69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

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By Ryan S. Gladwin

TechFlow by: TechFlow

The crypto industry in 2024 has reached new heights of stupidity. This year's meme supercycle has spawned many bizarre characters and refreshed the industry's "bottom line". At the same time, various crypto conferences are embarrassing every week, and politicians are kowtow to the crypto community - whether for votes or funds.

This year, we witnessed many "stupid things" being engraved on the immutable "blockchain of life". From Meme developers self-immolating to promote their projects (see item 6 below) to "FARTCOIN" breaking through the $1 billion market value (although not included in the list, Stephen Colbert has mentioned it), these absurd moments are enough for us to be "proud" to tell our children and grandchildren - after all, they may enjoy the generational wealth we create in 2024 and beyond.

In honor of a year of both absurdity and brilliance, we've compiled an unranked list of the 69 dumbest moments of the year.

1. Meme Live: "Breast" is ridiculous

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

LIVEMOM may be the pinnacle of crypto depravity. Image source: Kick Livestream

A woman claiming to be a mother participated in a live broadcast with her "son", begging viewers to invest in her son's meme by shaking her breasts.

“Want to see him pour milk on these 36DDs?” she asked, adding — if that wasn’t outrageous enough — that her son “actually sucked them before, and now he’s pouring milk on them.”

2. Become Thicker-skinned

The popularity of LIVEMOM has triggered a live streaming trend, with Meme developers starting all kinds of ridiculous performances in order to push up their tokens - some even call it "performance art."

For example, some people tied their hands to show that they would not sell tokens; others claimed that they had no hands, but later suddenly showed their hands and sold all their tokens; even more outrageous, some people even claimed that they had kidnapped someone.

One of the developers created a token called $Hands and held up a piece of paper during the live broadcast, which read: "I don't have hands, so I can't run away." However, when the token price reached its peak, he suddenly showed his hands and sold all the tokens, like a magician performing a trick. - @Hirizzy, May 6, 2024.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

3. Stephen Mollah, who claims to be "Satoshi Nakamoto"

The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has remained a mystery since the Bitcoin white paper was published in 2008. In October this year, a man named Stephen Mollah came forward and claimed to be the mysterious figure.

Stephen Mollah, a British-Asian macroeconomist who said he had long wanted to reveal his true identity but was always stopped, claimed at an event with a ticket price of £500 that he was not only the creator of Bitcoin, but also designed the Twitter logo, developed ChatGPT, and invented a debt instrument called Eurobond.

At the event, Mollah spoke for over an hour, concluding by saying he would move Bitcoin from the Genesis Block“soon,” but that it would take time to prepare. (As of now, that has yet to happen.) While looking through his Twitter account, we found a series of posts from as early as 2018 in which he accused Faketoshis (people pretending to be Satoshi) and included some strange images.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

4. See a cat? Pet it. Oh, not that cat…

Solana Meme Coin platform Pump.fun has been known for its absurd crypto events. One of them was when speculators began trading a token called Kieth, an invisible cat that was actually just a photo of an empty room. Moreover, the name was deliberately spelled “Kieth.”

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

5. The unexpected rise of Slerf

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

 Image credit: Slerfsol on Twitter

A developer accidentally burned $10 million worth of tokens while distributing pre-sale tokens for the upcoming meme coin Slerf, but the accident pushed Slerf's market value to $700 million.

“Solana Meme Coin Slerf Soars to $2 Billion in Trading Volume After Developers Burn Presale Funds.” — NewsCoins, by Reza Jafery, March 19, 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

6. Florida developers' crazy move: self-immolation drives up token prices

A Florida-based Meme Coin developer actually set himself on fire in an effort to boost the value of his token. The crazy move worked, and the token price skyrocketed 2,000% in a few hours, reaching a market value of $2 million. However, he was hospitalized with third-degree burns and was unable to sell the tokens. After recovering, he found that he could not use his hands properly, and even the facial recognition on his phone could not recognize him.

A few months later, he announced his exit from the project, claiming he had been taken advantage of. His biggest regret? Not selling the tokens sooner.

“Solana developer hospitalized with third-degree burns after trying to boost Meme coin value.” — NewsCoins, by Ryan S. Gladwin, May 23, 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

7. Does this tattoo make me look fat?

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

 Image credit: Twitter @Hop_Duneski

A Gigachad investor showed his love for the Solana Meme Coin by getting the token’s contract address tattooed on his chest… but the address was misspelled.

