Author: Jesse Coghlan, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Deng Tong, Jinse Finance
Crypto culture was born on the internet—Crypto X (formerly known as Crypto Twitter) brought unforgettable moments once again this year.
Here are the 7 most memorable X posts of 2024, some of which had a huge impact on the market, affecting policies—or simply evoking laughter.
Fake news of SEC approving Bitcoin ETF
The background is January 9—just one day before Bloomberg's ETF analysts predicted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would approve the first U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The SEC's official X account suddenly posted a statement allegedly from Chairman Gary Gensler, saying, "Today the SEC approved the Bitcoin ETF."
The SEC has since deleted the post. Source: X
News media quickly reported on this historic event, with Bitcoin soaring over $1000.
Fifteen minutes later, when Gensler posted that the SEC's "Twitter account was hacked and unauthorized tweets were posted" and that the agency had not approved any Bitcoin ETF listings, everything collapsed.
Gensler later had to respond to lawmakers about the hack, stating it was a SIM swap attack against employees who had access to the account, while X stated that the account had not enabled 2FA.
It wasn't until October that the FBI arrested a 25-year-old named Eric Council Jr. in Alabama, claiming he had hacked the account and posted false approvals. Later that month, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On January 10, the day after the SEC posted the false tweet, the agency approved the Bitcoin ETF spot trading—this time it was real.
Donald Trump supports Bitcoin
During Donald Trump's successful campaign for president, he made a comprehensive commitment to the cryptocurrency industry, first sharing this commitment on social media in typical Trump style.
"I am very positive and open about cryptocurrency companies and everything related to this emerging industry," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in May.
Later, he published another pro-cryptocurrency post in June, claiming he wanted "all remaining Bitcoins to be made in the USA!!!"—which is a huge issue considering that blockchain is decentralized and anyone can mine it from anywhere.
Although the content released by Trump is not on X, it has caused a huge sensation on the platform and remains one of the most memorable moments on X this year.
The guy in the goggles asked Trump about cryptocurrency issues
Malcolm, the chief of the non-fungible token (NFT) project DeGods, released a video in which he asked Trump about cryptocurrency issues, which many believe is a turning point for the elected president's pivot to cryptocurrency.
Trump was hosting an event at Mar-a-Lago for his NFT holders when he pointed at the 'guy in goggles' and asked a question. Malcolm was wearing a huge reflective Pit Viper sunglasses and then asked Trump what actions he would take to stop cryptocurrency companies from moving overseas.
"Well, we will stop it because I don’t want it that way, I don’t want it that way," Trump responded. "If we’re going to accept it, we have to let them be here."
Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss posted later that month on X, saying, "The guy in the goggles completely turned around the fate of cryptocurrency in Washington."
Malcolm stated during a magazine interview in late May that he was "well aware that not just my issues help to turn the tide of favorable regulation in the U.S."
After spending four months in prison, CZ said "gm"
On September 27, convicted Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (referred to as 'CZ') jumped back onto X the same day he completed a four-month prison sentence, casually posting a 'gm' (short for good morning).
He then posted a longer message stating that the food outside prison was much better and that he would "calm down". Then think about what to do next.
In November 2023, he admitted to violating U.S. money laundering laws at Binance and resigned as CEO of the exchange. In April of this year, he was sentenced to four months in prison.
Bubblemaps' celebrity token bubble
The crypto data analytics platform Bubblemaps suddenly emerged this year and rapidly gained popularity, as its X posts and charts sparked speculation about on-chain celebrity token movements.
It seems that after the issuance of each celebrity's token, photos show the so-called insider wallets on-chain selling the tokens at issuance, which usually yields millions of dollars in profit.
The impact of Bubblemap on tokens is hard to gauge, but it is known that many celebrity-based tokens are now far below their peak, with at least some celebrities appearing in court.
The meme coin craze of the Truth Machine AI robot
In October last year, after the AI bot 'Truth Machine' funded by Andreessen Horowitz released a meme coin called 'GOAT', its value skyrocketed to $150 million in just four days.
It was initially widely believed that this bot created the token, as it had previously announced its desire to create a token, but its creator Andy Ayrey clarified that it simply recognized an already created meme coin.
The entire scene involved artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and memes. By mid-November, the market cap of GOAT even peaked at over $1.3 billion, then fell to $442 million.
Goatseus Maximus is a parody of "Goatse", which is a notorious internet shock image.
The quiet return of the Roaring Kitty had a huge impact
Keith Gill—known as 'Roaring Kitty'—posted on X for the first time since June 2021 in mid-May, sharing a mysterious photo of a man curiously leaning on a chair with no caption.
Gill was a key figure in the meme craze of 2021, known for analyzing GameStop and AMC, which ultimately led to the former being shorted, causing him to testify before the House Financial Services Committee later that year.
Gill's sudden X post had an immediate effect—GameStop surged 44% in pre-market trading, soaring 110% when the market opened on May 13. AMC also rose 12% in pre-market trading and increased by 25% after Wall Street opened.
Meme coins not related to these two companies but named after them also surged, with GameStop's meme coin rising over 550%, and AMC-themed tokens rising 1200%.
Gill continued to post many mysterious X posts, even getting sued by a GameStop investor, accusing him of securities fraud for posting X posts on Reddit—but three days later this charge was dropped.
