GM citronauts. Buckle up for a sour and sweet ride through the groves of decentralized finance.
🚫 X was banned in Brazil after Musk defied court orders to censor content.
🍊 News drops: Vitalik Buterin had some explainings to do about $2M worth of ETH that he transferred, TikTokers are committing check fraud, Cardano has officially moved towards decentralized governance + more
🍍 Market flavor today
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| Crypto Market Cap $2.14 Trillion -0.8% (24H) | |||
| Name | Price | 24H % | 7D % |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin BTC |
$58,211.14 | 0.65% | -8.18% |
 Ethereum ETH |
$2,507.20 | 2.05% | -7.49% |
 BNB BNB |
$518.36 | 0.55% | -7.30% |
 Solana SOL |
$131.11 | 0.44% | -17.53% |
| Prices as of 10:03 AM EST. Click here to see live data. |
Crypto market sentiment has taken another hit, with the Fear and Greed Index plummeting to 26. What's behind this latest bout of crypto blues? It's a potent mix of long-term investor profit-taking and lingering selling pressure. Add to that the bitter pill of significant BTC ETF outflows last month, and you've got a recipe for market jitters.
Is this just a brief cooldown or the start of a crypto winter? The crystal ball's cloudy, but the $56,000 level for Bitcoin is now a critical point to watch. If it breaks, things could get interesting - and not in a good way. On the flip side, a surprise rally above $63,000 could put grins back on traders' faces. For now, it's a game of wait-and-see as the market digests post-summer blues and braces for fresh economic data 📊🔮
🚫 There's no 'X' in 'Brazil'
Previously on “Pro- vs. Anti-Censorship Wars”: Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France and charged over a lack of content moderation on the platform.
In today’s episode, we’re taking a trip to Brazil, where another social media platform led by Elon Musk, known as X (or Twitter, if you’re reading in 2021), got banned.
It all started back in January 2023, when the far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was defeated in the election, causing his supporters to attack federal government buildings in the capital, Brasília.
After this lil' stunt, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes decided he wasn’t gonna play anymore and started to actively silence far-right voices. First order of business: block the social media accounts of people accused of supporting attacks on the Brazilian democracy.
Musk saw this plan and said, “eff no,” which isn’t surprising at all since he’s known to be all about absolute freedom of speech. However, he might’ve forgotten that the laws in the rest of the world may not work the same as in the US (🤯); in this case, the right to free speech is more restrictive in Brazil than he’s used to back home.
The tea got even hotter at the beginning of August when X announced they’d close operations in the country after Moraes threatened to arrest their legal representative over non-compliance with his censorship orders.
Except, X thought that they’d still provide services to their Brazilian users… NOT on Moraes’ watch! 👺
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The judge gave Musk an ultimatum: either you find a legal rep in Brazil in the next 24hrs or you GTFO. No in-between. Musk ignored the ultimatum, so X was shut down. A man of his word, this Moraes guy.
Not only that—it is also prohibited to use VPNs to access X, and anyone who tries that will also try a fine of $8.9K.
Musk responded to the news the way he knows best—by posting memes and talking smack about Moraes on X, calling him Voldemort and a dictator with a judge’s cloak. Probably not the best platform of choice, though, ‘cause Brazilians can’t see any of these posts. But good effort.
So, what does this ban mean for now?
- Musk and right-wing activists are pissed;
- 22M Brazilian users were left Xless = it’s currently the golden age for alternatives like Threads and Bluesky;
- People are reporting feeling disconnected from the world, as X is often used as a source of information;
- Once again, questions are raised about the balance of free speech and responsibility over what you say, as well as the role of regulators in finding this balance (and potential overregulation).
And that’s the cliffhanger for today—we’re gonna have to wait for the next episode to see if Musk makes a comeback or if X stays canceled.
📰 News drops
🛠️ Cardano has successfully implemented “Chang,” an upgrade that strengthens the network's shift towards decentralized governance. From now on, holders of ADA can propose and vote on governance issues directly.
💰 Vitalik Buterin denied rumors that he sold $2M in Ether for personal gain, explaining that it was instead to fund various crypto projects and support charitable causes. Some members of the crypto community came to his defense, saying that even if he did profit from the sales, it would’ve been well-deserved.
🎶 The latest TikTok trend: committing check fraud. Some users posted about an “infinite money glitch” with Chase Bank ATMs, where you deposit fake checks and, before they’re cleared, withdraw money without having enough funds in your account.
🚀 The ex-CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox, Mark Karpelès, plans to launch a new exchange, EllipX. “We now have technology that would have prevented MtGox's failure, yet it is not commonly used due to a lack of information or resources. This needs to change,” he said in the announcement.
⚖️ EU governments to resume work on controversial "ChatControl" regulation, sparking privacy concerns. The proposed rules would allow indiscriminate scanning of private communications, including end-to-end encrypted services.
🤓 Knowledge juice
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🍌 Juicy memes
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