“Man Gets MemeCoin Address Tattooed On His Body — But It’s Spelled Wrong.” — NewsCoins, by Ryan S. Gladwin, July 21, 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

8. Does this hairstyle make my head look big?

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

A cryptocurrency speculator began collecting a strand of his girlfriend's hair every day and placing it on a foam mannequin head. The next day, budget airline Ryanair retweeted his tweet, joking that he should fly to Turkey, which is famous for hair transplants, to get the surgery. As a result, the token's price soared 470% as it attracted more mainstream attention.

9. The encrypted version of the "reality show" is embarrassing

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

A cryptocurrency reality show video showing off the “Solana Villa” went viral this year for how exaggerated and embarrassing it was.

“Look at this helipad. If you don’t have this, you’re poor. Haha, flash tour!” the influencer says in the video, showing off an Airbnb property.

10. Remilia King

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Remember Joe Exotic, the protagonist of Tiger King? He suddenly joined an NFT community called "Retardio" and accidentally got a DeGod NFT. Although there was no follow-up to this incident, it made people laugh.

11. Celebrity Meme Waterloo

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Caitlyn Jenner, who launched a meme coin based on an Olympic medal, set off a wave of celebrity meme coins. However, in the same week that she launched the Solana token, she also launched a new token on Ethereum that claimed to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. A few months later, the market value of both tokens fell to less than $1 million.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

12. Star Tokens Being Exploited

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Caitlyn Jenner claims her JENNER project was exploited by developer Sahil Arora, who is known for short-lived celebrity projects and scams. This year, he defrauded $380,000 through a pre-sale of Iggy Azalea tokens, a project that Iggy herself has long denied any connection to.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

13. Andrew Tate's "World Tour" Farce

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Remember Andrew Tate’s “touching story”? In July, he was allowed to leave Romania while awaiting trial, despite facing charges including human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. (Of course, he denied all charges.)

As soon as the news came out, Tate immediately announced a high-profile "global tour" for the Solana token DADDY, with the goal of defeating Iggy Azalea's MOTHER token. However, although he claimed that the tour would go to "Tokyo, Dubai and Miami", the reality is that he is not allowed to leave the EU at all.

Currently, Tate is still awaiting trial and continues to deny all charges. This so-called "world tour" ultimately became a joke.

14. Iggy’s fee misunderstanding

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

We love Iggy Azalea, who was named our SCENE Person of the Year for not only launching her own token, MOTHER, but also being perhaps the only celebrity to fully support a project months after its launch. However, her journey into crypto has not been without its ups and downs.

The incident started with criticism from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and Azalea immediately asked, "What did you do with ETH's gas fees?" This sentence caused a stir on crypto Twitter, with netizens mocking her because these fees do not go into Buterin's personal wallet, but are used to support the Ethereum ecosystem. Of course, Azalea may not have understood the encryption mechanism well enough at that time. We believe that now she has become more experienced and clearer!

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

15. Cryptocurrency Circle’s “Carnival Night”

Iggy Azalea made waves again at a party in Singapore, and the stripper-filled event became one of the most "depraved" scenes of the year. Here are some of the jaw-dropping moments:

Su Zhu, founder of bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, was enjoying the luxurious atmosphere while throwing money at the dancing girls.

Sunny, the leader of the DeGods community, accidentally dropped the girl he was holding in the air while dancing.

A man showered a stripper with cash and interacted with her too intimately while his friends cheered.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

16. Ethereum’s “Musical Talent”

Usually, cryptocurrency conferences are places for serious technical discussions, but at this year's Token 2049 conference in Singapore, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin lit up the crowd with a live performance.

“It’s mathematical, no more double spend, it’s cryptographic,” he sings. “A new form of wealth begins.”

"Today, the TOKEN2049 conference opened in Singapore! Vitalik Buterin sang on the stage, check out the video!" - kukat ⭐️ (@kukat23) September 18, 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

17. "Crazy" token scam

Insane Labz, an Arkansas-based supplement company known in MMA and Barstool Sports circles, has recently become the focus of attention for a farcical farce. The company allegedly hired a group of online trolls to impersonate famous figures to defraud investors and drive up the value of its LABZ token.

The trolls impersonated UFC president Dana White, MMA legend Nate Diaz, and social media influencer Hasbulla in the company’s Telegram group to hype up the LABZ token. At first, the scheme seemed to work, attracting a lot of attention — but it ultimately fizzled out.

