This Week on Crypto Twitter: An Eye-Popping Meme Coin NFT Sale As Ethereum Legal Worries Grow

Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

This week saw several surprising developments for the crypto ecosystem—some positive, some troubling.

On Monday, an Ethereum NFT of the photo that inspired the Dogwifhat meme and eventual multi-billion dollar meme coin phenomenon sold at auction—for a whopping $4.3 million worth of ETH.

Congrats, Achi!

On Nov. 17, 2018, Achi’s owners captured him in an endearing hat on camera.

On Mar. 18, 2024, that photo, Achi, dog wif hat, became our second highest auction, collected by @GiganticRebirth for 1,210.759 ETH ($4.3m USD). pic.twitter.com/KrAeQ5WMVm

— Foundation 🌐 (@foundation) March 18, 2024

That selling price instantly made Dogwifhat the most expensive meme-inspired NFT ever sold, dethroning Doge, the previous reigning champ in that category. The price of Dogwifhat spiked over $3 but has settled around $2.25 as of writing.

The eye-popping sale points to the resurgent health of the meme coin economy and the potential full-throated return of the NFT market.

The South Korean owners of Achi, the dog featured in the Dogwifhat meme, later divulged that the payday from the NFT sale was far, far more than they ever anticipated. Path, the pseudonymous facilitator of the Dogwifhat NFT sale, told Decrypt the same.

Auction facilitator @leondemo asked them some questions about their experience: pic.twitter.com/KSEFyQfKuT

— path.eth 🛡️ (@Cryptopathic) March 21, 2024

The same day as Dogwifhat’s historic sale, Binance found itself embroiled in a minor controversy after accusations circulated on Twitter that an employee of the company may have been behind a suspiciously timed purchase of a new meme coin, BOME, that was shortly thereafter listed on the crypto exchange—a development that sent the token’s price surging.

A fresh wallet withdrew 12,721 $SOL($2.3M) from #Binance and bought 314M $BOME at $0.0074 in the past 30 mins.

Does He know something we don’t?🤔https://t.co/cDrm9SOtOB pic.twitter.com/g6GbCbZb1L

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 15, 2024

The hubbub—which was partially fueled by the secrecy surrounding how Binance makes key decisions about which coins to list on its platforms—soon grew large enough that the company felt obligated to respond.

In a statement posted on Binance’s Chinese-language Twitter account, the company referred to the matter as the “so-called BOME rat warehouse” incident and said it had conducted an internal investigation that concluded that the transaction in question had not been made by a Binance employee.

Twitter users still argued, though, that Binance should be more transparent about its token listing process. BOME, for example, was listed only two days after its creation—a fairly unusual move in an industry where such decisions often take months.

📢关于“#BOME 老鼠仓”相关信息的调查结果公示

近期，我们注意到社区中关于所谓币安“BOME老鼠仓”事件的讨论。我们非常重视这一信息，并根据相关线索立即启动了内部调查。根据我们初步的调查结果，相关信息中所提及的人员与币安无关。…

— 币安Binance华语｜Web3钱包已上线 (@binancezh) March 18, 2024

The greatest surprise of the week came on Wednesday, however, when reports surfaced that the Ethereum Foundation—the Swiss organization that maintains the network’s technical operations—is currently under investigation by an unnamed “state authority.”

While the state authority in question has not yet been officially confirmed, subsequent reports confirmed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been subpoenaing American crypto firms about their relationships with the Ethereum Foundation—prompting fears that the SEC could be preparing a hail mary assault on the Ethereum network itself.

Could the SEC go full scorched earth? Absolutely, but I’ll still hold my breath for the moment. I’ve heard reasonable arguments that this might be the case, so be warned.

— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) March 21, 2024

Some Twitter users immediately brushed off the news, likely emboldened by the SEC’s recent string of crypto-related setbacks in federal court.

It’s gonna be funny when a judge orders the SEC to pay the Ethereum Foundation’s legal bills in 5-10 months.

— CryptoTaxGuy.ETH ⌐◨-◨ 🦇🔊🛡️ (@CryptoTaxGuyETH) March 20, 2024

Others, though, cautioned that—-regardless of prior results—the prospect of a U.S. government-backed effort to censure one of the most important technical teams in the crypto ecosystem was no laughing matter.

You’re laughing? The Ethereum Foundation is under investigation by a State Authority and you’re laughing? pic.twitter.com/RAXof5j3n2

— poordart (@poordart) March 20, 2024

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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