In 2021, the cryptocurrency market cap took off by 286%, bringing a $ 2.170 billion industry into the stratosphere. However, this vast wealth creation was accompanied by the explosion of singular stories. From the suspicious deaths of several crypto evangelists and scams linked to hacked Twitter accounts of heads of state to NFT of celebrities left unsold at auction. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the strangest stories that have captivated blockchain enthusiasts this year.
1) The death of John McAfee
On June 23, John McAfee, a crypto evangelist and founder of the eponymous antivirus software company McAfee, was found dead in a prison cell in Spain after an alleged suicide by hanging. The United States, one of the few countries to impose a citizenship tax regime (that is, Americans are taxed on their income every year regardless of their country of residence), was requesting McAfee’s extradition for failing to file the returns. on income between 2014 and 2018, in addition to allegedly failing to report the revenue generated by its crypto projects. McAfee was arrested in Spain pending US tax evasion charges. In 2018, McAfee reportedly received payments of up to $ 105,000 per tweet to promote initial coin offerings (ICOs) on social media.
In another tweet published two years earlier, McAfee said: “If I commit suicide, it wasn’t me. I was killed,” bringing to conspiracy theories according to which the death of the entrepreneur it may have been the result of an orchestrated attack. McAfee is known for its pioneering feats in programming, the adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) in its first years of existence and its eccentric personality. Many will remember his bet of “eat my private parts live nationally”If the price of BTC had not reached $ 500,000 by 2020. In November, McAfee’s original software development company was acquired by private investors for $ 14 billion. McAfee leaves behind his wife Janice McAfee and her children (at least 47 according to what affirmed da McAfee).
“Today would have been John’s 76th birthday. As we continue to wait for news from the court I want to share some of my favorite memories of John. “
Today would have been John’s 76th birthday. As we continue to wait for news from the courts I wanted to share some of my favourite memories of John. To honor John please share any photos you may have taken of or with him using #JohnMcAfeeDidNotKillHimself & #JusticeForJohnMcAfee. pic.twitter.com/5iEQCTi7zx
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) September 18, 2021
2) The Indian Prime Minister tweets a BTC scam
In December, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account was hacked again. Those responsible announced that theIndia has adopted BTC as its national currency, distributing 500 BTC to Indian citizens who signed up via a phishing link. The tweet was briefly visible to the public and Modi’s 73.4 million followers before it was removed. The previous year, a cybercrime group known as “John Wick” has Prime Minister’s Twitter account hacked posting messages asking his followers for crypto donations.
There are several hypotheses as to why Modi became a target of these cyber attacks. One possible motive would be revenge for the ongoing Bitcoin scandal in the Indian state of Karnataka. According to Indian media outlets, Karnataka police and government officials have received 12,900 BTC in bribes from hacker Srikrishna Ramesh, who was arrested for hacking three cryptocurrency exchanges and other websites in previous years. When Karnataka minister Basavaraj Bommai raised the issue during a meeting with Modi in November, it appears that the prime minister has downplayed and ignored the issue. At present, India faces a chaotic regulatory environment regarding the situation of crypto assets in the country.
“India has officially adopted Bitcoin as its legal tender. The government has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing it to all residents of the country. Hurry. “
Narendra Modi’s now deleted Bitcoin tweet. Source: India Today / Twitter
3) The defeat of ConstitutionDAO
In November, a group of retail investors formed a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, with the goal of pooling funds to buy the last remaining private print copy of the first edition of the US constitution at a public auction organized by Sotheby’s. ConstitutionDAO raised $ 49 million through donations from Ether (ETH) from 17,437 participants. During the auction, however, The best offer was submitted by Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, a company that owns hedge funds that shorted Gamestop while a large group of retail investors promoted the stock.
ConstitutionDAO disbanded a little later and reimbursed the participants. While “proletarian” investors may have nothing to lose but their chains, it is clear that the “bourgeoisie” will not allow them to break free so easily.
“We have just distributed the latest batch of refunds to contributors directly to Juicebox after the auction. If you contributed after the auction and before the December 6th cut-off date, you should have received your refund. “
there are brakes,
we just sent out the final batch of refunds for those who contributed directly to juicebox after the auction. if you contributed post-auction and before our previously messaged cutoff date of 12/6, you should have received your refund by now.https://t.co/g7u2ENSoYE
– ConstitutionDAO (,) (@ConstitutionDAO) December 11, 2021
4) Elon, Tesla e Bitcoin
Cryptocurrencies have gone through several turmoil this year, in part potentially caused by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Aside from the promotion of meme tokens such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Musk’s indecisive approach to Tesla’s adoption of Bitcoin has created and wiped out many fortunes.
In March, Musk sparked a buying frenzy by announcing that Tesla would accepted BTC as payment for the purchase of its electric vehicles. Two months later, the momentum reversed turning into a sharp market correction after Musk took abandoned plans, citing environmental concerns related to network mining. In October, Tesla hinted that it might reconsider the integration of BTC as a payment method. In all of this, however, Musk has become more popular as a helmsman, guiding retail investors and crypto enthusiasts through the storms of the capital markets. Most recently, he was voted Person of the Year by Times Magazine.
Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021
5) Tupac Shakur’s unsold NFTs
For 29 years, former hip hop journalist Lawrence “Loupy D” Dotson has kept a series of photographs of celebrated rapper Tupac Shakur. The photos were taken in 1992 during the party for the release of the debut album “2Pacalypse Now.” In November of this year, they were auctioned in the form of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Loupy D said:
“I also considered photographic exhibitions, museums, many different ways. With NFTs, it’s not just about the asset itself but also the story behind it. I knew I had to tell my story to the public. “
The OpenSea auction received significant media coverage prior to its inception, including from RollingStone and Fortune.com. The auction ran for a week, but none of the 18 NFTs were sold. Out of disappointment, Loupy D removed them from the platform and kept them available for private requests. However, perhaps the photographer asked too much, considering that each NFT had a minimum bid of 25 ETH ($ 100,000). In June, another artist he asked 200 ETH (then equal to 1 million dollars) for a photo of Tupac Shakur taken 14 days before his death in a shooting. This NFT was also not sold although the price was lowered to 10 ETH. Did they ask too much or did Tupac’s popularity drop? Judge for yourself.
“Well, the NFTs on Tupac remained unsold at the OpenSea auction.”
Well, the #tupac #nfts didn’t sell at auction on #opensea, but as they say, #tmc
Click link in bio for more information. https://t.co/QvPaMbDawQ pic.twitter.com/p8mc2MRSlc– Loupy D (@loupyd) November 30, 2021
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