This Week on Crypto Twitter: Musk Pumps Dogecoin and Mocks Warren, Melania Trump Goes NFT

Elon Musk dominated Crypto Twitter this week. 

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO discovered himself in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s crosshairs on Monday and promptly went on the defensive. He additionally made a giant announcement about Tesla and Dogecoin, and later he even surfaced on Turkish Twitter. Former first woman Melania Trump additionally introduced her first step into crypto by way of a brand new NFT enterprise. 

Read on to seek out out extra in our weekly roundup of the Crypto Twitter buzz that was.

Musk Mania

On Monday, TIME named Elon Musk its 2021 Person of the Year. The journal, which has gone all in on NFTs, certainly knew Musk is a unfastened cannon on Twitter. And it solely took sooner or later for him to fireplace off tweets that led some individuals to criticize TIME for selecting him.

On Tuesday, Musk acquired round to replying to a Monday tweet from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren that focused Musk: “Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”

Musk replied: “Stop projecting! You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason.” Thirteen minutes later, he tweeted one other response, even saltier: “Please don’t name the supervisor on me, Senator Karen 🙏” 

He didn’t cease there. A couple of hours later, Musk was again on Twitter with a remark that replied extra on to Warren’s particular critique: “And if you opened your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year.”

His fifth and last jab was pithy: “Don’t spend it all at once… oh wait you did already.” Warren didn’t reply. 

Earlier within the day on Tuesday, hours earlier than he went after Warren, Musk casually tweeted that Tesla will settle for Dogecoin for merchandise funds and “see how it goes.” The world’s favorite meme coin surged 20% from his tweet. 

Later within the week, Musk popped up on Turkish Twitter with a bit of crypto-related information. The Tesla CEO’s different firm, rocket producer SpaceX, was chosen by the Turkish republic to launch two satellites this yr for the state-owned communications satellite tv for pc operator Türksat. 

The first was launched again in January. The second one is being launched at the moment. As a thanks, president Erdoğan informed Musk over a video convention that he’ll obtain an NFT manufactured from satellite tv for pc artwork created by 5,000 schoolchildren. Isn’t that good? 

Melania x Solana

On Thursday, former First Lady Melania Trump tweeted that she’s going to launch the “Melania Trump NFT platform,” which is able to promote NFTs solely by way of her web site MelaniaTrump.com. 

Her NFT releases can be minted on Solana. Within minutes, a Solana Labs spokesperson despatched crypto media this assertion: “I wanted to inform you, to avoid any confusion, that her choice to use the Solana blockchain was completely organic, and this project is not part of any Solana-led initiative.”

Trump’s first NFT undertaking is a collaboration with watercolorist Marc-Antoine Coulon. The debut piece is known as “Melania’s Vision” and “embodies Mrs Trump’s cobalt blue eyes,” in response to an announcement from the previous First Lady. The purchaser of the NFT may also get a bodily amulet and an audio recording of the previous first woman giving a “message of hope.”

Anyone who purchases a Melania Trump NFT will obtain a digital copy, a bodily copy and an adjunct. “Melania’s Vision” will go on sale for 1 SOL (about $185) and proceeds of all her NFTs will go towards her Be Best initiative, a charity to assist deprived kids.

Gamers vs NFTs

On Thursday, sport developer GSC Game World canceled its plans for NFTs in its upcoming title S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R. 2, after vocal backlash from the gaming world. 

This isn’t the primary time avid gamers have reacted strongly to an NFT announcement. Ubisoft confronted the same response over its resolution to implement NFTs in its new “Ghost Recon” sport, and Discord scrapped a potential Metamask pockets integration on account of comparable responses. 

Gamers’ rejection of NFTs has but to be addressed adequately by the business, however the conflict is unlikely to dissipate simply but. Many of them seem satisfied that NFTs are silly, or a shameless money seize, or unhealthy for the atmosphere—or all of the above.

Adidas x BAYC

Finally, Adidas Originals’ debut NFT drop on Friday—a collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic NFT creator Pixel Vault, and NFT collector gmoney—netted $23.4 million in just some hours to change into the primary NFT undertaking by day by day buying and selling quantity yesterday, although it has since dropped to second place at the moment, in response to CryptoSlam. 

In Adidas’s normal sale, the NFTs have been capped to 2 per buyer, however that didn’t cease one buyer from devising an enchanting workaround utilizing a customized sensible contract. The contract generated 165 sub-contracts with distinctive addresses; every sub-smart contract minted two NFTs apiece in a single transaction, then despatched the 330 NFTs over to the creator’s essential ETH deal with. Blockchain engineer Montana Wong defined all of it in a thread, which was later verified by the contract’s creator. 

It was altogether one other wild and spicy week on Crypto Twitter, regardless of a lull within the coin market. Sometimes, costs are the least attention-grabbing factor about crypto.