Blockchain Developers Share An Inside Joke, People Don’t Get It, Start To Panic Instead

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and it's time to kick off this week.

⭐️Today's selection:

• 😱Developer's Joke Causes Panic
• 💀RIP AAX?
• 💰Venture Monday
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

ETHEREUM DEVELOPER JOKES ABOUT wETH INSOLVENCY. PANIC SPREADS

During the weekend, crypto space saw some unexpected panic from unexpected sources.

Dozens of traders began to hastily "drain" their stock of wrapped ether (wETH), fueled by rumors about its insolvency.

Eventually it turned out that this panic avalanche was caused by a "joke".

Ethereum developer cygaar was among the first pranksters. Unprompted, he posted this:

Those who knew that this is rubbish, started joining in on the joke.

Such names as Anthony Sassano (host of The Daily Gwei) and Martin Köppelmann (Gnosis co-founder) were among the hilarious trolls. 

The problem is... Not everyone are tech-savvy enough to understand irony about such concepts. Especially when it's coming from highly-regarded insiders. 

And this applies not only to regular Twitter users.

Some media outlets even published material from a supposedly verified "source" about the urgent need to sell the asset.

It is strange that the co-founder of Gnosis has joined the number of "jokers". Tells you about the sense of humour of the smartest kids in the classroom. 

So, when these hilarious fellows realized that the joke isn't landing as they expected, they all had some explaining to do. 

So the moral of the lesson here is... FUD (Fear, uncertainty, doubt) is an emotion. And Twitter can be used to instil emotions in the crowds easily. 

'Please be aware it may not be obvious to outsiders that it's completely different from bridged assets and there is literally almost zero risk,' - commented one concerned user.

And they were right.

BTW, what's wETH?🤔

wETH is a wrapped version of Ethereum. It is pegged at a 1:1 ratio. Its point is to solve interoperability problems.

It allows users to exchange ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum-compatible blockchains more easily. It's Ether, but 'wrapped' to function like an ERC-20 token.

TL;DR: Ethereum developers and blockchain insiders decided to joke about wETH becoming insolvent. Only other insiders understood it. Outsiders started panicking. 🔥

RIP AAX?

AAX, the cryptocurrency exchange, appears to have hit an iceberg.

A few weeks ago the exchange halted withdrawals. This was a direct consequence of the then-ongoing FTX crash.

Today, as a sign of (no) relief, Ben Caselin, AAX executive, has posted this:

He's out of the sinking ship.

This definitely doesn't communicate any safety or certainty. It probably only promises a further demise. 

Yet another victim in the FTX saga. The domino effect is still happening. 

TL;DR: Crypto exchange AAX shows signs of distress. Not long ago they frozen withdrawals. Today one of their execs resigned. This means no good.

VENTURE MONDAY

It's time to talk about last week's winners.

Web3 and VR gaming studio Thirdverse raised $15M in a funding round led by MZ Web3 Fund, with participation from OKX subsidiaries (OKCoinJapan, OKX Ventures, etc).

This means that more blockchain games are incoming. And they're gonna be in VR. Not only with VR glasses, but as well a wallet connection.

Cosmos-based DeFi protocol Onomy raised $10M in a private token funding round. Bitfinex, GSR, Ava Labs, CMS Holdings and DWF Labs are among investors.

They're improving stablecoins' cross-chain convertibility. It would result in making it easier for users to lend stablecoins, even when borrowers would use a different chain.

One-stop solution for secure bridging Across Protocolraised $10M from Hack VC, Placeholder, and Blockchain Capital. They're working on similar goals.

Why is this trend reappearing?

Top blockchains like Ethereum has increasingly more competitors: BSC, Avalanche, Polygon, Solana, Polkadot, Algorand, Cardano etc.

This is beneficial for users: Alternatives provide a choice: some offer lower commissions while others have a faster blockchain.

Therefore, people either have to use centralized exchanges (which got riskier lately) or bridge their tokens to a new network in order to try to get the latest opportunities and drops.

There are cross-chain bridges for this, but each bridge has its own nuances. For example, some bridges are unstable and too slow, or the commissions are too high.

Not long ago we published a guide on how to use MetaMask bridge to increase one's chances for a potential in airdrop - check it out here.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Elon Musk's Twitter 2.0 Plans Make Dogecoin Price Jump by Almost 20%. The meme is not a joke.
• Vladimir Putin Suggests Creating a Blockchain-Based International Payment System. Russian President wants to see an 'independent international' payment system.
• Crypto Exchange Coinsquare Suffers from User Data Breach. They can't keep getting away with this.
• US Regulators Launch Investigation on Genesis Global and Other Crypto Firms. The word 'other' is getting wider and wider.