Crypto
Caitlyn Jenner Misled Cryptocurrency Investors, Lawsuit Says
Former Olympic gold-medalist Caitlyn Jenner and her business partner violated federal and state securities laws in their promotion of $JENNER, a memecoin cryptocurency, a Wednesday complaint says.
Jenner is the latest in a string of celebrities to face lawsuits over their promotion of cryptocurrencies. Memecoins like hers areblockchain-based digital assets that draws inspiration from memes, characters, trends, and social media accounts, deriving value from the success or failure of its promoter to attract and sustain community engagement in the project, the complaint says.
Plaintiffs Naeem Azad and Mihai Caluseru, who purchased $JENNER in May, say they wouldn’t have invested in …
In a historic and embarrassing first, an old Reddit meme may become an actual government agency in Donald Trump‘s second term as president, thanks to Elon Musk. Months before Trump’s reelection, the Tesla CEO and Trump megadonor was riffing on X (formerly Twitter) about a possible administration role in something he called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. On Tuesday, the president-elect announced he was making that dream a reality, appointing Musk, along with businessman and failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead an agency of that very name, which would “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy.”
With that action, Trump turned a more than decade-old meme into a bizarre and powerfully consequential reality for U.S. politics.
By internet standards, “doge” is an ancient artifact. In 2013, photos of Kabosu, a female Shiba Inu owned by a Japanese kindergarten teacher, started going viral on Reddit, typically with rainbow Comic Sans text that suggested the inner monologue of the dog — or “doge,” as a playful misspelling had it.
A cryptocurrency is born
That same year, two software designers had the idea to parody bitcoin, then gaining traction as the first decentralized cryptocurrency, with a joke coin that would feature the doge meme as its logo: Dogecoin, with the market code DOGE. Despite their satirical intentions, the currency found a dedicated community, which outlived the popularity of the cutesy meme itself, although it long traded at well under a cent. Still, the crypto bubble of 2017-2018 saw a surge in trading and drove the value of the coin to a new peak, and by 2019, Musk himself was tweeting about it. “Dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency,” he posted that April. “It’s pretty cool.”
From that point forward, Dogecoin’s fluctuations were unmistakably entangled with Musk’s comments on it. He holds an unspecified amount of the cryptocurrency — with some even speculating that he’s a “whale” who has bought up a huge percentage of the total coins in circulation — and routinely interacts with its main promoters online. The summer of 2020 saw another DOGE buying spree, encouraged by TikTok hype, but the coin really exploded during the GameStop “meme stock” craze of January 2021. Encouraged by tweets and memes from Musk (as well as Snoop Dogg and Gene Simmons), investors pushed it to a new high of $0.08 that February. Musk declared it “the people’s crypto.”
It continued to surge through April and hit an all-time high of $0.74 in May 2021, when Musk hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live and hawked the currency on Weekend Update — while admitting that crypto was a “hustle.” The price of Dogecoin fell significantly during and after the show. The same week, Musk announced that SpaceX would fund a moon mission entirely with Dogecoin. (That launch has been indefinitely delayed.) Musk continued to spam Twitter with Dogecoin memes and inane posts related to the currency, once typing out the lyrics to the children’s song “Baby Shark” as “Baby Doge, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.” He also indicated that he had purchased some DOGE for his young son, X Æ A-Xii, and hinted that Tesla might start accepting the currency — it eventually did, though only for merchandise, and the option was later discontinued. Tesla has yet to accept payment for a car in Dogecoin.
After Dogecoin fell back to earth, hitting $0.07 in June 2022, Musk faced a lawsuit for $258 billion from investors who accused him of orchestrating a pyramid scheme by manipulating the price with his tweets, public comments, and the SNL appearance, arguing that these all contributed to a 36,000 percent increase in price before the crash. This complaint was amended several times in the following years to account for other Musk stunts — including the time in April 2023, when, as the new owner of Twitter, he briefly changed the site’s bird logo to the most recognized photo of the “doge” Shiba Inu. That little joke sent Dogecoin 30 percent higher. In August 2024, a judge finally dismissed the investors’ suit, calling Musk’s support of the meme coin “aspirational” rather than “factual.”
