Letter From The Editor
Dear crossed i's and dotted t's,
Despite the cold weather, there's quite a bit shakin' in crypto land, and February is heating up. For starters ETH may be too ultrasound for its own good as an ethereum brush fire has generated concerns of self-annihilation, President Nayib Bukele minted the El Salvadorian constitution as an ordinal NFT, Gensler is still on the "Just say no to crypto, bro" campaign trail, and metamask has introduced family-plan seed-phrase sharing. Just like Netflix.
When it comes to family responsibility bitcoin maxis won't man up for a paternity test, but there is a guy at your local town hall that thinks "NFT's fix this", and the nation's Brad's and Connor's agree that Solana is the future of blockchain. Not to mention, which is an ironic way to preface something being mentioned, we got a Top 10 Crypto Influencers of 2023 list for you too.
Oh, and Ryan from BanklessHQ got rugged again, there is another episode of UTR available for your listening pleasure, and the February issue of The Rug NFT is forthcoming in the next week or so.
Heres to seven minute abs. Seven.
But First, WTF is The Rug Newsletter?
The Rug is Web3’s mostly credible news source. We take money, seriously.
If NFTs are the future of ownership, The Rug is the future of satire. Think The Onion, but we actually understand (and like) crypto. Our Newsletter publication includes:
The mostly relevant articles
The hardest hitting headlines
Behind-the-scenes podcasts
Newspaper-style NFTs, and...
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The Rug's Newsletter is where you can catch them all in one spot, str8 to your inbox.
Do rug a friend.
The Rug Articles
El Salvador To Mint Its Constitution as Ordinal NFT
El Salvador has lazer-eyed its constitutional right to ordinal NFTs. In this article by Redemption Fox, we look at the maximalist in-fighting that came of it, and other opinions around the twitter-sphere. Zooming out, it's rather fascinating to think that a constitution could be minted on bitcoin, with a specific block number, and permanent place in the time-chain.
“Bitcoin culture already sucks,” Mark Cuban said. “We could honestly use a little more of the El Salvadorans’ joie de vivre.”
Collect this nationalistic treasure an NFT on optimism.
Gensler Says NFTs are a Gateway Token
Gensler will not stop on his, "Just say no to NFTs tour." Despite the fact that frequently youthful audiences are having an opposite reaction to his condemning of the non-fungible token, saying things like, "Gensler wouldn't want me to buy this", the tour has continued unabated. In this article by Zero Mass, we look get a front row seat on the campaign tour.
The talk at Washington was one stop on a campaign called “Just Say No to Crypto, Bro”, which Gensler designed to warn younger generations about cryptocurrency. The “asset, security, currency, or other”, according to Gensler, “is a threat to the youth of this country, who often begin with an NFT or two, then move on to worse things like investing in Cardano.”
Collect this Nancy Regan inspired article as an NFT on optimism.
The Rug's Crypto Influencers of 2023
The Rug is proud to present our 2023 List of Crypto Influencers! How much of a crypto native are you? If you recognize most of the names on this list, you’re pretty deep in that crypto rabbit hole. Do we need to send help?
24
1. James M. Rockefeller III
James is clocking in at number one.
Topping the list is of course James M. Rockefeller III. Rockefeller had a big year, bridging crypto to the traditional finance world. Here he is on a call with the CEO of Bitcoin, trying to get him to raise prices. He holds the record for appearing on Bankless 17 times!
2. Ethan Totenky
My main man Ethan got los dos.
Ethan Totenky is a fan favorite in the Ethereum community. He’s known for his bullish good looks and take no FUD attitude. Totenky attends most major crypto conferences, where you can find him shouting his own name at the top of his lungs.”ETH-on To-Ten-K!”
3. Jane Cambria
The coding whiz snagged numero three.
Jane Cambria is a coding whiz. She cut her teeth on C++ when most of us were learning our ABCs. After devving for Google, Apple, and Amazon she forked her career into crypto. Jane is cofounder of BitStash, a non-custodial wallet that syncs with your Apple watch.
4. Raj Yadev
Raj dropped in at four.
Raj Yadav is head of the Metaverse department at Meta. His team is building crucial infrastructure that all crypto users love, like Horizon Worlds and the Facebook NFT Marketplace. Here is a rare photo of him without his trademark VR headset.
5. Here's_Anonny
We don't know who it is, but's it's number five.
