Top tweets: Changes in crypto regulation
Verdict lists five of the best tweets on blockchain in August 2022 based on data from GlobalData’s Technology Influencer Platform.
The top tweets are based on total engagement (likes and retweets) received on tweets from more than 506 blockchain experts tracked by GlobalData’s Technology Influencer platform in August 2022.
The most popular tweets on blockchain in August 2022: Top five
1. Vitalik Buterin’s tweet about changes in the crypto regulation
Vitalik Buterin, a programmer and co-founder of the blockchain-based software platform Ethereum, tweeted at Ethereum customers pushing against regulations privileging ETH, the original token of the Ethereum blockchain, over other valid cryptocurrencies. The article described the new regulatory changes in Canada for crypto, where if one lived in an applicable province, the net purchase limits affected the net amount of crypto one could buy to $30,000. These limits reset every year. However, four uncapped cryptocurrencies that did not count toward the limit included Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, the article further noted.
In addition, when customers bought limited crypto, it implied using some of one’s limit. Therefore, selling restricted crypto will add space back to the maximum limit of $30,000. For customers residing in provinces, such as New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Yukon, the annual net purchase limit was $30,000. Meanwhile, net purchase limits did not affect customers living in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec, the article highlighted.
Username: vitalik.eth
Twitter handle: @VitalikButerin
Likes: 3,507
Retweets: 529
2. Changpeng Zhao’s tweet about Binance’s extent of illegal activity and crime-fighting methods
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance, tweeted that the company is spending more than $1 billion on compliance efforts, with a high percentage of passes. This suggested that it is fine and that Binance’s market share increased and not decreased, according to Zhao. He further shared an article about Binance investigative officers saying anti-money laundering (AML) costs the exchange billions in revenue. The investigative team, led by Tigran Gambaryan and Matthew Price now, further highlighted the extent of illegal activity at Binance and its crime-fighting procedures. According to them, it was not the addition of know-your-customer (KYC) but AML measures to remove authorized accounts that had not implemented KYC that cost Binance billions in revenue. This was in response to a news agency that revealed that Binance was involved in illegal activity and that it has become a center of criminal activity and overlooked several red flags for money laundering, the article noted.
The news agency also claimed that Hydra, a Russian-language darknet market, had deep links to the exchange’s user base, claiming that it facilitated $780 million in payments related to Hydra since 2017. According to the investigative team, it is impossible to control deposits, especially for criminals who were looking for the cheapest and easiest way to do it.
Username: CZ Binance
Twitter handle: @cz_binance
Likes: 2,173
Retweets: 344
3. Alex Gladstein’s tweet about curbing cryptocurrency expansion in developing countries
Alex Gladstein, head of strategy at the non-profit organization Human Rights Foundation, shared an article about the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recommending guidelines to prevent the expansion of cryptocurrency in developing countries. Calling it outrageous, Gladstein tweeted that the elites in Switzerland were actually telling billions in collapsed or failing economies to enjoy being poor. UNCTAD believes that digital currencies have rewarded some, and also enabled remittances, but they are an unstable financial resource that comes with social risks and costs, the article described.
The global use of cryptocurrency increased exponentially during the Covid-19 pandemic, including in the developing world. However, despite national regulatory responses becoming challenging with its widespread use, developing countries are not without options, the article further noted. UNCTAD, on the other hand, introduced three guidelines related to risks and costs, which included the threats posed by cryptocurrencies to financial stability, domestic resource mobilization and on the security of monetary systems.
Username: Alex Gladstein
Twitter handle: @gladstein
Likes: 867
Retweets: 205
4. Dominic Williams’ tweet about the biggest crypto scandals
Dominic Williams, founder of blockchain company DFINITY, shared an article about Crypto Leaks, a website that exposes market manipulation and other illegal crypto activities, exposing the biggest scandals ever. For example, in June of this year, the site revealed its first crypto investigation that revealed how the price of internet computers (ICP) was manipulated during the first days of the token’s launch, the article described. in the first days of the token’s issuance. In its first study, the website found that four days before the launch, a fake financial version of ICP was released on the FTX exchange, called ICP-PERP. This future was to be used by traders to bet on what the actual price of ICP would be after the launch.
Over the next few days, the price of ICP-PERP increased at a steady pace, until the last day, when about eight hours before the official ICP launch, it began to climb faster to reach a peak of $493.59. Crypto Leaks believed this sudden uptick to be suspicious and fake, and claimed that the ICP-PERP price could have been manipulated to portray the implied high demand, the article noted.
Username: dom.icp
Twitter handle: @dominic_w
Likes: 317
Retweets: 85
5. Balaji S. Srinivasan’s tweet about decentralized social is likely to upset Google
Balaji S. Srinivasan, an angel investor, tweeted a cliché that technology company Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is being flanked by both blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that has not been understood. The crypto part came from the fact that block explorers are already high-traffic search engines, Srinivasan further added. He shared an article about decentralized social that is likely to disrupt Google as well, stating that blockchains are much easier to index than the open web, which in turn is easier than closed social networks.
Furthermore, Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) can produce better search results and faster. Therefore, blockchain and AI were a long-term pincer attack on Google’s search engine, he added. The article further highlighted that the next wave of aggregators are owned by their stakeholders, and have the power to build superior stakeholder experiences. As a result, a decentralized search engine can be owned by publishers and searchers, who can then rank their interests higher than advertisers or a separate corporate entity. In addition, users are increasingly demanding privacy, which has led to the development of privacy-focused search engines, such as DuckDuckGo, the article describes in detail.
Username: Balaji Srinivasan
Twitter handle: @balajis
Likes: 226
Retweets: 24
