🔴 Frightful Instances for Exchanges

Elon Musk shows off with Twitterdoge, for years every Mac has had a hidden Bitcoin reference and guess how many people pay taxes on crypto? These stories and more, this week in crypto.

Elon Musk Changes Twitter’s Logo to Doge

Elon Musk changed Twitter’s logo to the dogecoin logo image of a Shiba Inu, causing the memecoin’s price to jump 20% in a day. The doge logo appeared on Twitter two days after Musk asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of a dogecoin pyramid scheme.

Every Mac has Bitcoin’s White Paper Hidden

A technologist accidentally found a copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s bitcoin white paper on his Apple Mac computer and claims that a PDF of the document has been included in every mac since 2018. Technologist Andy Biao says users can open the terminal and just type in a command to find it. I tried it myself by clicking through folders on my own Mac, and yeah, it’s there! Apple has not commented on the finding.

P2P Platform Paxful is Suspending Operations

Peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful has announced that it is suspending its operations indefinitely. The Africa-focused Bitcoin trading platform’s co-founder, Ray Youssef, cited a staffing crisis and growing regulatory challenges as reasons for the decision, but also confirmed that a lawsuit filed by a Paxful co-founder is a key reason behind the closure. Customers are directed to retrieve their funds from their Paxful wallets.

Ether is Rallying Ahead of Major Upgrade

Ether is trading at a nine-month high ahead of a major network upgrade. After April 12, an upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain, dubbed “Shapella,” will allow owners to withdraw their staked ether. Up to this point, investors would have to use centralized exchanges or DeFi protocols to essentially exchange their locked ether for an equivalent value.

Binance Expands Despite Regulatory Concerns

Binance will be forced to close its Australian derivatives business after Australian regulators canceled Binance’s derivatives license. The ASIC’s review came after Binance confirmed it had misclassified some retail investors as wholesale. Despite current legal issues with regulators around the globe, Binance announced it is expanding services in Argentina, allowing users to buy and sell crypto directly with local pesos.

Trump’s NFTs Jump Amid Indictment

Sales of Donald Trump’s digital collectibles surged following the news of his indictment in New York. The Official Trump Digital Trading Cards have registered a surge of 400% in sales. The NFT collection was launched by Trump on social media in December with thousands of tokenized cards depicting him in many guises, including as Superman.

Ralph Lauren Accepts Crypto in Miami

Luxury fashion brand Ralph Lauren is now allowing customers to pay using crypto at its Miami Design District location. The store has been made the brand’s flagship for Web3 promotions. Bitcoin, ether, and polygon’s matic are among the cryptocurrencies that are accepted at the new store, with payments facilitated by BitPay.

2022 Study: Crypto Investors Did Not Pay Taxes

Swedish crypto tax firm, Divly, has released a new report estimating that only one half of one percent of crypto investors globally paid tax on their crypto in 2022. The research finds that Finland is the leader in tax paying crypto investors with 4%, with Australia, Austria and Germany coming next. The US came in 10th, with 1.62% of its investors paying tax on crypto.

That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.