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Elon Musk requests dismissal of $258B Dogecoin lawsuit: Report

The plaintiffs referred to Musk’s 2021 Saturday Night Live appearance, during which he played “a fictitious financial expert” and called Dogecoin “a hustle,” causing the price of DOGE to sharply decline minutes after the show.

Elon Musk and his lawyers reportedly requested a United States judge dismiss a $258 billion lawsuit filed by investors who alleged he operated a pyramid scheme to promote the cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE).

According to an April 1 Reuters report, Elon Musk’s lawyers stated that the lawsuit against Musk — filed by Dogecoin investors in June 2022 — was a “fanciful work of fiction” in Manhattan’s federal court on March 31.

Musk’s lawyers explained that his support for Dogecoin on social media, including comments such as “Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, only Doge,” was “too vague” to warrant a fraud claim. The lawyers stated:

“There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion.”

Musk’s lawyers referred to his Dogecoin statements as “innocuous and often silly tweets” to convince the judge to “throw out” the multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

Musk was accused of driving up Dogecoin’s price “more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash,” with it being alleged in the initial filing last year that he “used his pedestal as World’s richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme.“

Related: Elon Musk slams ‘heavy-handed’ Fed as ex-BitMEX CEO sees $1M BTC price

It was reported that the investors cited Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance in May 2021, where he portrayed “a fictitious financial expert” and called Dogecoin “a hustle” as a reference point in the lawsuit.

Minutes after the television appearance, the price of DOGE dumped more than 25%, falling as low as $.50 from $.66 highs at the show’s start.

Musk appeared to make numerous efforts to reignite people’s enthusiasm for Dogecoin following his television appearance.

He told his Twitter followers just days after that he is working with “Doge devs to improve system efficiency,” and that it could be “potentially promising.“

During the market crash in March 2022, Musk told his Twitter followers that he would not sell his crypto holdings, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and DOGE.

The lawyer representing the investors, Evan Spencer, reportedly stated in an email that “we are more confident than ever that our case will be successful.“

Magazine: Crypto winter can take a toll on hodlers’ mental health

Circle CSO’s Twitter account breached by scammers

“Any links to offers are scams. We are investigating the situation and taking action accordingly,” wrote USDC issuer Circle.

According to an official post on March 22 from Circle, issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, the Twitter account for its chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Dante Disparte, has been compromised. In a previously deleted Tweet, Disparte’s account reportedly began promoting fake loyalty rewards to long-time users of USDC. 

Before the compromise, Disparte’s account tweeted about the firm’s regulatory developments and its participation in the ongoing Paris Blockchain Week. The security breach came less than a month after the stablecoin briefly depegged due to reserve deposits left in the custody of defunct American tech bank Silicon Valley Bank. The incident has since been resolved, and USDC has repegged, albeit a tiny variance with the stablecoin’s peg still exists at the time of publication.

At the time of publication, four Twitter posts left by the alleged scammer in Disparte’s name were removed. Only three posts with generic comments on the recent events surrounding USDC remain standing:

Circle CSO’s compromised Twitter account. Source: Twitter

Cointelegraph reported on March 11 that crypto whales suffered huge losses as a result of the USDC depegging incident. Shortly after, fake Circle accounts began surfacing on social media with promises of making users’ assets whole. Although the peg has been mostly restored, the redemption of USDC for U.S. dollars has nearly eclipsed $10 billion since the beginning of the month. 

Some decentralized finance protocols, such as that of Dai (DAI) stablecoin issuer MakerDAO’s peg stability module, reportedly had USDC hard coded as 1:1 in their smart contracts instead of reflecting their market value. On the day of the incident, MakerDAO filed an emergency proposal aimed at reducing its 3.1-billion USDC reserve exposure, which was used to collateralize DAI. Like USDC, DAI has mostly restored its peg with the U.S. dollar, albeit a small variance still exists at the time of publication. 