"We were just trying to make a joke and it went a little too far," one impersonator explained to Decrypt.

This farce is not only hilarious, but also serves as a wake-up call to investors in LABZ tokens.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

18. Temptation and Deception

This year, a new pump-and-dump scheme has emerged in the crypto world: By attracting “nerd” investors, some women use live broadcasts and sexy images to drive up token prices, and then quickly sell them for a profit.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

19. Drug use and crypto scams

This year has been a highlight for addicts who combine blockchain with drug use. First up was Meth'd Up Dev, who smoked meth on a livestream to promote his token. Then there was Crack Head Dev, whose story was even stranger - the developer passed out on a livestream from a fentanyl overdose, then faked his own death, and eventually became a far-right racist influencer on Twitter. It seems someone has proven that life can indeed have a "second act."

Finally, we have Meth Girl, who despite her efforts to attract attention, has not been able to gain much popularity due to her Twitter account being frequently blocked.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

20. The Curry Token Farce

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

An entrepreneur launched the CURRY token to support a curry stall in Lahore, Pakistan. However, Decrypt's investigation found that the stall owner did not receive any proceeds. Eventually, the live broadcast was shut down and the price of the CURRY token plummeted 92% in a few hours.

21. The Frog Coin Mistake

Flog the Frog (FLOG), one of the most anticipated meme coins this year, attracted a lot of attention with its exquisite art design and support from influencers. However, an internal communication error caused investors to suffer a "Waterloo".

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

As one of the most anticipated meme tokens this year, Flog the Frog (FLOG) attracted great attention when it was launched with its exquisite art design and support from a number of influencers. However, the project was almost aborted due to an embarrassing internal communication error.

The incident was caused by a leaked team chat record. Project manager Breezy sent a message in the group saying "DUMP IT". His original intention was to let the team sell only a small portion of the tokens. However, when he saw the token price plummeted 91% in one minute, he immediately asked: "Brother, did you sell all?" Pyro, who was responsible for managing the team's funds, replied: "Yes, you said DUMP MY BRO."

"You're such an idiot," Breezy responded helplessly.

Although this mistake caused heavy losses to investors, fortunately, the project did not fail completely. The team quickly adjusted its strategy, repackaged Flog as Fwog, and successfully regained market favor, eventually becoming one of the most successful Meme tokens this year.

This incident not only shows the absurd side of the encryption project, but also allows people to see the possibility of counterattack in a crisis.

22. The Tragic Story of Squirrel Coin

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

PNUT is a meme coin based on the social media celebrity Peanut the Squirrel.

In November this year, the daily trading volume of this token reached 150 million US dollars, making it one of the meme coins with the highest market value. However, it is sad that it was later discovered that the little squirrel did not have rabies, but was killed innocently. I hope its token can continue its legend, and the memory of it will become a blessing.

23. Squirrel Coin’s “Justice” Farce

Less than a month after the story of the “dead but not rabid” squirrel Peanut garnered global attention, the rodent’s owner has joined the crypto frenzy. Apparently angry at “speculators” profiting off his personal tragedy, he decided to launch his own token. However, all this happened after the “PNUT community” had allegedly donated $50,000 to him.

“It’s disgusting that people want to make money off of this!” the grieving owner angrily said in a Twitter video. However, before he finished speaking, he launched a token called JUSTICE. Unfortunately, the fate of the JUSTICE token did not live up to its name, and its ending was even more dismal than that of the dead squirrel.

This incident not only makes people sigh at the absurdity of the cryptocurrency world, but also reminds us once again that perhaps "justice" is not so easy to achieve.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

24. The absurd baptism of the "holy chicken religion"

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

This year, a new religion emerged that worships a raw chicken with a fish head and a cigarette in its mouth, calling it Lord Fishnu. But that's not the most absurd part of the religion.

The Church of the Smoking Chicken Fish is a religion based on Meme tokens, and the "baptism ceremony" of believers is called "brothism". Normally, this ceremony only requires reading the so-called "10 chicken commandments" on Twitter Spaces. However, one believer decided to "take a different approach": he sat in a bathtub with his clothes on, with a raw chicken on his head, and read these "doctrines".

But the absurdity of the story doesn't end there - the church actually plans to open a physical location in Marfa, Texas.

