By James Davis
The hype around a spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is finally cooling down, with investors appearing to have shifted their focus to spot Ethereum ETF. Earlier last week, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission pushed its decision deadline for Ethereum ETF applications submitted by asset manager BlackRock to March 10th.
This move sparked discussions on X among crypto enthusiasts. Some believed that the commission’s delay tactics meant disapproval of Ethereum ETF was imminent, while others remained optimistic that such ETF would soon enter the American market.
It had been a while since we had a price pump fueled by Elon Musk. But the wait was over on Tuesday when X launched an account dubbed @Xpayments. Musk began hyping the account, causing excitement among crypto users who started to believe that the social media platform would support crypto transactions and likely adopt Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.
The hype caused DOGE and SHIB to rally. However, their rallies were short-lived, as the meme coin ended last week with losses. Shiba Inu is now valued at $0.0589 after declining by 2.7% over the past seven days, while Dogecoin is changing hands for $0.0783 following a 7-day drop of 5.4%.
Scam Token Airdrops?
Meanwhile, several crypto projects announced airdrops on their X accounts last week. For starters, an airdrop involves the distribution of free tokens to reward users and contributors of a particular project. However, not all airdrops announced were legit, according to on-chain observer @Jakegallen_.
He called out developers of the yet-to-be-launched Rune Protocol for lying to the crypto community about the project’s development. Jakegallen said the Rune builders claim that the protocol would launch during the Bitcoin halving, but there was a high chance that wouldn’t happen. Moreover, the on-chain observer accused Rune developers of planning to use their upcoming RSIC token airdrop to scam crypto users.
On Wednesday, another on-chain observer, @CryptoGodJohn, revealed how fake Web3 builders were using airdrops to scam people. He warned that if a crypto user receives random airdrops in their wallets, they should not connect their wallet to the platforms that sent the tokens; Otherwise, they risk losing their funds.
Unauthorized Blockchain-Based Version of Video Game Pokemon Launches
The following day, crypto gaming enthusiast @REVERSAL revealed that a pseudonymous developer had created a blockchain-powered version of the famous Web2 video game Pokemon. He was surprised by the number of players joining the game despite being a knockoff. REVERSAL said Pokemon developer might level a legal action against the builder behind the blockchain game, which goes by the title Palworld.
Meanwhile, gaming lovers argued that if Pokemon sues the Palworld creator, then Dragon Quest, a popular video game, should take legal action against Pokemon, which allegedly copied some gaming elements from Dragon Quest.
On Thursday, well-known digital artist Ana Maria Caballero revealed that she had inscribed a poem onto Bitcoin using the Ordinals protocol last December and was now auctioning a verse from the poem on the popular digital art auctioning platform Sothebyverse.
Gucci and Yuga Labs Partner Again
That day, luxurious fashion brand Gucci announced its partnership with Bored Apes creator Yuga Labs. According to the announcement, the collaboration is intended to blur the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds. The two companies have partnered in the past to release several NFTs, which were redeemable for physical items at select Gucci stores.
Finally, even with his legal issues, Donald Trump hasn’t stopped making his voice heard. According to crypto analyst Lark Davis, Trump, who is looking to occupy the White House again, is now anti-CBDC. Davis wrote on X that the former US president said in a recent rally that he would never allow a Fed-issued CBDC if he became president.
Many believed that Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped his presidential bid to support Trump, had persuaded him to block a CBDC.
More Donald Trump-Inspired Meme Coins Enter the Market
Since Trump announced his intention to vie for the presidency, several meme coins have launched, with some now being at war with one another. On Friday, $DONALD developers accused $TRUMP builders of causing the liquidity of their meme coin to plummet following the launch of $TRUMP.