Elon pivots to Trump
By August, Musk was pumping millions of dollars into a Super PAC with the goal of electing Trump and attaining greater influence in Washington. He happened to be aligned with major crypto evangelists, who backed Trump in the belief that he would loosen regulations on the industry. It was at this critical point in the campaign that a Dogecoin enthusiast suggested on X that Musk’s role under a Trump administration should be in the “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).” Musk replied, “That is the perfect name.”
It appears the Trump team agreed, or at least acquiesced to the request as they began preparations to assume the White House. Following the election, Dogecoin predictably spiked again — along with other crypto assets — climbing from $0.15 before Trump’s win to as high as $0.44 when the DOGE agency became official on Tuesday morning. Musk has expressed his own enthusiasm about the “merch” DOGE will sell and vowed: “All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency.” Given his record of broken promises, this one seems unlikely to be fulfilled. Musk previously declared that major changes to the X platform would always be voted on by users, only to do away with such polls and push whatever updates he wanted.
The silliness of the doge meme, and the cult cryptocurrency it spawned, belies the potential damage Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could wreak on the political infrastructure of the U.S. Musk has spoken publicly about wanting to massively slash federal spending, admitting this would “involve some temporary hardship.”
While some observers have suggested that Trump is giving Musk a meaningless commission — or busywork that he cannot screw up — the world’s richest man has been participating in key meetings and diplomatic phone calls alongside Trump since Election Day. And if Republicans were to try to enact, say, major cuts to social programs, like Social Security, it could help them politically to rely on recommendations from a body or commission like this one.
Musk’s possible future in the government
Then there’s the possiblity that, if Musk helms this department as an outside commission instead of an official government agency, he can likely avoid divesting from his various companies, which have significant government contracts and are also facing regulatory scrutiny on many fronts. By taking on this role, he will be free to preserve, protect, and boost his corporate interests, potentially by hobbling the federal agencies probing his businesses. The Department of Justice, for example, has spent the past two years investigating Tesla’s dubious claims about its “Full-Self Driving” technology. Between his DOGE job and a likely ally in prospective Attorney General Matt Gaetz, Musk may be in a position to make this costly headache go away.
All of which makes for a strange and alarming new phase of the “doge” phenomenon. Once a harmless image celebrating our love of adorable furry friends, it is now the face of an impending assault on the government institutions that enforce financial and labor laws, keep our food and drinking water safe, manage the U.S. education system and conserve natural resources. This, in turn, is spurring a cryptocurrency boom that could cost investors tens of thousands of dollars if it turns into another bubble. It doesn’t seem fair that a beloved Shiba Inu should come to represent such political and economic dysfunction, but when Musk wrests control of something — whether a company, a presidential campaign, or a meme — he doesn’t often let go.
Crypto
Cryptocurrency traders: share what got you into crypto, and how you feel about recent developments
It’s been an eventful few days for the cryptocurrency market, with the price of bitcoin having risen above $87,000 for the first time amid traders’ hopes that cryptocurrencies will boom in a favourable regulatory environment when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Bitcoin reached a record high of $87,198, before slipping back slightly on Monday. The price more than doubled from about $37,000 12 months ago.
Other cryptos such as Dogecoin also experienced a “Trump pump” surge.
We’d like to hear from retail investors who have bought crypto how they have fared since they entered the market. What got you into buying crypto in the first place, how did things go for you over time, and how much is your crypto portfolio worth now? How do you feel about the crypto market in light of recent developments such as Trump’s election victory?
Share your experience
Share what got you into buying crypto, how your crypto portfolio performed over time and how you view these currencies in light of recent developments.