This incident not only makes people marvel at human creativity and absurdity, but also allows us to see how Meme culture breaks through the dimensional wall and enters the real world.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

25. "Betrayal" of Church Leaders

A few months later, church leader Pastor Kelby began using his religious influence to promote small-cap Memecoins and even accepted payments. Eventually, he was expelled from the church and the church's plans fell into disarray.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

26. Pastor’s “God’s Will Token” Scam

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

A pastor in Colorado was recently charged with fraud. According to local law enforcement, he and his wife co-created a "highly illiquid and almost worthless" crypto token and sold it to investors to fund their lavish lifestyle. Facing the charges, the pastor admitted that he made $1.3 million through token trading, but insisted that it was all "God's will."

“God is not done with this project; God is not done with the INDX token,” he vowed in his statement.

27. Fraud in the name of faith

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit against the former pastor, alleging that he illegally obtained more than $5.9 million in cash and digital assets through a fake multi-level marketing scheme called the "Solanofi Platform." According to the indictment, the former pastor used the so-called "leveraged pledge platform" to attract investors, claiming that they could earn up to 34.9% per month, targeting ordinary people who "lack investment experience."

This incident not only reveals the absurd side of the combination of religion and cryptocurrency, but also allows people to see once again how certain people with ulterior motives take advantage of the dual trust of faith and investment to seek personal gain.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

28. "Social experiment" turns into "market crash experiment"

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

In August this year, the developers of the Meme coin CABAL claimed to conduct the "largest social experiment in history" on Solana. They airdropped tokens worth $10,000 to 10 crypto Twitter influencers, hoping to trigger a market boom. However, within just a few days, most of the influencers sold their tokens, causing the price to plummet, and the market value is now less than $15,000.

“I don’t understand why they think they won’t sell it after paying them $10,000,” said one influencer, including Beaver, who paid Crack Head Dev to fake his own death.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

29. WIF’s “Advertising Dream”

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Dogwifhat (WIF) is considered a representative of "blue chip memes". A group of investors, including Ansem, a CABAL influencer, raised $700,000 to put its ads on the giant screen of the Sphere in Las Vegas. However, eight months later, the plan has not been realized, and even Bitcoin has boarded the Sphere first. As time goes by, investors are increasingly skeptical of fund managers.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

30. Everything can wear a pink hat

The popularity of Dogwifhat has sparked a "pink hat craze" among Meme coin enthusiasts. Pets, celebrities, Meme coins, and even cars are all wearing symbolic pink hats.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

31. The fired intern is back!

As one of the most successful crypto projects this year, Polymarket was famous for being the “source of truth” during the US election. However, it sparked controversy because an intern promoted an NFT project called “Retardio” on its official Twitter account and fired the intern.

As public outcry turned against Polymarket, the intern was eventually rehired.

Incidentally, the UK Financial Conduct Authority subsequently issued a fraud warning about the token, which makes people wonder: why only this one?

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

32. Hype about rumors

When Trump claimed in a debate with Kamala Harris that Haitian immigrants eat their pets, crypto speculators (degens) were rubbing their hands in anticipation of cashing in. After all, a meme had already emerged in the market surrounding this absurd rumor.

However, their excitement did not last long. When the ABC debate host refuted this unfounded claim in real time, the prices of these shit coin quickly plunged and fell into chaos.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

33. As soon as the news came out, the price of the currency plummeted

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

When rumors emerged that Kamala Harris would choose Tim Walz as her running mate, cryptocurrency speculators got nervous, and meme token communities built around other potential vice presidential candidates collapsed, and the scene was bleak.

Take SHAPERO, a meme token that intentionally misspelled Josh Shapiro's name. When news of Walz began to spread on social media, the price of the token plummeted 94% in an instant. Despite this, the anonymous leader of the project still urged supporters to remain confident in the Telegram group and claimed that someone was creating FUD (here refers to "fear, uncertainty and doubt", not the eponymous token) to deliberately drive down the price.

However, just four minutes later, CNN officially confirmed Walz as Harris' vice presidential running mate.

“Oh my God, who is dumping the market?” a SHAPERO investor cried out in despair in the group.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

34. The President is not dead, he is just asleep

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

 Source: Shutterstock

Before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, rumors circulated in the cryptocurrency community that he had died, and this rumor quickly spawned a wave of meme coins. A token called Biden Dead (BIDEAD) even predicted Biden's "death date", and its market value soared to $660,000. Another token called Biden Done (BIDONE) uses a cartoon image of the president's skull as its logo, and its market value has reached $567,000.

However, when rumors of Biden’s “death” were disproven, the prices of these tokens collapsed. As of this writing, Biden is still “rumored to be alive.”