Former Coinbase CTO makes $2M bet on Bitcoin’s performance

Balaji Srinivasan has predicted Bitcoin will reach $1 million within 90 days as a consequence of hyperinflation in the United States.

Former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan has made a millionaire bet on Bitcoin’s (BTC) price over the next 90 days, predicting the cryptocurrency price will reach $1 million by June 17. 

The wager was initiated on March 17, when pseudonymous Twitter user James Medlock offered to bet anyone $1 million that the United States would not experience hyperinflation. A few hours later, the former Coinbase CTO accepted the bet.

Under the proposed terms, if Bitcoin’s price fails to reach $1 million by June 17, Medlock will win $1 million worth of the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) and the 1 BTC. The same way, if Bitcoin is worth at least $1 million by the date, then Balaji can keep the 1 BTC and the $1 million in USDC. Srinivasan explained in the thread: 

“You buy 1 BTC. I will send $1M USD. This is ~40:1 odds as 1 BTC is worth ~$26k. The term is 90 days.”

Related: Banking crisis: What does it mean for crypto?

As per the thread, other Twitter users helped set up a smart contract with the betting terms. Srinivasan also disclosed that he would move another $1 million in USDC for another wager on the same topic: 

“I am moving $2M into USDC for the bet. I will do it with Medlock and one other person, sufficient to prove the point. See my next tweet. Everyone else should just go buy Bitcoin, as it’ll be much cheaper for you than locking one up for 90 days.”

Medlock and Srinivasan made the wager based on their different views of the U.S. economy’s future amid ongoing uncertainty regarding the country’s banking system.

Srinivasan argues that there’s an impending crisis that will lead to the deflation of the U.S. dollar, and thus, to a hyperinflation scenario that would take the BTC price to $1 million. Medlock, on the other hand, is bearish about upcoming hyperinflation in the country.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has reached $27,387 at the time of writing, with its market capitalization adding over $194 billion year-to-date to a 66% growth in 2023, outperforming Wall Street bank stocks amid fears of a global banking crisis.

Also, for the first time in a year, BTC’s price has shifted away from United States stocks, rising about 65% compared to the S&P 500’s 2.5% gains and the Nasdaq’s 15% decline, Cointelegraph reported.

Former Coinbase CTO makes $2M bet on Bitcoin’s performance

Balaji Srinivasan has predicted that Bitcoin will reach $1 million within 90 days due to hyperinflation in the United States.

Former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan has made a millionaire bet on Bitcoin’s (BTC) price over the next 90 days, predicting the cryptocurrency will reach $1 million by June 17. 

The wager was initiated on March 17, when pseudonymous Twitter user James Medlock offered to bet anyone $1 million that the United States would not experience hyperinflation. A few hours later, the former Coinbase executive accepted the bet.

Under the proposed terms, if Bitcoin’s price fails to reach $1 million by June 17, Medlock will win $1 million worth of the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) and 1 BTC. In the same way, if Bitcoin is worth at least $1 million by the date, then Balaji can keep the 1 BTC and the $1 million in USDC. Srinivasan explained in the thread: 

“You buy 1 BTC. I will send $1M USD. This is ~40:1 odds as 1 BTC is worth ~$26k. The term is 90 days.”

Related: Banking crisis: What does it mean for crypto?

Per the thread, other Twitter users helped set up a smart contract with the betting terms. Srinivasan also disclosed that he would move another $1 million in USDC for another wager on the same topic: 

“I am moving $2M into USDC for the bet. I will do it with Medlock and one other person, sufficient to prove the point. See my next tweet. Everyone else should just go buy Bitcoin, as it’ll be much cheaper for you than locking one up for 90 days.“

Medlock and Srinivasan made the wager based on their different views of the U.S. economy’s future amid ongoing uncertainty regarding its banking system.

