In a surprising turn of events, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has declined the offer to join Twitter’s board. After a week of anticipation and memes, the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, has shared a post letting people know that the billionaire will not be joining Twitter’s board of directors after all. This came as a surprise to so many especially because Elon Musk seemed to be somewhat excited to attend the first board meeting in the past week.

Elon Musk is Twitter’s Largest Shareholder

Barely a week ago, Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder when he bought nearly 10% stake of the social media giant. Parag Agrawal took to Twitter to welcome Musk to the company and shared that they’re officially appointing him to the board. Former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, also welcomed the Tesla CEO and expressed his joy over him joining the company and teaming up with Agrawal adding that he believes the duo is exactly what Twitter needs right now.

Since then, memes and jokes have been flying on Twitter over Elon Musk’s first board meeting, one in particular shared by the billionaire himself. Most of these memes show enthusiasm for the appointment. Musk has been actively showing interest in the things he wants to change about Twitter. Like the fact that most of the platform’s biggest accounts rarely tweet and that he wants to include an ‘edit’ button and make a few changes to the ‘Twitter Blue’ feature by integrating Dogecoin as a payment method for it.

He shared an idea that suggests Dogecoin be used as a payment method for people to purchase Twitter Blue, a feature that makes an ‘edit’ button available to a tweet for a few seconds after its sent. The tweet came as a response to a Twitter user who asked Musk to make Twitter Blue cheaper than $3 for Argentinians as the amount is really expensive in their currency. Musk replied “Yes, should be proportionate to affordability & in local currency” and then added, a couple minutes later, “Maybe even an option to pay in Doge?” 

Elon Musk Declines to Join Twitter’s Board

After all these, you can see why a lot of people are shocked that Elon Musk declined to join the platform’s board. As shared in a post by Agarawal, Musk’s appointment was to be effective starting Saturday morning, April 9th, but the billionaire has shared, on the very same morning, that he will no longer be joining the board. Agrawal added that whether or not he’s on the board, Musk’s opinions and inputs will still hold value as with all their other shareholders.

This news comes two days after Musk, Jack Dorsey and Adam Back collaborated to launch a solar-powered Bitcoin mining facility in Texas. CNBC shared that the facility is to be finished later in the year. Adam Back’s Blockstream will be in charge of supplying the mining equipment as well as the facility’s engineers, and providing reports on the project’s progress.

Elon Musk has shared several posts about the facility. Although he is yet to post anything about his rejection to join Twitter’s board. It has been 48 hours since he last tweeted anything and I am sure a lot of people are eagerly waiting to hear from him. 

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Billionaire Elon Musk has yet again made headlines as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO recently bought a 9.2% stake in social media company Twitter.

According to the new SEC Filing, Musk holds 73,486,938 shares in Twitter, representing nearly a 9.2% worth of passive stake in the company, which makes him one of the biggest shareholders of the platform.

Musk Buys 9.2% Stake In Social Media Company Twitter

According to the Securities and Exchange 13G Filing shared on Monday, Musk has acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter which is worth $2.89 billion. The particular investment has made Musk one of the biggest shareholders of the platform.

Previously, Musk had organized a survey poll on Twitter, asking his followers to provide insight on whether the social media company adheres to the principles of free speech.

Since the majority of people responded no, the Tesla CEO had stated that he was giving some “serious thought” to launching a platform of his own.

Musk acquiring a stake in Twitter has significantly impacted the prices of its shares, which have surged a striking 27% after the SEC 13G filing was revealed on Monday. The filing also shows that the purchased Twitter shares are held by Musk’s Revocable Trust, of which he is the sole trustee. Moreover, the surge in shares added $8.38 billion to Twitter’s market cap, which currently sits at $40.8 billion.

Musk is known as an ardent Twitter user and has always utilized the social media platform to openly voice his opinions on critical matters. Moreover, the Tesla chief boasts a following of 80 million followers, making him one of the biggest tech personalities on Twitter.

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• The SEC in Thailand has banned crypto payments in the country.
• Its new decision is expected to become enforceable in April.
• The SEC reiterated that the government still maintained support for the blockchain industry, clarifying that the decision does not affect crypto investments.

The Securities Exchange Commission today has placed restrictions on crypto as a means of payment. They believe that it poses risks to the nation’s financial stability.

