This Week on Crypto Twitter: Michael Saylor Goads Elon Musk for Tesla’s Bitcoin Dump

by Arthur · July 24, 2022

this week on crypto twitter — Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

The prices can be in the green for the week, but Crypto Twitter remained focused on the sector’s ongoing liquidity crisis.

This week, Singapore exchange Zipmex frozen outlet, and Legion Strategies, a hedge fund affiliated with Anthony Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital, halted redemptions. Meanwhile, Blockchain.com joined Gemini, Coinbase and OpenSea in announcing mass redundanciesand the electric car manufacturer Tesla paid out 75% of Bitcoin for 936 million dollars.

MicroStrategy CEO and billionaire Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor was quick to point out the hard truths about Tesla’s sales.

If you sell 75% of your bitcoin, you will only have 25% of yours #bitcoin left.

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) 20 July 2022

In the thick of bankruptcies, one firm is piling up that money: US law firm Kirkland & Ellis, previously hired by bankrupt crypto lenders Voyager and Celsius to help them restructure, was this week hired by Babel Finance. Last Sunday, Babel paused withdrawals, citing “liquidity pressure.”

A statement from Kyle Davies, a co-founder of the recently bankrupt Three Arrows Capital, claims that the former crypto hedge fund owes his wife $65 million and $5 million to co-founder Su Zhu. Davies and Zhu, who were radio silent for five weeks, said Bloomberg what they were do with the investors’ funds before it all collapsed.

Zhu Su is seeking $5 million from 3AC bankruptcy, and 3AC co-founder Kyle Davies’ wife is seeking $65 million.

funny

— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) 18 July 2022

DeFi news agency The Defiant collected some of the most affecting letters written to the judge by those affected by the Celsius bankruptcy. They really hammer home the human cost of the liquidity crisis.

Many of those affected by the Celsius bankruptcy wrote letters to the judge…

Some are absolutely heartbreaking 😢👇

— The Defiant (@DefiantNews) 23 July 2022

On a more optimistic note, blockchain-based file-sharing network LBRY beat the US Securities and Exchange Commission in court. Assuming that not every non-Bitcoin token on the blockchain is a security after all, Hey Gary Gensler?

We are free!

Judge was skeptical of many SEC claims.

The SEC was forced to admit that significant use of LBRY was non-speculative.

Decision in 4-8 weeks on summary judgment, trial seems unlikely

More later and live on @CryptoLawUS at 19:00

Thanks to everyone who came, many not pictured pic.twitter.com/HjA2yx1eqc

— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔 (@jeremykauffman) 20 July 2022

Table of Contents

Minecraft

On Wednesday, the Microsoft-published sandbox game Minecraft announced that it will block the use of NFTs and blockchain technology on its servers and prohibits the creation of NFTs based on its assets. Axie Infinity co-founder Jiho was optimistic about the news.

Minecraft has banned NFTs.

This is a great sign of adoption. Just as banning books makes them more popular, the Web2 backlash against NFTs will also pave the way for viral growth.

— The Jiho.eth 🦇🔊 (@Jihoz_Axie) 20 July 2022

The Minecraft-based project NFT Worlds tweeted a lengthy protest.

innovation, player experience and creators. We believe that an open, free, developed version of what Minecraft brought to the world will be a better future for creators, developers and ultimately players.

— NFT Worlds (@nftworldsNFT) 22 July 2022

Others saw it coming a long time ago, e.g Decrypt their own Kate Irwin, who named it five months ago.

I called it back in February that there was a very good chance Minecraft would shut them down and their fanboy army got so mad 😂

— Kate Irwin (@pixiekate13) 23 July 2022

Elsewhere

On Monday, there was some speculation as to who owned a wallet that purchased a particular domain on the Ethereum Name Service.

$1,000,000 USDC bid on amazon.eth right now from a new wallet

— DANIEL HIT | 260.eth (@danielgothits) 18 July 2022

Popular NFT marketplace OpenSea got into a nasty war of words with a Solana-based rival.

Twitter user @8892OS, who claims to be an “art dealer” and an “emergency liquidity relief” provider, allegedly bilked someone for too much Ethereum, and that person … sent more?

Russian-born Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin was thanked for his humanitarian efforts to help Ukraine repel Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion.

And finally, GameStop’s new NFT platform drew criticism for listing an NFT clearly inspired by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew’s world-famous photo of a 9/11 victim known as “The Falling Man.”

NFT appears to have been delisted since.