Srinivasan argues that there’s an impending crisis that will lead to the deflation of the U.S. dollar and, thus, to a hyperinflation scenario that would take the BTC price to $1 million. Medlock, on the other hand, is bearish about upcoming hyperinflation in the country.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has reached $27,387 at the time of writing, with its market capitalization adding over $194 billion year-to-date to a 66% growth in 2023, outperforming Wall Street bank stocks amid fears of a global banking crisis.

Also, for the first time in a year, BTC’s price has shifted away from United States stocks, rising about 65% compared to the S&P 500’s 2.5% gains and the Nasdaq’s 15% decline, Cointelegraph reported.

Dogecoin hits 4-month lows vs. Bitcoin — 50% DOGE price rebound now in play

The prospects of Elon Musk abandoning Dogecoin could negatively impact its price in both Bitcoin and USD terms.

Dogecoin (DOGE) pared some losses versus Bitcoin (BTC) on March 10, a day after the DOGE/BTC pair fell to its lowest level since October 2022. Can the DOGE price see an extended rebound ahead? 

On the daily chart, the DOGE/BTC pair reached 331 sats, up 4.75% compared to the previous day’s low of 316 sats. The bounce occurred around a multimonth descending trendline, which has capped the pair’s downside moves since November 2022.

DOGE/BTC daily price chart. Source: TradingView

DOGE price vs. BTC

Interestingly, the DOGE/BTC descending trendline appears to be part of a prevailing falling wedge pattern. Traditional chart analysts consider the falling wedge a bullish reversal setup, notably because of the pattern’s 62% success rate in meeting its upside price targets.

In Dogecoin’s case, the price is wobbling around its falling wedge’s apex point, where its upper and lower trendlines converge. DOGE’s latest rebound from the lower trendline increases its possibility of testing the upper trendline for a breakout, as illustrated in the chart below.

DOGE/BTC daily price chart featuring falling wedge breakout. Source: TradingView

The upside setup further draws support from the DOGE/BTC’s daily relative strength index (RSI), with a reading of around 28. From a technical perspective, an RSI below 30 means the pair is oversold, which could prompt its price to consolidate sideways or rebound.

In the event of a breakout, DOGE/BTC can rise toward 500 sats by April, up 50% from current price levels. The upside target is measured after adding the maximum distance between the falling wedge’s upper and lower trendline to the breakout point. 

However, a decisive drop below the falling wedge’s lower trendline risks invalidating the whole upside setup. Instead, DOGE can drop toward 280 sats, a historical support level down around 13% from current price levels.

Such a scenario is possible given Dogecoin’s stint with a failed falling wedge pattern in March 2022, where the DOGE/USD pair broke below the lower trendline — 50% losses followed.

Which way for DOGE price?

However, Dogecoin could still fall in U.S. dollar terms, mainly due to increasing macroeconomic uncertainty.

In recent years, the Dogecoin price rallied primarily on the heels of news-driven events and Elon Musk’s support, including hopes of a DOGE payment option on Twitter.

Related: Why is the crypto market down today?

However, Musk said on March 3 that he would shift his focus from cryptocurrencies to artificial intelligence. The billionaire entrepreneur didn’t name Dogecoin specifically, but many interpreted that Musk may distance himself from the industry moving forward. 

The price of Dogecoin has dropped by more than 20% to $0.06 since Musk’s tweet. Moreover, from a technical perspective, the price is well-positioned to drop by another 10% in the coming weeks in a retest of an old support level at around $0.055–0.042.

DOGE/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

Conversely, a bounce from the support range could have DOGE’s price rally test the triangle’s upper trendline at around $0.076, resulting in gains of approximately 15% from current price levels.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

‘Scammers dream’ — Yuga’s auction model for Bitcoin NFTs sees criticism

Yuga Labs’ first Bitcoin NFT collection saw some backlash from the crypto community over the weekend, pointing to flaws in how it conducts the auction.

Nonfungible token (NFT) company Yuga Labs faces criticism from the cryptocurrency community, including the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, over how it plans to auction its new Bitcoin NFT collection. 