Crypto Payments Outlawed

Thailand’s SEC today has outlawed the use of crypto as a medium of exchange in the country. The regulators came up with this decision after discussing the benefits and inherent risks from crypto and blockchain technology with the country’s central bank, the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

They concluded that the use of cryptocurrencies for payment was potentially harmful to the country’s financial stability and economy. Price volatility, risks of theft, and potential use cases in money laundering were amongst the reasons cited by the SEC that led them to this decision.

The SEC report read, “the use of digital assets as a medium for payment of goods and services Because it may affect the stability of the financial system and the overall economy. including risks to people and businesses such as the risk of loss of value caused by price volatility Risk of Cyber ​​Theft Risk of personal data leakage or being used as a tool of money laundering.”

As per the SEC’s new decision, crypto service providers and vendors or merchants in the country are encouraged to stop providing or facilitating such services. Suppose a crypto service provider discovers that a customer has used its services to make payments. In that case, the service providers are to inform the SEC and restrict activities on the said account.

The SEC’s new ruling is to take effect from the 1st of April. However, businesses that already offer such services would be given till the end of April to cease such operations. The crypto market in Thailand has grown massively over the last couple of years. As per a Bloomberg report, government data estimates that Thai citizens hold about $3.4 billion in crypto assets.

Crypto Investments Not Affected As The Thai Government Still Supports Blockchain Technology Innovation

The SEC in their release, clarified that the restriction was only on using cryptocurrency as a means of payment and in no way affected citizens investing in crypto. It was stated that “digital asset traders/investors can carry out normal investment/trading related transactions.”

The SEC also maintained that the government still supported blockchain technology and was working to provide a regulatory environment where innovation can be encouraged in the industry. Recall that earlier this month, the country had offered tax incentives to investors and businesses in the crypto industry.

“… the BOT and the SEC, as well as other government agencies, see the benefits of various technologies behind digital assets such as  blockchain and emphasize and support the use of technology to further innovation.”

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The top right-hand man of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company, Charlie Munger, recently dropped a provocative bombshell on the crypto world, after likening the frenzy around bitcoin and altcoins adoptions to “venereal disease”. A disgusted Charlie, during a Q&A session at the LA-based Daily Journal Corp, openly blurted:

“I’m proud of the fact that I avoided it. It’s like some venereal disease. I just regard it as beneath contempt. Some people think it’s modernity, and they welcome a currency that’s so useful n extortions and kidnappings [and] tax evasion.”

Charlie, a 98-year-old billionaire who has remained an unflinching critic of the developments around cryptocurrencies, spared no horses in expressing, once again, his disgust for the hype and growth around cryptocurrencies. In the footsteps of his boss, Warren Buffett, who once referred to cryptos as rat poison, Charlie once again riled up the crypto Twitter community, provoking an avalanche of reactions that relegate his opinions on crypto to the realm of obsolescence.

Of all comments posted, Elon musk’s was widely received as the Tesla techno King walked Charlie Munger down memory lane to a one-on-one conversation in 2009, on how his verbal pessimism over the concept of Tesla almost drained Elon of the enthusiasm needed to kick-start Tesla.

By Elon’s tweet, observers have deduced the tendency for the veteran investor to be on the wrong side of history with crypto. Mungo’s reiteration of much ill news that has beclouded the use of cryptocurrencies—which is not uncommon to the case for fiat currencies—goes to show the demography that has backed bitcoin over the past few years are well above Munger’s peers.

But a cursory look at the books of Berkshire Hathaway where Munger had served for 44 years, shows how, contrary to voiced opinions, it may rethink its perceptions about crypto investment. The latest $1 billion investment in Brazil-based mainstream bank Nubank has shown that Warren Buffett is ultimately interested in reaping reasonable gains from companies that are attuned to modern innovations not excluding cryptocurrencies.

Nubank in May last year gained the Bitcoin ETF issuing company, Eazynvest, to capture crypto investors across Latin America. By proxy, Buffett can be called a crypto-investor, having financed the growth of Latin America’s biggest bank towards Fintech and crypto services. 

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly opened a probe into Binance.US, the American branch of the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance, and its trading affiliates.

Probe Into Binance.US Ongoing

Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the SEC is investigating the relationship between Binance.US and trading firms Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd.

