Global cryptocurrency exchanges are increasingly experiencing issues with Dogecoin (DOGE) withdrawals amid Redditors pumping the altcoin up 900% in the past two days. On Thursday, a number of crypto users reported on Twitter that they were unable to withdraw their Dogecoin due to crypto exchanges temporarily halting withdrawals. The affected exchanges reportedly included some major crypto platforms like Poloniex, Bittrex and Yobit. Some crypto users reported that they signed in on Dogecoin-supporting exchanges like Poloniex to buy some DOGE to only find out that withdrawals were unavailable shortly after depositing. “We are working to have the wallet re-enabled as soon …

Dogecoin (DOGE), a meme coin created as a joke, has seen a groundswell of Twitter activity in the past 24 hours after attention was thrown on the coin by the now-infamous Reddit group responsible for pumping the share price of GameStop. Dogecoin’s Twitter volume — the number of daily tweets versus the 30-day average — skyrocketed 1,787% on Thursday, according to crypto data provider The TIE. In total, there were 89,991 tweets about DOGE over a 24-hour period. In fact, The TIE’s data suggests it’s the first time any altcoin has surpassed Bitcoin in terms of volume. Dogecoin tweet volume …

As legacy markets roil, brokerages break down and accusations of market manipulation fly, longtime decentralized finance adherents can’t help but say “I told you so” when it comes to the need for open, unstoppable, permissionless financial architecture. Earlier today, popular trading app Robinhood took the possibly unprecedented step of disabling the buying functionality on certain tickers following a massive wave of retail interest in heavily shorted assets. Some commentators have pointed out the irony of Robinhood — an app that in name, marketing and conception focuses on the principle of democratizing finance — now turning its back on what has …

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has suggested a blockchain-powered ID solution could help tackle cyber abuse and trolling while allowing users to maintain a level of anonymity. Speaking to New South Whales media outlet The Sydney Morning Herald, Grant said that while anonymity was beneficial for general online use, people hiding behind anonymity online to harm others remained a big problem in society. She said blockchain-powered digital IDs could help strike a balance by hiding user’s details unless requested by law enforcement. Inman Grant stated that: “There’s more that they can do in terms of their intellectual capability, their …

The long-awaited video game Cyberpunk 2077 came out as an unfinished product with a bunch of technical flaws, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most important cultural phenomenons of recent years. And while some gamers are asking for refunds and the developers are hurriedly working on patches, I suggest we look at the enormously rich video game setting. The picture is not very nice — this world is a real centralized hell. In the fictional world of Cyberpunk 2077, blockchain technology either never existed or was never massively implemented. This is a world where full-scale decentralization …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note Armed National Guardsmen are building up concentric perimeters of black barricades around the U.S. Capitol and its whole neighborhood of federal buildings in preparation for the Biden inauguration and protests against it on Wednesday. Which inspires some déjà vu, whether to last week or last summer. As much as history is said to repeat itself, the present day seems to be stuck on its own loop. Remember how last week’s Law Decoded was mostly about the handover of presidential …

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey cited his passion for Bitcoin and decentralization in a 13-Tweet thread today explaining why the company banned U.S. President Donald Trump from the platform last week. Although claiming this was the “right decision for Twitter,” Dorsey admits it sets a dangerous precedent. Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation. — jack (@jack) January 14, 2021 Trump was banned from …

A change to WhatsApp’s terms of service has triggered a mass exodus from the messaging platform to more private and independent rivals like Telegram and Signal, which have registered millions of new users over the last week. Rather than agreeing to new terms specifying the app’s right to share user data with Facebook, millions of WhatsApp users simply gave up using the platform, abandoning it for less-intrusive competitors. Telegram alone has been downloaded 25 million times in the last 72 hours. Telegram surpassed 500 million active users. 25 million new users joined in the last 72 hours: 38% came from …

Since its drop below $4,000 in March 2020, Bitcoin (BTC) has ridden a bullish trend all the way past its 2017 all-time high, recently hitting almost $42,000. During that time, however, Bitcoin’s Twitter activity has underperformed in comparison to its price. Looking at information from crypto data outfit The TIE indicates that Bitcoin’s price is traveling above its Hype-To-Activity Ratio — a metric which shows tweet volume against asset trading volume — since 2019. “Hype-To-Activity Ratio measures the number of tweets a particular coin has per each $1M in reported trading volume of that coin,” The Tie’s CEO, Joshua Frank, …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has revealed the firm unsuccessfully attempted to settle its securities violation lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and slammed the “regulatory chaos” around cryptocurrencies. I’m not going to litigate the SEC’s unproven allegations on Twitter, and as you can imagine, there are new considerations to what can / should be said publicly after the litigation process starts. However, I would like to address 5 key questions I’ve seen. 1/10 — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 7, 2021 In a Twitter thread addressing what he described as “5 key questions,” the CEO strongly denied the …

Twitter analytics data indicates that as Bitcoin continues to post all-time highs well into the $30,000s, social media interest in the digital currency is likewise setting new records across numerous key metrics. In a tweet Saturday night, the official handle for The TIE, a cryptocurrency data firm, showed that the number of unique Twitter handles tweeting about Bitcoin has hit a new all-time high, eclipsing a 64,000 mark last seen during the peak of the 2017 bull run: The number of unique Twitter accounts tweeting about #Bitcoin has just hit an all-time high of 66,832, surpassing the previous high of …

Yes, yes, I know: You’re an excellent Twatter, and omitting from this list your one zinger that got 50 likes borders malfeasance. Likewise, this reporter is a negligent compiler of listicles for overlooking some spicy day where your favorite trader-nee-influencer colorfully described Brad Garlinghouse’s anatomy. If it’s any consolation, please know that I hate the hellsite just as much as you do. The year was terrible for almost all of the planet, and even though crypto enjoyed a strong secular bull market, everyone still managed to come together, rise above adversity, and treat each other horribly anyway. I looked up …