This Week on Crypto Twitter: New Dog, Old Tricks - Decrypt
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For weeks, a dog-themed Solana meme coin relentlessly dominated Crypto Twitter discourse, with no end in sight. But it would finally appear that BONK fever has broken—thanks to… another dog-themed Solana meme coin.
Dogwifhat (WIF), an upstart meme coin depicting exactly what you’d think it would, rocked Twitter this week after climbing a ludicrous 227,000% in less than a month. WIF holders and Solana ecosystem enthusiasts giddily basked in the absurdity of the coin’s success this week, attempting to will it ever-upward.
People say there's no real innovation in crypto but I say to you, here is a dog WITH A HAT. (Dogwifhat, $WIF) pic.twitter.com/Vbc7AofIaq — Tracy Alloway (@tracyalloway) December 20, 2023
kevin, you give me one shot here, on a blue chip like this dog with a fucking hat, and believe me kevin, the only problem you’re gonna have is that you didn’t buy more. pic.twitter.com/ebvBw19urR — hersch (@tittyrespecter) December 21, 2023
If Dogwifhat’s supporters were laughing, though, they were laughing all the way to the bank. Activity on the token, combined with trading on other Solana meme coins, managed to push weekly trading volume on Solana decentralized exchanges (DEXs) above that on Ethereum for the first time ever on Thursday. And Dogwifhat rose so sharply that it received attention from mainstream financial analysts.
Contributing to a mood of goofy optimism online this week, Bitwise, the crypto index fund manager, released an ad on Twitter starring Johnathan Goldsmith, aka Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man In the World,” teasing the prospect of a Bitcoin ETF.
The financial product, which would allow traditional finance institutions and investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin with holding any cryptocurrency, hasn’t even been approved yet by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But frenzied anticipation of the product’s potential approval in January has lifted BTC to yearly highs.
Marketing wars are already heating up 🔥— we don’t even have approvals yet https://t.co/VDWqQs6tn3 — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) December 18, 2023
Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren published a tweet this week that was quickly slapped with a community note, after the politician issued a scathing letter to crypto lobbying groups accusing them of enabling terrorism.
Crypto companies are spending millions building an army of former defense and law enforcement officials to lobby against new rules shutting down crypto-financed terrorism. This revolving door boosts the crypto industry, but endangers our national security. https://t.co/OGnrL0VKdH — Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 19, 2023
“Cryptocurrency is objectively less than 1% of all monetary illicit activity,” the large warning below Warren’s Tweet now reads. “There is also nothing supporting the claim that it could threaten national security. Cash is untraceable, blockchains are public ledgers.”
Perhaps the most layered Twitter interaction of the week came courtesy of technology reviewer and YouTuber Marques “MKBHD” Brownlee, who crowned the Solana Saga smartphone 2023’s “Bust of the Year.” Though the phone soared in popularity last week, that frenzy was due to the realization that free airdrops available on the phone had become more valuable than the phone’s $599 sticker price.
Bust of the Year: Solana Saga Crypto Phone No amount of #BONK or Cryptosaurs could save this phone. It’s a shame this ceramic build was wasted on a weak camera, display and battery. You can find defenses of this phone, but you’re not already a $SOL holder, they’re meaningless pic.twitter.com/bG2GHYJLmh — Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) December 20, 2023
In an attempt to salvage the moment, Solana Labs embraced the title—asking Brownlee to ship the “Bust of the Year” trophy to their office, and referring to the Saga as “award winning” in subsequent, tongue-in-cheek posts.
✅The most award winning crypto phone of the year https://t.co/Hj69veqNpb — toly 🇺🇸 (@aeyakovenko) December 20, 2023
But disgruntled Solana users, many of whom ordered a Saga smartphone only to discover that Solana Labs accidentally sold many phones it didn’t have in inventory, were sure to have the last laugh.
Ship me my phone first — ish.eth (@0xIshaan) December 20, 2023
bro dont worry about marquees shipping you anything, SHIP ME MY FOCKING PHONE BREH — DGH (@danielgothits) December 20, 2023
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.