Here's_Anonny's Twitter account boasts over 1M followers and probably some of them are people. Here's_Annonny called the rise of FTX and was a staunch defender of SBF. Strangely, the account has gone completely silent since SBF's arrest.
6. FL4K
Flak got six.
FL4K (pronounced flak) is primed to ghost noobs in 2023, and you're next. This 13-year-old FPS prodigy is taking her game across borders and into the year's hottest blockchain-based metaverse titles. "It doesn't get any better than farming tokens while farming fools."
7. Frank O’Sullivan
Sully got seven.
Frank O’Sullivan, aka “Sully”, was one of the first Bitcoin miners, and has logged more mining hours than anyone. Frank loves unwinding at the end of the day by telling rambling, incoherent stories about “the good ol’ days” when you could mine bitcoin on your TI-84 calculator.
8. Susan Eddington
Susan is number eight.
Susan Eddington is a human resources guru. She has helped many Fortune 500 companies, and now applies that skillset for the Polygon network. You can find Susan recruiting talent on LinkedIn, holding “open forum office hours” and listening intently on twitter spaces.
9. Craig Wright
Crag's number nine.
Craig Wright is better known by his pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto." The formerly anonymous creator of Bitcoin has taken a step back from crypto to spend more time with his family, and focus on his numerous legal battles. We felt that he still deserves a place in this hall of fame.
10. Hon. Mention: Michael Saylor, Vitalik Buterin, Larry David, and BitBoy
Saylor, Buterin, David, and Bitboy, better luck next year.
Honorable Mentions: These are important people in the crypto space that nearly made the list. In no particular order, they are: Michael Saylor, Vitalik Buterin, Larry David, and BitBoy.
The Rug Headlines
FAMILY — Bitcoin Maxis Refuse Responsibility for NFTs, Avoid Paternity Test
Bitcoin maxis need to dad up, and accept that they created this. There is no intelligent reason to complain that transaction fees and interest spiking in the bitcoin blockchain is somehow "not good for the currency".
FAMILY — Bitcoin Maxis Refuse Responsibility for NFTs, Avoid Paternity Test
BREAKING — UFO Shot Down in Metaverse
High-altitude hot air balloons in the metaverse are shaking people out of their VR goggles. Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a hoax? Shoot first and ask questions later seems to be the military policy in the sandbox.
TECHNOLOGY — MetaMask Introduces Family Plan, Up to Eight Users Sharing Same Seedphrase
This is such an innovative feature, you can now share an account with your brother, your sister, their family and friends! Just like Netflix.
TECHNOLOGY — MetaMask Introduces Family Plan, Up to Eight Users Sharing Same Seedphrase
BREAKING — ETH Burn is in Danger of Eliminating all Ethereum in Existence
Who would have thought that the whole house could burn itself down, ether and all. It's just that darn ultra sound. [Bat emoji]
BREAKING — ETH Burn is in Danger of Eliminating all Ethereum in Existence
MARKETS — Crypto Degen One NFT From Breaking Even
This degen is so friggin close he can taste it.
MARKETS — Crypto Degen One NFT From Breaking Even
LOCAL — "Just Make it an NFT" Guy Pushes Sacramento Town Hall Attendees to Breaking Point
This guy has the best opinion about every problem at the town hall meeting in Sacramento.
LOCAL — "Just Make it an NFT" Guy Pushes Sacramento Town Hall Attendees to Breaking Point
COMRADERY — Nation's Brads, Connors Agree Solana is the Future of Blockchain
Brad and Connors, agree at last.
COMRADERY — Nation's Brads, Connors Agree Solana is the Future of Blockchain
The Rug NFT January 2023
Thank you to everyone who minted the January 2023 NFT. If you would still like to collect one they are available on the secondary market via OpenSea for .069 ETH.
Under The Rug Podcast
Under The Rug is a crypto-comedy podcast based on the hardest hitting headlines in Web3. In each episode a rotating cast of the comedians at The Rug get together to chop peanuts, craft jokes, and discuss things semi-crypto comedy related.
Our ninth episode, "What's Kraken?", is now available. In this ninth episode of Under The Rug subjects mentioned included Kraken, Definitive Doom NFT, Snoop Dogg, Larry David legal troubles, Elizabeth Warren's wallet, that Shaq movie, meat suits, Twitter DMs, the Winklevoss band, and much much less…
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This week on the @BanklessHQ Weekly Rollup, Ryan got Rugged, again.
“I got rugged harder than last time.”
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“I got rugged harder than last time.”
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