The seven most memorable Crypto X posts of 2024

2023 was another eventful year for crypto X. Here are some of the most memorable moments:

The SEC’s fake Bitcoin ETF approval

On Jan. 9, the SEC’s official X account posted, along with a purported quote from Chair Gary Gensler, that, “Today the SEC grants approval for Bitcoin ETFs.”

News outlets quickly covered the historic event, and Bitcoin BTCUSD rose rapidly by over $1,000.

It all came crashing down 15 minutes later when Gensler posted that the SEC’s “twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted” and that the agency hadn’t approved any Bitcoin ETFs to go live.

Gensler later had to answer to lawmakers about the hack, saying it was a SIM swap attack on a staffer who had access to the account — which X said didn’t have 2FA enabled.

It took until October for the FBI to arrest a 25-year old man in Alabama named Eric Council Jr. and allege that he hacked the account and posted the fake approval. He pleaded not guilty to the accusations later that month.

On Jan. 10, a day after the fake post from the SEC, the agency approved the spot Bitcoin ETFs for trading — for real this time.

Elon Musk sells half his DOGE for ‘tacos’

In what started out as a seemingly normal X post on Feb. 13, Elon Musk dropped a bombshell that had the crypto community buzzing for hours.

“Finally sold half my doge for tacos. You’re welcome,” Musk posted on the platform, referring to the memecoin that he had been shilling throughout 2023.

The post quickly garnered attention from Dogecoin fans and members of the “Doge Army,” who thanked Musk for his support of the cryptocurrency, which saw a 70% gain from the beginning of the year to that point.

Musk also posted a follow-up meme that showed him selling dogecoin tacos from a stand at the Doge Fast Food Restaurant, poking fun at himself and his role in the crypto space.

Dogecoin rose to a peak of over $0.15 later that month, but it has since cooled to $0.08 by the end of 2023.

Coinbase announces NFT marketplace launch — then pivots

On March 20, Coinbase announced the launch of its long-awaited non-fungible token marketplace, finally entering the Web3 arena after teasing the project for months.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era for Coinbase. We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Coinbase NFT Beta Marketplace,” the exchange posted on its X account.

Coinbase said that 2 million people on the waitlist would be able to start using the marketplace, which featured NFT collections from World of Women, Azuki, Beanz and more.

However, the launch was met with mixed reactions as some users complained about the high gas fees and lack of interesting collections, while others praised Coinbase for finally delivering on its promise.

Coinbase later announced on April 27 that it would be pivoting its NFT marketplace strategy and shifting its focus away from centralized collections and toward decentralized protocols.

The exchange said that it would be winding down its current marketplace over the next eight weeks and migrating users to the new platform, which would integrate decentralized NFT protocols.

Coinbase also announced that users would be able to self-custody their NFTs on the new marketplace, a feature that was notably absent from the first iteration of the platform.

Coinbase shares rose 6% on the news of the NFT marketplace pivot.

Trump announces ‘all remaining Bitcoin to be made in the USA’

As part of his successful presidential campaign, US President-elect Donald Trump made sweeping pledges to the crypto industry, which he first shared on social media in classic Trump fashion.

“I AM VERY POSITIVE AND OPEN MINDED TO CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES, AND ALL THINGS RELATED TO THIS NEW AND BURGEONING INDUSTRY,” Trump wrote just like that — in all caps — to his Truth Social platform in May.

He then followed it up with another pro-crypto post in June to declare that he wants “all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!!” — a massive ask considering the blockchain is decentralized, and anyone could mine it from anywhere.

While what Trump posted wasn’t on X, it made a massive splash on the platform, still making this list of the most memorable moments on X this year.

Bitcoin topped out at around $24,000 later that month.

Coin Bureau’s ‘pivotal’ Trump interview on crypto

The crypto YouTuber behind Coin Bureau had a “pivotal” interview with then-President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 22, where he asked him about crypto regulation and FTX, among other things.

“I had a pivotal conversation with President Elect Donald J. Trump at Mar-a