35. Who "assassinated" Trump?

Remember when Trump was almost assassinated? No, not the second time, but the first time. At that time, users of the crypto trading platform Pump.fun accurately deduced the identity of the assassin before the FBI announced it. This feat was amazing, but there were also many meme coins that guessed wrong, such as a token that claimed that the assassin was an Italian journalist, who turned out to be sleeping at home at the time.

What’s even more ridiculous is that the popular Telegram game Hamster Kombat at the time made Trump’s fist-throwing action into a strange tribute animation, becoming another “mysterious operation” in the crypto world.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

36. The "crypto void" of UK elections

In the US presidential election, cryptocurrency is not only a hot topic, but also an important source of funds. Trump has proposed a series of policies supporting cryptocurrency, which has attracted a lot of support from the crypto community. However, in the British general election, no major political party mentioned cryptocurrency or blockchain technology in its manifesto.

A British lobbying firm criticized this as a "missed opportunity" because 10% of adults in the UK hold cryptocurrencies. Even more regrettable is that Conservative leader Rishi Sunak, who publicly supported cryptocurrencies, failed to make it a policy priority in the election, ultimately leading to a disastrous defeat.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

37. "I invested my grandmother's inheritance."

The volatility of meme coins has kept investors glued to the exchange, with one trader even watching DEX Screener’s live data while accompanying his dying grandmother at her hospital bedside.

“R.I.P. Grandma,” he wrote on Twitter. “But I’m taking over her estate investments, which is what she would have wanted me to do.”

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

38. Dr. Disrespect’s “Phishing Operation”

Well-known anchor Dr. Disrespect, who is also the co-founder of the development team of the crypto shooter game Deaddrop, once admitted on Twitter to having inappropriate chats with minors, but then claimed that it was all fake.

He explained that he had deliberately posted the tweet in order to "hook" the journalists. Well, Doc, we did. If you want to attract attention in this way, go ahead.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

39. Degens's Revenge on the Runaway Boy

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

A teenage developer who rug-pull’d his Solana Meme coin after it surpassed $1 million in market value made $30,000 from the operation and excitedly recorded a video in which he gave investors the middle finger and shouted, “Thanks for the 20 big bills!” while dancing around his room.

However, these humiliated investors (commonly known as degens, referring to cryptocurrency players who are keen on high-risk investments) did not give up. They pushed the market value of the token to a peak of $85 million through a large number of transactions. If the teenager had not run away at the time and respected these investors, his small coin might be worth more than $4 million. See, this is the price of despising your elders!

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

40. A new chapter for DOGE

In May, Doge, the Dogecoin mascot, passed away. In his memory, his owner adopted a new Shiba Inu rescue dog, named Neiro. Soon, Neiro-related tokens sprang up, but also accompanied by fierce infighting, fraud accusations, and conspiracy theories. Although Doge's owner made it clear that he did not support any Neiro-related tokens, the chaos continued. Is nothing sacred?

A few months later, in December, Own the Doge DAO announced that it would vote on which meme coin would receive Neiro’s intellectual property (IP). In response, one tweet commented: “This is not heartwarming at all.”

“I see a lot of tokens associated with Kabosu and Neiro. To be clear, I do not support any crypto project except $dog by @ownthedoge as they own the original Doge photos and intellectual property (which I have granted to them) and are committed to promoting charity and Doge culture.” - @kabosumama, July 28, 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

41. Interesting facts about Bitcoin ETF

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

An AI-generated image shows a figure resembling SEC Chairman Gary Gensler riding atop the Wall Street Bull, announcing the arrival of a new era for cryptocurrency.

In January this year, the SEC’s official Twitter account posted a tweet claiming that all 13 spot Bitcoin ETFs had been approved. However, the truth is that the SEC’s account was hacked and these ETFs were not actually approved.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler later clarified that the tweet was fake, and the price of Bitcoin plummeted from $47,680 to just over $45,500. This was a good opportunity for some investors to "buy the dips", such as Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy. (It is worth mentioning that the actual ETF approval was not announced until the next day.)

42. About Satoshi Nakamoto’s Dream

“Satoshi gave me Santa’s list in a dream last night. I saw Bitcoin listed alongside Gates and Bezos… history is being written.” - Scottie Pippen, December 9, 2024.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

NBA legend Scottie Pippen claimed this year that he had seen Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto in his dreams several times.