Former executives, as well as corporate documents from 2019, confirm that the founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, helmed both firms as of late 2021. Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd are believed to act as market makers on Binance.US, meaning they use their assets to facilitate trades.

The securities watchdog wants to know whether the exchange disclosed these relationships to its clients. Though Binance.US argues that market makers can trade crypto assets on its exchange, it doesn’t specifically name the two trading firms in question.

A probe doesn’t necessarily mean the exchange is being accused of any wrongdoing. Representatives of Binance told the Journal that the exchange is not required to reveal its organization setup to members of the public, but it’s open to providing this information to regulators when prompted.

Binance’s Regulatory Difficulties

Binance has been inadvertently caught in the crosshairs of regulators for years.

In September last year, Binance was investigated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allegations of insider trading and market manipulation. Prior to that, the exchange had been probed by the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service for information related to money laundering and tax evasion.

Binance launched its U.S. entity in 2019 after regulatory barriers prevented American customers from using its global platform. Binance.US was subpoenaed by the SEC in 2020 for information on whether the US-based arm operated independently from the main exchange.

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Barely six weeks into 2022 and the crypto market may have just witnessed its biggest DeFi attack of the year. A few hours ago, an unidentified hacker quickly crept under the Ethereum-Solana bridge (typically used to facilitate seamless transactions between ETH and SOL holders) stealing close to $320 million as at last valuation.

Wormhole Crypto, the official Twitter account behind the SOL-ETH interoperability protocol, has come out to confirm the attack, adding that it would replace all 120k wrapped Ethereum tied to several Ethereum users and bear the losses thereof. It has also offered the hacker a $10 million white hat bounty to return all the stolen digital assets. Here’s a scoop about what may have made the attack a successful one.

An unfixed glitch in the bridge protocol likely cause

Since the news of the hack, many top analysts have tried to reverse engineer the attacker’s process in stealing close to 120kwETH. wETH is an ERC-20 1:1 version of ETH that helps holders complete transactions with other tokens linked to or domiciled in the Ethereum blockchain. Like fiat currency backed by gold reserves, each wETH is backed by a corresponding ETH and is equal in value. To facilitate transactions on blockchain networks like Solana, a user would typically have to deposit ETH and proceed with the equivalent number of wETH. 

According to pro-Wormhole analysts on Twitter, the bug which was exploited by the hacker had been published on Solana’s GitHub open source repository since mid-January, and its remedy was given days after, but the team of developers had delayed its implementation until the attack.

Allegedly taking cognizance of this unresolved flaw, the attacker had successfully minted close to 120k fake ETHs, taking advantage of the unpatched bug to trick the Solana security verification system into acceptance. With the fake deposit now certified as real, all the hacker had left to do was to withdraw the equivalent amount of real ETH from the bridge protocol and transfer it to untracked recipients.

Speed vs. Security

All the news about Solana being better than Ethereum is hinged on its speed and not on its security. The latest attack has shown how much the network holds its ~55,000 transactions-per-second record in high esteem, neglecting the catastrophic losses that could come with poor user safety.

Back in September and more recently in December, it had suffered repeated DDOS attacks, causing close to 17 hours of network shutdown. Yesterday, the network was in the news for the launch of its Solana Pay protocol, spurring a brief gain past the $100 mark. Today, all such gains totaling close to 12% have been eroded as it sits sullenly at $96.76.

Crypto competence gets dragged

It is too early to tell if the attacker will choose to sacrifice $220 million of his bounty, but the entirety of the current circumstance casts a shadow on the cryptocurrency market. Especially for investors who find little attractiveness in such outrageous risk. Cases like these win points for the argument against open source reliability and decentralization especially considering the volume of transactions involved. The Geneva-based token will have to do more than just outrun Ethereum transaction speed to keep and attract new users.

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• Microsoft has signaled strong interest in the metaverse with the latest acquisition of Activision.
• The deal is worth a staggering $69 billion and will be finalized over the next few months.
• This is not the first time that tech giants will be dabbling into the metaverse.

It is easy to argue that gaming might be the best application for NFTs and the metaverse and Microsoft certainly agrees. The company’s latest acquisition signals intent to be a major player in the growing metaverse industry.

The Deal

According to an announcement by the Microsoft News Centre, the tech company will acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash transaction that is worth nearly $69 billion. Upon completion of the deal, Microsoft will ascend the ranks to become the third biggest gaming company behind Tencent and market leader, Sony.

“Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard’s net cash,”  read the report. To close the deal, Microsoft had Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC as its financial advisor while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP were legal counsel.

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella hinted that the reason for the splurge was as a result of the growing interest in the metaverse and the tech company is “investing deeply” in introducing an era that puts players at the forefront for a more inclusive approach. “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” noted the CEO.

The acquisition adds to Microsoft’s growing Game Pass portfolio that has over 25 million subscribers. Activision Blizzard is behind popular gaming titles like Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush with over 400 million monthly active players around the world and will certainly make Game Pass a force to reckon with in gaming.

The current CEO of Activision Blizzard will continue to serve in his current role until the close of the 2023 fiscal year, and then the management team will report to Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

Previous Metaverse Forays

The race for a nice chunk of the metaverse between Facebook and Microsoft has been heated in recent weeks after the report that 100 Microsoft employees left to join Facebook’s Meta. 

Before the close of the year, Microsoft’s CEO disclosed the company’s plan for the metaverse through the introduction of “Mesh”. Through Mesh, company staff can create custom avatars that will allow them to hold meetings and interact with each other in the metaverse. The CEO also hinted that the company could integrate attributes of the metaverse in its Xbox consoles.

Microsoft has also been knee-deep in the development of virtual reality hardware with the release of its wide range of devices like the HoloLens 2 amongst others. The company also boasts of VR-ready PCs and ultra-modern Windows Mixed Reality. As part of its drive to a metaverse future.

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• Bloomberg’s billionaire index has put Changpeng Zhao’s fortune at nearly $100 billion.
• The Binance CEO has stated in the past that he will most likely give away all of his wealth.
• Despite his financial fortunes, Changpeng Zhao faces a stern test from regulators around the world.

The rich list released by Bloomberg puts CZ as he is fondly called as the 11th richest man alive. His net worth by far outstrips the conservative figures given by Forbes last year.

Almost 100 Billion Dollars

Cryptocurrencies have earned a reputation for giving investors incredible returns on their investments and one of the major players in the ecosystem is already reaping the rewards. A recent Bloomberg rich list claims that Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao is worth $96 billion.

The rationale behind this valuation is that Zhao owns a majority stake in the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance. According to data gleaned from trading volumes and fees, Binance recorded around $20 billion in revenue which is nearly 3 times the revenue of Coinbase. An interesting fact about the rating is that it does not take into account his crypto holdings. Zhao is said to hold a large cache of BNB that has since soared by over 1000%

“Don’t worry about rankings. Focus on how many people you can help,” he tweeted a few hours after the Bloomberg report went live. “Unpopular opinion: instead of wealth rankings, there should be a ranking of charity and philanthropy efforts.”

The CEO has previously stated that he intends to donate more than 90% of his fortune to charity over the course of his life like other wealthy entrepreneurs that had come before him. He claimed in an Associated Press interview that he personally did not require a lot of money to maintain the current standard of his life. However, in a money move, reports emerged that CZ had purchased a multi-million dollar home in Dubai in November 2021.

Binance and its CEO donated $150,000 for the building of an ultramodern school in Uganda and also pledged to raise $1 million AUD for the planting of 100,000 trees in commemoration of Earth Day. Other charitable moves include the financial donation to healthcare workers in Mexico and a 1 million donation to UNICEF to support COVID-19 Vaccination equality.

Where He Seats On The Rankings

A net worth of $96 billion places Changpeng Zhao over India’s Mukesh Ambani and below Larry Elison. However, if his cryptocurrency holdings are taken into account, Zhao could easily rub shoulders with other tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page that have net worths of $122 billion and $123 billion respectively.

Binance has been embroiled in regulatory battles with the authorities in various jurisdictions, leading to fines and bans. The exchange has taken steps to be on the good books of regulators and is hiring ex-regulators to help in its compliance drive. It is expected that after achieving regulatory passes in its troubled jurisdiction, Changpeng Zhao’s net worth could outstrip Mark Zuckerberg’s.

The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried was named the richest 29 year old by Forbes last year with a fortune of $26.5 billion. Other cryptocurrency billionaires include Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, and the Winklevoss Twins, founders of crypto exchange Gemini.

