In the crypto world, there’s always something new to tickle the fancy.
In this wrap of quirky crypto news, we travel from the ridiculous to the sublime, with a hefty helping of Elon Musk in the middle!
- First a tweet…. then a pixel
Remember when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold the very first published tweet as an NFT? Well, the elusive artist Pak has just sold a single pixel for the princely sum of $1.7 million—remarkable when you consider a single pixel is simply a tiny square of digital space.
Digital art collector Eric Young snapped up this bargain NFT, just one item from the Pak collection which sold at the Sotheby’s auction for a total of $22 million.
Mr Young is delighted with his purchase, perhaps anticipating many happy hours spent gazing at his pixel. Celebrating his winning bid, he tweeted: “How will history reflect on this time? How will this piece be remembered? How will I be remembered?”
Perhaps better left unanswered . . .
- Cryptocurrency? It’s a scandal
With Elon Musk being so iconic, why wouldn’t he have a cryptocurrency named after him? Especially as the Tesla founder’s unique brand of foot-in-mouth commentary so often gets him into trouble.
Back in March, recalling the 1970s Watergate scandal involving disgraced President Richard Nixon, Musk jokingly declared that any future EM scandal should be dubbed ‘Elongate’.
Now a new cryptocurrency called Elongate has been launched onto the market—quite independently of Musk. Yet its pioneering aims are anything but scandalous. Elongate pledges to give back 80% of its income to charities including the UN World Food Program and Action Against Hunger.
The best kind of scandal, surely!
- If you build it, they will come
Imagine a sustainable smart city, powered by renewable energy and running entirely on its own cryptocurrency.
That’s the vision of American musician Akon, who plans to build the futuristic Akon City in his African homeland of Senegal. And it’s not just an ego project. Akon wants to bring real power and independence back to African people who are doing it tough.
Beyond just a crypto coin, the ‘Akon’ is envisioned as a complete ecosystem of tools and services—all designed to give African entrepreneurs a trading leg-up. Backed by a multi-currency wallet and decentralised exchange, they can then make real economic progress in a country plagued by mass protests over poverty and youth unemployment. Practical challenges stand in the way of course. But why not aim high?
Keep your eyes peeled for more crypto classics heading your way!