In the first dream of the year, he said Satoshi was “proud” of his work tokenizing the basketball used in Game 5 of the 1991 Chicago Bulls vs. Los Angeles Lakers Finals. And in another dream in September, Satoshi appeared again, telling him that Bitcoin would be priced at $84,650 on November 5 — but the actual price was about $14,000 different.

Pippen also mentioned that Satoshi showed him many images in his dreams and kept mocking the price of Bitcoin. He also mentioned that Bitcoin, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos were all on Santa’s list — but did not specify whether it was a “good kids” list or a “bad kids” list.

43. Booing Bitcoin

At Ohio State University (OSU) graduation, a speech mentioning Bitcoin was booed by the audience, suggesting that Bitcoin has become a brand, but to this audience it is an annoying and possibly fraudulent brand. — Andrew M. Bailey (@resistancemoney) May 6, 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Who would have thought that someone who took a hallucinogenic drug like ayahuasca would suddenly have a sense of the sacredness of alternative assets and give a speech promoting Bitcoin at Ohio State University’s commencement ceremony? Speaker Chris Pan was booed by the audience for mentioning cryptocurrency, but he insisted on telling his truth.

He mentioned in his Instagram story: "I'm not going to give a speech, I'm going to share the truth so that we can stop funding wars and stop the bloodshed." In addition, he also sang "What's Up?", an imitation of "4 Non Blondes", on the spot, which was quite comedic.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

44. Malaysia "crushes" Bitcoin mining machines

Malaysian authorities destroyed 985 Bitcoin mining machines in a nationwide crackdown on electricity theft. While cryptocurrency mining is often criticized for being a big electricity consumer, if they chose to invest in Bitcoin instead of destroying these mining machines, perhaps Malaysia's GDP ranking would be higher. Currently, it ranks 37th out of 195 countries in the world, which is a good result.

“Perak Tengah police headquarters destroyed 985 devices used for Bitcoin mining with a total value of approximately RM1.98 million.” - @MalaysiaGazette, August 19, 2024.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

$456,500 in blunders, but you can’t take credit for it

It sounds like a bizarre story: centralized exchange Crypto.com mistakenly refunded a woman $6.8 million when the actual amount was only $65! The woman and her partner squandered $4.42 million of the money, including buying four properties in Australia. However, she was eventually arrested as she was preparing to fly to Malaysia and was sentenced to serve 209 days in prison and return all the illegal gains.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

46. ​​"BUY BITCOIN" written on a sticky note can sell for 10 times more than Bitcoin itself

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

In 2017, Christian Langalis, a 22-year-old Cato Institute intern, wrote “Buy Bitcoin” on a yellow notepad and appeared on Janet Yellen’s livestream during a House Financial Services Committee hearing.

This "accident" caused the price of Bitcoin to rise by 3.7%, making Langalis a hero in the Bitcoin community. In April this year, he auctioned this "15 minutes of fame" for $1.019 million. He said: "I can finally free this number from my sock drawer and give it back to the Bitcoin community."

47. Betting on Bryan’s health data

If you want evidence of the decline of human civilization, look no further than the health experiments of biohacker Bryan Johnson, a multimillionaire who has taken health management to extremes in his quest for immortality.

In December, Polymarket users even began placing bets on whether he could maintain a nocturnal erection for more than two hours during sleep. Johnson explained that this is an important health indicator that represents sexual health, cardiovascular health, and mental health. It seems that modern people are not even worrying about sleeping.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

48. Coin Toss

During the market downturn in June, crypto players on Polymarket were bored enough to start betting on the heads and tails of coins. Simply connect your wallet to a website called Degen Coin Flips, and you never know what will happen next.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

49. The new craze of hamster racing

In August, crypto players apparently lost interest in flipping coins and turned to a new pastime: betting on live hamsters and watching them race in tiny plastic cars. This is the second year in a row that this has been tried, but the addition of racing elements has made it more interesting.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

50. "Disaster Scene" Episode 1 released by Meme

Raydium, a decentralized exchange on Solana, recently tried to launch Meme Coin through a new token issuance platform, but the result was counterproductive. Due to technical problems, two identical tokens were accidentally generated, and one of them plummeted 92% in just 10 minutes. The market value of the token quickly fell from an initial $7 million to $488,000. One user asked on Discord: "Is this a run?"

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

51. The Silly Token Launch Chronicle, Episode 2 (Infinite Series)

Imagine a meme coin that dies before it has a chance to skyrocket. That’s exactly what happened to a token that was “promoted” by Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr, Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, and other high-profile accounts, including a luxury brand CEO.

