April Fools’ Day didn’t pass without some joking tweets on X, some of which were negatively perceived by the crypto community, and some even led to an artificial increase in asset prices. Vitalik Buterin, Anatoly Yakovenko, David Hoffman, and other prominent figures in the crypto industry decided to joke on April 1.
The most questionable April Fools’ joke was from the JuiceBox team, a crowdfunding protocol based on Ethereum, which announced that the project received financial support from crypto venture capital firm Paradigm. The news sparked a surge in the project’s native token quotes, which doubled in value.
According to CoinGecko, JBX rose by more than 45% within an hour of the announcement. After the project team revealed that the information was a joke, the asset’s quotes fell by 25%. The crypto community accused the team of being inappropriate with such humor, calling the developers criminals.
A similar situation arose after a post on X made by an anonymous founder of Waves, a decentralized technology stack. In the message, he announced that the protocol would be integrated with AI. The asset instantly jumped by 5%, but quickly returned to the previous level. The crypto community accused the developer of market manipulation, not appreciating the joke.
Vitalik Buterin, Founder of Ethereum, also decided to have some fun on April 1. In his blog, Vitalik published a humorous post in which he revealed his attitude towards meme coins, calling their followers degen communists. The crypto community praised the Ethereum co-founder’s “political ideology” and humor.
Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana, announced the launch of BunkerCoin. He said the new Solana-based token will run on “shortwave radio channels” and use ZkProofs, Groth16, and the “Nakamoto-style longest chain rule.” Anatoly used many crypto buzzwords, so the community easily recognized the humorous tones of the message.
David Hoffman, Ethereum Maximalist and Co-Host of Bankless, announced on April 1 that he would become “VP of Decentralization” at the Solana Foundation. The crypto community appreciated David’s joke, seeing it as a hint at the low level of decentralization of the Solana blockchain.
Crypto users should be skeptical of headlines on days like April 1. Be cautious in general, as besides jokes, they may hide fraudulent manipulations.