On March 5, Yuga opened bids for its “TwelveFold” collection, which will see 300 NFT-like images inscribed on satoshis using the Bitcoin-native Ordinals protocol, with 288 from the collection sent to the highest 288 bidders.

According to a March 5 press release, those participating in the bidding process must send their entire bid amount in Bitcoin (BTC) to a unique BTC address controlled by Yuga. Winners would simply pay up the BTC they bid, while Yuga said it would return BTC to those unsuccessful in placing a top bid.

However, such a plan has earned the ire of some within the crypto community, with some pointing out that having to conduct refunds for unsuccessful bids manually is like the “stone age.”

The user behind an Ordinals-focused Twitter account “ordinally” called the auction model a “scammers dream,” adding while they doubt Yuga would keep the BTC from failed bids, the way it carries out the auction sets a “REALLY bad precedence.”

The post even saw a response from Bitcoin Ordinals creator, Casey Rodarmor, who hotly weighed in on the discussion, telling Yuga to “get fucked” and calling the conduct of the auction “degenerate bullshit.”

He added if Yuga were to conduct a similar auction he would encourage others to boycott the project.

Other users pointed out the shortcomings of the auction system, saying it’s possible some could overpay for a TwelveFold due to a potential significant price discrepancy between the highest and lowest bids in the top 288.

Despite the criticism from some, many were happy to see a large project such as Yuga — which rose to prominence due to multiple Ethereum-based NFT collections — bridge across to Bitcoin.

Related: Luxor Mining acquires OrdinalHub amid Bitcoin-based NFTs hype

Ordinally, who criticized the collection, later tweeted appreciation of “the fact that Yuga took the effort to attempt [to] go a Bitcoin route when setting up this auction.”

An Ordinals-based collection, Ordinal Pizza OG, expressed excitement at Yuga’s BTC collection and called it a “massive net positive for Ordinals.”

The criticisms weren’t enough to stop cashed-up bidders from wanting to try to cement a top spot to nab Yuga’s first BTC collection.

At the time of writing, the top bid was 1.11 BTC (around $25,000), according to the TwelveFold website with the lowest bid registered showing as 0.011 BTC, or around $250.

The crypto industry has ‘already started’ moving outside US, says Ripple CEO

Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple is the regulator playing “offense” and “attacking” the industry as a whole.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) regulation through “enforcement” is not a “healthy way” to regulate an industry, and may result in the U.S. being a less attractive location for crypto firms, suggests Ripple’s CEO.

In a March 3 Bloomberg interview, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of blockchain-based digital payment network Ripple, suggested that the SEC’s regulation approach puts the U.S. at “severe risk” of missing out on being an attractive hub for the next evolution of blockchain and crypto innovation.

Garlinghouse noted that the SEC’s case against Ripple is the SEC simply playing “offense” and “attacking” the industry as a whole, adding that if the SEC is “able to prevail,” there will be “a lot of other cases.”

He suggested that the crypto industry has “already started moving outside” of the U.S., given its crypto regulation process is “behind” other countries like “Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland.”

He commended these countries for taking “the time and thoughtfulness” to create “clear rules of the road,” adding that the approach taken by the U.S. is not a “healthy way to regulate an industry.”

Garlinghouse recalled when he “first got into the tech industry in the late 90s,” there were proposals to ban the internet due to “illicit activity,” but the government refuted the idea and decided to “create a framework.”

He emphasized “the benefits” this early adoption brought on a “geopolitical basis,” to have the “Amazon’s and Google’s” based in the U.S., suggesting that the same opportunity is currently on the table with creating a framework for crypto.

Garlinghouse believes the framework process should begin with outlining “clear protections for consumers.”

He added that consumers are suffering from the “lag,” as they lack the “same protection” that regulatory frameworks “can provide.“

Garlinghouse believes that a decision should come this year in the SEC’s case against Ripple.