Despite these celebrity tweets reaching over 3 million people, the token has a market cap of just $19,000. Even more embarrassing, it has only 24 holders and a liquidity of just $4. As you might have guessed, these celebrities actually have nothing to do with the token, their X(Twitter) accounts were hacked.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

52. Binance’s “racial discrimination” incident

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, posted a meme on X (formerly Twitter) in June this year. The image was considered to have racist implications and sparked widespread controversy. In response, Binance blamed an intern on its social media team, saying that he "lacked the necessary cultural background" and therefore failed to realize the racist meaning of the image.

Binance explained in a statement: "When the intern saw this meme picture in the community, he did not understand its true meaning and posted it directly on X. This was our mistake and we will make sure to resolve this issue." To this end, Binance stated that their solution is to hire a new intern to avoid similar problems from happening again.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

53. Kraken hacker’s “low-level tricks”

In June, a “genius” attempted to gain access to an account by tricking a customer service representative at Kraken, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, while wearing a cheap rubber Halloween mask to disguise himself.

“Our support people were like: This is ridiculous. This guy is wearing a rubber mask,” Kraken’s chief security officer Nick Percoco told Decrypt.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

54. TrumpCoin’s “rug-pull” and roller coaster market

TrumpCoin, a Solana-based meme coin that claims to be linked to former US President Donald Trump, though this has never been proven, has seen its value plummet by 92% following a “rug-pull”.

After the largest whale sold 2 billion tokens at one time and cashed out $2 million, the token market value quickly plummeted from $55 million to $3 million. However, after Trump won the election, the token price soared to a record high, but then quickly fell back.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

55. "Sweetheart awakening": the collapse of HAWK token

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Haliey Welch, also known as Hawk Tuah Girl, launched a crypto token called HAWK. The token’s market value soared to $490 million in a short period of time, which was astonishingly fast. However, the good times did not last long, and the value of the token plummeted by more than 93%, and about $3 million of funds were swindled by unknown persons.

In response, Haliey’s team firmly denied participating in the so-called rug pull and stated: “Haliey’s team did not sell any tokens at all.”

After the token crash, Welch tried to answer investors’ questions through Spaces (Twitter’s real-time voice chat room). However, when faced with pointed questions, she chose to “strategically retreat” and only left a sentence: “I’m going to bed.” Then she exited the chat and never returned to Crypto Twitter, and seemed to disappear from people’s sight.

It was not until December 20 that the “Sleeping Beauty” finally ended her 372-hour “sleep” and announced that she was working with a law firm that had sued the creator of the HAWK token to try to find a solution to the incident.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

56.Alternative uses of hamster massage

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Who would have thought that personal massage devices, which were originally thought of as sex toys, could have other uses? Russian gamers have apparently found the answer!

Online retailer Wildberries reported a 179% month-on-month increase in sales of percussion massagers in June. The surge is thought to be linked to the popular Telegram game Hamster Kombat. Players are said to have discovered that the fast-vibrating devices can be used to tap the screen faster than humans, thereby earning more coins in the game. However, considering the game's disappointing airdrop rewards of just "dust", we can't help but wonder whether these players can earn back the cost of purchasing the vibrating devices.

57. Too big to fail, now back as a crypto company

It's back! Enron, once a symbol of the dot-com bubble at the end of the century, the energy giant that went bankrupt due to a financial fraud scandal, announced its return through X (formerly Twitter) in early December, claiming that it would use decentralized technology to "solve the global energy crisis." It is not clear whether this is a pure spoof, a serious comeback attempt, or a comeback farce that ultimately became a joke. In any case, the company claims that "permissionless innovation" (open innovation that can be carried out without the approval of a central agency) will be the core concept of its comeback.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

58. Justin Sun’s “Banana Show”

Art is sometimes hard to understand, but stupidity is easy to understand. At a Sotheby's auction, a banana taped to the wall sold for $6.2 million, and it was bought by Justin Sun Sun of the cryptocurrency world. What's even more surprising is that he later ate the banana.

As a charitable gesture, Justin Sun announced that he would buy 100,000 bananas from the original bananas’ source stalls and distribute them around the world for free. However, this plan was quickly rejected, with vendors saying that it was almost impossible to make a profit and logistics were even more difficult to achieve.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

59. Razzlekhan’s prison music career

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Notorious hacker Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan wrote a rap song dedicated to her husband in prison. The song was completed while she was in solitary confinement and ends on a positive note: "Keep praying for what the future brings, Inshallah."