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The world’s leading movie theatre chain will be accepting Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash in addition to Bitcoin as payments for confectionaries and movie tickets at all its U.S. outlets before December 31.

This is according to a Twitter announcement made by the Company’s C.E.O Adam Aron on Thursday morning sending out a wave of bullish sentiments on the three cryptocurrencies by crypto enthusiasts.

“Cryptocurrency enthusiasts: you likely know AMCTheatres has announced we will accept Bitcoin for online ticket and concession payments by year-end 2021. I can confirm today that when we do so, we also expect that we similarly will accept Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.” 

Last month, the C.E.O in an early morning earnings call had disclosed that AMC was actively engaged in setting up payment systems that would allow movie enthusiasts to pay for various services and purchases using Bitcoin. He had also acknowledged receiving a lot of inquiries from users and shareholders on the possibility of the company accepting payments in crypto which could have largely informed Thursday’s announcement.

Although Litecoin foundation did not respond to the statement in writing, Litecoin’s news page and Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin retweeted AMCs announcement gesturing their affirmation.

Broadening the crypto payments net

Litecoin has been making inroads in institutional halls thanks to its long-term persistence and reliability. Its completed MWEB upgrade project which allows the network to become much more scalable and make transaction amounts un-viewable to the public makes Litecoin the ideal choice for payments while protecting users’ data.

According to the Litecoin Foundations Q1 report, various companies have already announced that they’re integrating Litecoin including Paypal, Vaultoro, Flare Network, Moon among others. Its successful payment integrations have also attracted a fair share of challenges with a recent false report that Walmart was integrating Litecoin in its payment network.

Bitcoin cash which fulfills the original promise of Bitcoin as “Peer-to-peer electronic cash” could also see mass use given its fast transactions, low fees, and reliable confirmation. It also allows use on a large list of wallets including Ledger and Trezor among others, which are synonymous with most U.S. crypto owners. Its discounts on payments due to the elimination of credit cards are likely to attract most AMC movie enthusiasts looking to pay using this method.

On the other hand, Ethereum payments to the company could be fulfilled through Ethereum-Pay,  a decentralized ERC-1363 payable token built on the secure Ethereum network specifically tailored to be integrated with E-commerce transactions. 

EthereumPay creates a universal payment platform that allows merchants & users around the world to do business with each other instantly and cheaper than ever. Ethereum payments are accepted by companies including Sotheby, Overstock, Gipsybee,  Shopify CheapAir, Tripio among others.

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Elon Musk spiked the price of Dogecoin by 3% after tweeting that SpaceX will take the meme-themed cryptocurrency to the literal moon.

“SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon.”

Traders often use the term “to the moon” when expecting prices of a certain stock or digital currency to surge.

Elon Musk is a self-appointed Dogecoin and Bitcoin advocate and frequently tweets witty statements about the Japanese dog Shibu Inu, the central appeal and logo of the meme-themed cryptocurrency. The last time tweeted about Dogecoin was in mid-March:

“I’m getting a Shiba Inu #restistanceisfutile.”

The tweet also comes a month after Elon tweeted a meme of a Shiba Inu standing on the moon in a spacesuit while holding a Dogecoin flag, followed by the words, “literally” and “on the actual moon.”

Elon Musk and Dogecoin

Elon’s ability to influence bitcoin and Dogecoin’s price actions by merely tweeting about it has been both acclaimed and criticized for boosting crypto adoption and hindering mainstream acceptance, respectively.

Dogecoin has a total circulating supply of 129 billion Doge and an undefined maximum supply, unlike Bitcoin. Analysts including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao have warned investors against exposing themselves to assets with infinite amounts of supply.

However, Elon’s influence and Dogecoin’s price action in the past 6 months have inspired its developers to revamp its development. Speaking during an interview, Dogecoin’s lead developer Ross Nicoll said the team is working to make changes to Doge.

“People say it’s a joke coin but we’re very careful to take care of the code. When it took off there was a resurgence in attention and we want to keep the currency operational.” 

SpaceX was founded in 2002 with the goal of reducing the cost of space transportation by using relaunchable rockets to enable the colonization of Mars.  The company’s first commercial trip around the moon on its Starship rocket will take place in 2023.

Elon Musk previously said that he is highly confident that SpaceX will have reached orbit many times with Starship before 2023, and that it will be safe enough for human transport by 2023.

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