Speculation about ‘Crypto Twitter’ began to run wild after the Justice Department’s announcement early Wednesday of the following press release. In vague and non-descriptive language, the DoJ announced that a press release detailing “International Crypto Enforcement Actions” should follow within hours of its release.
What followed can only be described as another funny moment in the rarely dry crypto atmosphere.
Enforcement Action … Or Something Like It
The DoJ’s live-streamed press release took place at 17:00 UTC and the leading speculations on social channels are running wild: could a ban on stablecoins, or increased regulations, come in? Can the government do it through regulation? The announcement was, in fact, none of those things — and nowhere close. A DoJ press release indicates that the federal agency is taking enforcement action against the little-known Russian Bitzlato exchange.
The sequence of events here is certainly strange, and at best only represents the delivery of a body that has nothing to do with what is happening in the place.
Data from Arkham Intel, raised by Coinbase director Conor Grogan, shows that Bitzlato tagged wallet represented only $11,000 in value, with the number already peaked at $6M. While millions of dollars have come out of exchanges in the past – held or withdrawn from accounts that received notice in advance – it’s still far less than regular cryptocurrency volumes.
Yes, you read all of this correctly; in the wake of the collapse of big players like FTX, Terra Luna, 3AC, and others, we are witnessing the hammer fall on… Bitzlato. Memes write themselves sometimes.
Stablecoin USDC was the dominant asset in what was left of the remnants of Russian-based crypto exchange, Bitzlato, following the DoJ's enforcement action on Wednesday. USDC's market dominance has been volatile in recent months. | Source: USDC.D-USD on TradingView.com
Crypto Twitter Feedback: Some of Our Favorites
There is no shortage of original content running in the crypto community. It is part of industrial art. We’d be remiss not to include some of our favorite feedback after the hilarity:
DOJ got a big one today, great job 🫡 pic.twitter.com/JtijSbk9MA
– db (@tier10k) January 18, 2023
A great opportunity arises for the exchange to take all the huge volumes of Bitzlato today.
— Hsaka (@HsakaTrades) January 18, 2023
DOJ with bitzlato pic.twitter.com/jVv3rZSt3W
– red (@redxbt) January 18, 2023