In a humor-laden call to arms, Kevin O’Leary—veteran investor and Shark Tank star—invited the denizens of crypto Twitter to pitch him their ideas in 200 characters or less. What ensued was an avalanche of witticism, satire, and pointed critiques.
The serious pitches
The crypto Twitter universe, known for its frankness and humor, didn’t disappoint. Bitcoin heavyweight Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy, responded with a concise and cheeky, “Bitcoin and chill.”
In light of Microstrategy’s substantial BTC holdings—140,000 BTC at a $30,045 realized price—Saylor’s reply can be seen as a breezy nod to his successful bet on the cryptocurrency.
In a more detailed response, Guy Swann, host of Bitcoin Audible, described his idea of a Bitcoin mining unit for central heating. His model, a DIY solution tested in his own home, not only provided warmth for the winter but also netted him around $250 in Bitcoin.
MinosXBT, a crypto enthusiast, conjured up an amalgamation of Airbnb & Booking.com that operates with both crypto and fiat. Special rates would be offered to holders of specific blue-chip NFTs, adding an innovative twist to the online booking business model.
The funny ones
As the flow of replies carried on, crypto Twitter’s lens shifted from novel concepts to not-so-subtly dissing O’Leary. A significant number of responses openly referred to his association with the defunct FTX exchange, previously spearheaded by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) who is a good friend of O’Leary.
This came as no surprise, given crypto Twitter’s reputation for holding industry figures accountable for their actions. O’Leary openly defended FTX and SBF after the collapse, and even went as far as blaming Binance and Changpeng Zhao for everything.
Twitter user MachoXV asserted, “Crypto exchanges that don’t steal from people. That’s it. That’s the big billion-dollar idea,” a statement clearly reflecting their skepticism towards FTX and its practices.
Twitter user OnePieceXRP had a rather wry take on O’Leary’s invitation. Their pitch was, “Ok, we start a crypto exchange, we get big stars to promote it, when people deposit their hard-earned money with us we quickly throw it over to our secret expert trading den, we go all in on max leverage, we either win big or go home, deal?”
The facetious suggestion served as a biting commentary on what some community members believe led to FTX’s collapse. Another jocular yet barbed response came from DogecoinCuban.
They proposed: “Here me out: an offshore cryptocurrency exchange located in the Bahamas for “tax purposes” but we offer services to US customers. We will say we are safe and stuff and hire Tom Brady to endorse us. Then we take people’s money and when they ask for it back we say ‘1) What’.”
The “1) What” is is a witty reference to the ridiculously hilarious tweets that SBF made after FTX failed.
Meanwhile, Binance is currently entangled in a legal debacle with the notorious US SEC and it’s Chair Gary Gensler over–you guessed it–violation of securities law.
O’Leary commented on this in an interview with Cointelegraph sometime last week, saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC throws in a criminal charge for Changpeng Zhao, because he believes that the agency is coming for him.
Notably, the controversial figure did say that he genuinely sympathizes with CZ and that he thinks that SEC’s regulatory actions are stalling the influx of institutional capital into the crypto space.