60. Congressman’s Dogecoin Investment

A meme coin featuring a dog in a ski mask has surged in value this month after U.S. Congressman Mike Collins admitted to buying $30,000 worth of the token.

He said: "I like these coins, so I bought them." He also criticized Washington and Wall Street's bias against the crypto industry, believing that the industry should be given more respect.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

61. Don’t worry

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Remilia Corporation raised $20 million in a pre-sale of CULT Meme Tokens, but nothing happened for the next six months. Anyone who tried to express concern was bombarded with “don’t worry” comments from CULT community members who also spread false news that the token sale had been canceled.

Some community members told Decrypt that they found the concerns “laughable.” Still, the token was eventually launched in December.

62. Use games to "save democracy"

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

The popular battle royale game Off the Grid has launched a "Save Democracy" content pack that adds character skins for Trump and Harris. These skins not only come with real voices, but also include classic actions of politicians, such as building a wall or throwing a Molotov cocktail.

63. "Rug-pull" simulation game

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

If you want to experience the excitement of "rug-pull" but don't dare to actually do it, then Rug.fun game is your best choice! This game is based on Coinbase's Layer-2 network Base. Players can bet in 10 tokens, 8 of which will eventually be "rug-pull".

64. You can make money by petting cats

Tapos is a "cat-teasing and money-making" game based on the Aptos network, where players earn HEART tokens by tickling cats on the screen. The game helped the Aptos network record more than 200 million transactions in just two days. Although the game claimed in August that its total transaction volume had exceeded 500 million, it has not updated the data since then.

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

65.X Empire players complained to Elon Musk but to no avail

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Although there is an "X" in the name, the game X Empire has nothing to do with the social platform X - although it was previously called Musk Empire. Do you understand? In October this year, X Empire, a "click to earn money" game on Telegram, announced the airdrop distribution list, which caused some players who did not meet the conditions to complain to Elon Musk on Twitter.

“It’s obviously a scam using your name,” one player tweeted. “X Empire, Elon Musk, Musk Empire. Go check out the X Empire team, they are scammers.”

But Elon Musk, the boss of X and the master of the Internet, apparently ignored these complaints. A reminder to everyone: Don't complain to Musk about "X-rated movies" or anything related to "X chromosomes" in the future. He is not responsible for these. At least for now.

66. "See you in five minutes" Franklin

“9:45 AM. See you in five minutes!” — @Franklin, May 16, 2024.

This summer, a SocialFi game called Fantasy Top went viral. The game encourages social media influencers to earn rewards by attracting interactions on Twitter. A player named Franklin tweeted every five minutes to maximize his score. His dry humor and persistence made people admire him.

Those familiar with the NFT bull market may remember Franklin. He was famous for sharing his "rollover" experiences, such as losing $150,000 in a "prank" NFT auction and calling it the "biggest mistake of the century."

67. Kamala Harris’s “disappearance”

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

There was a time when it seemed that Kamala Harris had developed an interest in cryptocurrencies and might even reconsider the Biden administration’s ill-advised policies toward cryptocurrencies. There were also rumors that she might speak at Blockworks’ annual conference, Permissionless, and even win the presidential election.

However, none of this happened.

68. Trump’s love for cryptocurrency

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

In contrast, President-elect Trump has shown great interest in cryptocurrencies. In July, he gave a lengthy speech at a large Bitcoin conference in Nashville, which fully demonstrated his ignorance of cryptocurrencies. But this has not stopped him from continuing to interact with the cryptocurrency community.

In an interview with Rug Radio, Trump promoted his latest project, World Liberty Financial, which looks like an attempt at a stablecoin. This approach is very much in the spirit of cryptocurrency!

69. Litecoin’s “Meme Coin Transformation”

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

Litecoin has been trying to establish itself as a legitimate decentralized digital currency for years, but recently its Twitter intern decided to take the project down the meme coin route.

The official Twitter account of Litecoin posted: "Given the current market conditions, I now consider myself a meme coin." Subsequently, the account began to publish a lot of funny content, including the creation of a stickman mascot named Lester. Surprisingly, this series of funny operations actually caused the price of Litecoin to rise by 79%. This is really a stupid and lovable industry!

69 outrageous moments in the crypto world in 2024

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Disclaimer: The content above is only the author's opinion which does not represent any position of Followin, and is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, investment advice from Followin.
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