Related: Ripple survey: 97% of payment firms believe in the power of crypto

More recently, John Deaton, founder of legal news outlet Crypto Law Lawyer put a call to action to his 245,000 Twitter followers on March 5, stating that all companies in “active litigation” with the SEC should collaborate and develop “coordinated strategies,” calling it “war.”

This comes after Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, told Bloomberg in a Feb. 22 interview that the crypto regulation process in the U.S. is happening “behind closed doors,” adding that it is vital for more industry involvement in an “open process.”

Twitter down the same day Jack Dorsey launches decentralized alternative

Thousands of Twitter users were unable to view tweets, while Jack Dorsey’s decentralized social network, Bluesky, grabbed attention online.

Twitter suffered another outage on March 1 as thousands of users flagged issues with Elon Musk’s social media platform. The outage took place as Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s new project, Bluesky, went into beta testing.

Data from Downdetector showed thousands of issue reports from Twitter users from 9 am UTC, with issues slowly being resolved over a five-hour period. 59% of the reported problems were from mobile app users, while a further 35% of issues were flagged by website users.

Twitter is yet to issue any updates on the cause of the outage, but various reports indicate that users in different parts of the world experienced issues, including the “Following” and “For You” feeds not displaying any tweets or content.

The Twitter mobile app works, but users can’t see new tweets in their timeline.

The New York Times reported that a further 200 employees had been retrenched from the company over the weekend. Since Musk took over the social media platform, Twitter’s staff numbers have been reduced from over 7,500 to under 2,000. According to the report, product managers, data scientists and engineers were among those who were let go by the company.

While Twitter grappled with its latest outage, Dorsey’s decentralized social media platform, Bluesky, went into private beta testing. As Cointelegraph reported, the mobile application became available to select users through ainvitation-only beta testing.

Related: What are decentralized social networks?

According to initial reports, the application has been available on the Apple App Store since Feb. 17 and had over 2,000 downloads by the end of the month. The app is not yet available on Android.

A report in January suggested that Twitter was developing payment features for the application, with the possibility of onboarding cryptocurrency functionality in the future. The social media app also rolled out a cryptocurrency price search feature in January, which featured over 30 different tokens. 

Bluesky emerged as a side product of Twitter in 2019, aiming to create an open and decentralized standard for social media. Meanwhile, another decentralized social media platform, Damus, went live in February 2023 as well. The platform is a messaging service built on Nostr, a decentralized network powering encrypted end-to-end private messaging and other services. 

Jack Dorsey’s decentralized Twitter rival enters app store

The interface of Jack Dorsey’s decentralized Twitter alternative, Bluesky, resembles the look of Elon Musk’s social media platform.

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of the social networking platform Twitter, is progressing with Bluesky — a decentralized Twitter alternative — as its mobile application enters private beta testing.

Bluesky has hit the Apple app store as an invite-only app, allowing certain persons to try out the new social experience by creating an account via an invite code.

According to a report by TechCrunch, the Bluesky iOS app debuted on Feb. 17, amassing about 2,000 installs as of Feb. 28. The app is reportedly not yet available for Android testers on Google Play.

On Bluesky’s app store preview, the rival app looks very much like Twitter, with the interface having a lot of Twitter-like features, including how handles, followers, posts and replies are presented. In a similar style to Twitter, the Bluesky app’s feed also has likes, comments and reposts.

Bluesky iPhone screenshots. Source: App Store

According to TechCrunch, the app allows users to create a post of up to 265 characters or just fewer than Twitter’s 280 characters. Instead of Twitter’s “What’s happening?” Bluesky asks, “What’s up?” Bluesky users can share, mute and block accounts, while more advanced tools, like adding them to lists, are not yet available.

Bluesky’s feed and notifications interface on private beta. Source: TechCrunch

Despite resembling Twitter so much, Bluesky is set to have some technical features designed to make it very different from Elon Musk’s social media giant. The platform aims to provide a decentralized social network protocol, which is expected to make its user data free from influence by any government or corporation.