Independent music festival producer Breakaway Music Festival, today announced that all 12 of its festivals in 2025 will accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for tickets, ultra VIP bottle service, & more. This move solidifies Breakaway’s position as a forward-thinking organization at the forefront of the music industry’s technological advancements.
Since its inception, Breakaway has rapidly emerged as one of the fastest-growing independent music brands, captivating festival-goers across the U.S. with its vibrant blend of music, culture, and community. Breakaway is also well-acquainted with blockchain and cryptocurrency. The company played a key role in launching Our Music Festival, the first blockchain-powered music festival. This venture offered Breakaway valuable insights into the potential of blockchain technology and the expanding cryptocurrency community.
“We’re excited to expand our offerings and embrace the future of payments by accepting cryptocurrency at all of our 2025 festival dates,” said Adam Lynn, co-founder and CEO of Breakaway. “As the music industry continues to evolve, we’re committed to adapting to the needs of our fans and staying ahead of the curve. By accepting cryptocurrency, we’re providing our fans with more flexibility and convenience, while also supporting the growth of the cryptocurrency community in the markets we’re serving next year and beyond.”
Crypto is back on everyone’s minds as of late as Bitcoin has reached new all-time highs. This is partly attributed to Donald Trump’s recent re-election victory. Trump has taken a pro-crypto stance, pledging to make the U.S. a global hub for cryptocurrency and proposing significant regulatory shifts, such as potentially replacing SEC leadership to favour crypto policies. Understandably this pushed the price of the majority of coins higher and brought companies and individuals back to the market.
2025 Breakaway Music Festival Dates
April 4-5: Breakaway Dallas
April 18-19: Breakaway Arizona
April 25-26: Breakaway Tampa
May 16-17: Breakaway Atlanta
May 30-31: Breakaway Ohio
June 6-7: Breakaway Minnesota
August 15-16: Breakaway Michigan
Sept 5-6: Breakaway Mass
Sept 12-13: Breakaway Philadelphia
Sept 26-27: Breakaway Carolina
October 3-4: Breakaway Alabama
October 17-18: Breakaway NorCal
World’s largest coral discovered in Pacific near Solomon Islands
'I was shocked': Lawmakers react to Gaetz pick to be Trump's attorney general
Idaho high school teacher under investigation after allegedly wishing 'unwanted pregnancy' on Trump supporter
News anchor's mysterious disappearance was crime of 'jealousy': private investigator
State education chief ‘on GOP radar’ launches game plan for nixing cabinet department
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
World’s largest coral discovered in Pacific near Solomon Islands
'I was shocked': Lawmakers react to Gaetz pick to be Trump's attorney general
Special counsel Jack Smith asks court to halt his appeal against Trump in Florida case
Borrell proposes to suspend EU-Israel political talks over Gaza war
Trump Appointee Matt Gaetz’s Long List of Scandals
-
Culture1 week agoTry This Quiz on Books That Were Made Into Great Space Movies
-
Health6 days agoLose Weight Without the Gym? Try These Easy Lifestyle Hacks
-
Culture6 days agoThe NFL is heading to Germany – and the country has fallen for American football
-
Business5 days agoRef needs glasses? Not anymore. Lasik company offers free procedures for referees
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25538361/247196_Echo_Spot_Review_8A0A1511_CVirginia.jpg "Amazon’s Echo Spot alarm clock is on sale with a free color smart bulb")
Technology1 week agoAmazon’s Echo Spot alarm clock is on sale with a free color smart bulb
-
Sports5 days agoAll-Free-Agent Team: Closers and corner outfielders aplenty, harder to fill up the middle
-
News3 days agoHerbert Smith Freehills to merge with US-based law firm Kramer Levin
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25724877/Super_Nintendo_World.png "The next Nintendo Direct is all about Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong Country")
Technology3 days agoThe next Nintendo Direct is all about Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong Country