacking Skills Required

In November, a Hong Kong-based ethical hacker discovered that Twitter had plans to support Ethereum tipping and described a way to access the then officially unsupported feature. But with this latest announcement, the feature is now available to all users and requires no hacking skills:

Ether Tips Available Only on Mobile App

The addition of Ethereum tipping allows mobile app users to send tips using Ether and ERC-20 tokens, including Ethereum-based stablecoins. The feature is only available via mobile apps and is not currently supported through the Twitter website.

This development indicates that since former CEO and famous Bitcoin maximalist Jack Dorsey left Twitter last year, the company has taken a more open-minded stance towards altcoins. The addition of Ethereum-based tips to Twitter marks a further milestone in the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies and suggests that Twitter may add support for further altcoins in the future.