Bluesky is built on the AT protocol, a new federated social network that integrates ideas from the latest decentralized technologies. Originally known as the authenticated transfer protocol, or ADX, the AT protocol is Bluesky’s main effort to enable a new way for servers to communicate with each other, allowing individuals and businesses to self-host and have multiple websites instead of one.

Related: Web3 communication app goes after Twitter with $12.5M seed funding

As previously reported, Bluesky released its first batch of code in early May 2022, a few weeks before Dorsey exited Twitter’s board of directors. In October, officially introduced the Bluesky social app and the AT protocol, which came nearly three years after Dorsey launched the project with support from Twitter in 2019.

While Bluesky has been moving forward with beta testing, Twitter has encountered some issues recently. On March 1, Twitter suffered another notable outage as thousands of users flagged issues with Musk’s social media platform. The issue was slowly resolved over a five hour period.

The news comes amid Dorsey reportedly moving some Bitcoin (BTC) using his other social protocol, Nostr. Damus, the first mobile app to leverage the protocol, was published on the app store in February 2023.

Bitcoin core dev calls out ‘misleading’ auction selling his code as an NFT

Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr has called out the sellers behind an NFT auction for using his name and code without his knowledge or consent.

One of the original core developers behind Bitcoin (BTC), Luke Dashjr, has taken to social media to call out an auction site that has used his name and code without his consent to create and sell a “misleading” NFT.

The core developer said he hasn’t been the first Bitcoin developer to have his name or his work used in this way.

In a Feb. 27 post on Twitter, the developer revealed a nonfungible token featuring a picture of code he wrote was sold at an auction site for 0.41 Bitcoin (BTC), or roughly $9,500 at the time of writing.

“It was advertised as my code in the listing and presented to the public for sale and profit,” Dashjr explained.

“Let me be clear – I was not involved with the creation and sale of this or any other NFTs. I have not consented to the use of my code or my name for this purpose. Instead, 3rd parties are marketing my name and my code for their own monetary gain,” he added.

Dashjr revealed that the winner of the auction eventually contacted him and he had to inform them he was not involved with the sale.

The auction winner reportedly contacted Luke Dashir, only to discover he was not involved with the sale. Source: Luke Dashir

Dashjr claims that an individual — either the seller or the auction site — had reached out and offered him “a donation of 90% of the auction proceeds,” which he declined.

“The public should also be aware that the seller and/or auction site offered me a donation of 90% of the auction proceeds ‘should I choose to accept’ it. I feel this is a clear attempt to: (1) bribe me into silence; and/or (2) obtain my consent after the fact,” he explained, adding:

“I will not accept such payment at the expense of the public who are being misled. I will not accept any such ‘donation’.”

“Due to the misrepresentation involved and actual buyer confusion, I strongly insist upon 100% of the auction proceeds to be refunded to the buyer,” Dashjr said.

According to Dashjr, “other Bitcoin devs” have been placed in similar situations and been offered “considerable” donations for their cooperation; however, he did not provide any specific details.

A message from a purported seller of the NFT offering Luke Dashjr a “donation” from the auction. Source: Luke Dashjr

“Stop using my name to mislead the public so you can make a quick buck. It’s wrong,” Dashjr said. 

“I do not consent to the use of my name or code for this grift. I want the public to be aware of where I stand,” he added.

Related: Navigating the world of crypto: Tips for avoiding scams

Early last year, decentralized marketplace OpenSea reported that over 80% of NFTs minted using its tool were “plagiarized works, fake collections, and spam.”

Dashjr was reportedly the unfortunate victim of a hack on the last day of 2022 that lost him “basically” all his BTC.

Hackers gained access to his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) key, a common security method that uses two keys to gain access to encrypted information.

The news ignited a debate around self-custody, which became a hot topic after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.