
While 2024 will likely be remembered as crypto’s coming-of-age year, with spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds launched in the United States and the industry winning support from once-skeptical politicians, don’t be fooled — the weird and wacky world of crypto hasn’t gone away.
Here are some of the craziest crypto stories from 2024.
The FBI created its own shitcoin
In May, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) created a fake AI-related token to catch fraudsters engaged in market manipulation.
The “trap token,” NexFundAI (NEXF), was designed to act as bait, targeting people engaged in fraudulent cryptocurrency activities, particularly pump-and-dump schemes.
The FBI, masking as scammers, told traders it wanted help in manipulating the token’s trading volume to fool investors into believing that NEXF was more popular than it was.
At least 18 people have been charged from the FBI’s sting operation.
The FBI may have engaged in copyright infringement, as the source code it used wasn’t licensed, Rikka Law managing partner Charlyn Ho told Cointelegraph.
Source: Cygaar
But the FBI would probably be fine if an action were brought against it in court, as the MIT license it used was “broadly designed to give people broad rights to use the software.”
TruthorDare dev sets himself on fire
There’s a reason why crazy stunts are best left to the professionals.
In a May 22 livestream gone horribly wrong, TruthOrDare (DARE) memecoin developer Mikol made his friends douse him in isopropyl alcohol and then shoot fireworks at him to gain attention for his memecoin.
The end result was third-degree burns over his face and his body, multiple days spent in the hospital, and a hefty medical bill.
The livestream quickly turned into chaos when Mikol was hit with the barrage of fireworks, setting him alight as he screamed in pain. Another person then told the cameraman to “stop recording and start helping.”
DEV SET HIMSELF ON FIRE AND HIS COIN IS ONLY 160K MARKET CAP?!
He is in the hospital right now and in telegram vc
REALEST ON THE BLOCKCHAIN…
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