Elon 🤝 Twitter 🤝 Web3

This is Web3 Seems Legit, the weekly newsletter on all things crypto, NFTs and more. It's been a wild ride, but today is Bitcoin's 14th birthday 🎂! The industry wouldn't be here without it 😊.

In this issue, we're discussing these latest web3 news:

• What does Elon's Twitter acquisition mean for web3? The new Twitter era with Elon as "Chief Twit" is finally here and we are bullish about what Musk could have in store for web3 😎.

• SBF backs down from the crypto regulation debate. After going head to head in a 2-hour long debate with Erik Voorhees, SBF decides to back down on the crypto regulation discussion and let "crypto Twitter take the wheel".

• Could Hong Kong be Asia's next crypto hub? In an attempt to reclaim their position as a financial hub, Hong Kong is looking to legalize retail crypto trading again.

What does Elon's Twitter acquisition mean for web3?

After months of back and forth, the Twitter vs. Elon Musk saga has finally come to an end, but was it a happy ending?

At least for Dogecoin hodlers it was. Upon news that the Twitter acquisition deal closed, Musk's favourite meme coin rallied into a massive pump 🚀.

It may seem silly, but Musk's Twitter acquisition could actually be bullish, not just for Dogecoin, but all meme coins and web3 as a whole 🙌.

For one, Musk is no closet meme lover and Dogecoin advocate. With his takeover of Twitter, it's possible that we could see a version of Twitter that fully supports meme coins. Keep in mind that Musk was the one who got Tesla to start accepting Dogecoin as payment 🐕.

Musk has also dropped several other hints on his ideal social platform, including:

• Turning Twitter into a decentralized social app 🙌

• Implementing micropayments with Dogecoin to reduce spam and bots 🙌

• Rewarding top creators 🙌

• Competing with Youtube/TikTok 🙌

Not everyone is as excited about Musk's Twitter takeover though. Many believe that this could be a real threat to society.

We're less dramatic about it and see this new Musk era as a bullish sign for web3. The industry needs a strong public advocate to push forward ideas and we think Musk could be the right guy for the job ✅.

SBF backs down from the crypto regulation debate

Let's recap a bit. A few weeks ago, Sam Bankman-fried (SBF), the crypto industry's darling savior fell from his throne when he gave his opinion on DeFi regulation.

tl;dr SBF believes that regulation is inevitable and DeFi should comply to the OFAC, which is problematic because it takes away the entire point of DeFi 👎.

A major critic of his proposal was Erik Voorhees, Founder of ShapeShift, a DeFi exchange. To debate on the topic, SBF and Erik went live to battle it out and here were just some of the best clips 🥊.

Erik explains the importance of what the crypto industry is building - an open immutable financial layer separating money from the state. Well said Erik 👏.

Erik argues that regulators are supposed to make things more difficult, which is why it's up to people like SBF to push back and not compromise so easily 💯.

And the fan favorite clip: SBF agrees with Erik that email front-ends shouldn't be regulated, but yet, he can't come up with a good reason for why the same shouldn't apply to DeFi 🤔.

After the debate, SBF takes to Twitter to give his final words by agreeing with Erik and allowing the community to "take the wheel" on crypto regulation.

You may or may not agree with his takes, but we have to hand it to SBF for having the guts to step into the ring with Erik and try to defend his position. We tend to forget that healthy discussions and debates are good for the industry 👍.

Meanwhile, Vitalk has also decided to chime in on the discussion.

Could Hong Kong be Asia's next crypto hub?

Look out, there could be a new crypto hub in the making 👀. Just announced, the Hong Kong government will be taking steps towards easing their restrictions on retail crypto trading.

Home to big exchanges like Binance and FTX, Hong Kong was once known for their laissez-faire crypto regulation. However, in recent years, they introduced restrictions to retail crypto trading, which could now finally be lifted 👏.

As Hong Kong reclaims their status as a financial hub, we may see some fierce competition ahead!

In this issue

• Visa files for two crypto-related trademarks. Adoption is steadily coming with payments giant, Visa, filing for trademarks related to crypto wallets, NFTs and the metaverse.

• Bitcoin turns 14! On this day 14 years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper. Time flies!

Did you enjoy this issue? We'd appreciate it if you could like, share and follow us on Twitter and Instagram