Weekly Recap

GM Readers!📪 This is BitDegree Insider, and it's time for a weekly recap☕️

⭐️Today's selection:

• 😱Developer's Joke Causes Panic
• 🚩BlockFi Bankruptcy
• 🎙SBF's Controversial Interview
• 🍎AppStore Blocks Coinbase Wallet App

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?

Sunday's here. Time to relax, allow yourself to be less productive than usual, and in the meantime... run through the most important events that happened this week.

This week began with a joke. We're talking about that time when a blockchain developer joked about wrapped ETH being insolvent... and people started panicking.

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

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

People began panicking. Even media outlets some media outlets even published material from a supposedly verified "source" about the urgent need to sell the asset.

Until eventually, the 'pranksters' had to explain themselves.

But the world continue turning. While some people were 'joking', and others were panicking... Some crypto giants... declared bankruptcy.

Yeah, the very next day the world read the news about BlockFi going out of the game.

BlockFi, the crypto lender (or to put it in simple terms, a DeFi bank), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 

The reason behind it? 'Significant exposure' to FTX that led to... a liquidity crisis.

Ironically, at first, it was FTX who tried saving them. This July BlockFi received $400 million from them. Now, FTX is BlockFi's second-largest creditor.

Then the entire crypto sphere was shaken by SBF's appearance. Not somewhere random, but as a guest speaker at the DealBook Summit, organized The New York Times.

He was listed as one of the main speakers among such figures as Mark Zuckerberg or President Volodymyr Zelensky. Obviously, this was controversial.

Here are some of the more important quotes from the interview that went on for an hour and a half:

'I wasn't running Alameda, I didn't know exactly what was going on,' - on his influence over Alameda and its connection to FTX.

'I was nervous because of the conflict of interest about being too involved,' - on why he avoided knowing too much about the Alameda situation.

"The classic advice phrase 'don't say anything, you know, recede into a hole, and… that's now who I am… <...> I think a have a duty to talk to people," - on what are his lawyers advising him.

'So, you know… uhh… basically… profits,' - on where did the money for political donations come from.

And when asked about how much money SBF, the former Forbes Billionaire, has currently left, here's what he said:

And, as cherry on top of the week's cake, came the news that...

Apple's App Store has blocked the latest version of the Coinbase Wallet app because of NFT transactions.

Apparently, Apple has presented a new demand - they want a 30% commission on gas that users pay when sending NFTs.

Apple doesn't understand that the gas fee is meant for validators and can't be "split" between different parties.

Because the gas fee functions like a commission fee in itself. It's what users pay as a reward for validators for staking. It runs on a proof of stake, after all.

iPhone users who own NFTs will experience the biggest inconveniences. 

Essentially, what Apple has done here is simply made it harder for users to send art tokens to other wallets.

And that's a wrap. An event a day makes a full week's replay. See you tomorrow！

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Magic Eden Introduces NFT Royalty Enforcement Tool Dubbed Open Creator Protocol. NFTs are a process, and it's far from over.
• New York to Impose Supervision Charges on Regulated Crypto Firms. This puts a' cry' in 'crypto'.
• Italian Government Aims to Impose 26% Tax on Crypto Gains. Today's meme corresponds well with this.
• DOJ Wants Independent Examiner to Analyze FTX's Collapse. FTX will end up with more eyes on them than they could have imagined