A Bridge to Czar

Plus: $HAWK isn’t worth spit

In this week’s edition of The Context, we look at President-elect Trump’s choice for crypto and AI czar, the alleged Hawk Tuah rug pull, and the truth about Operation Chokepoint 2.0.

[Sacks Pennsylvania Avenue]

Late last week, Donald Trump appointed former PayPal COO, current tech investor, and “All-In” podcaster David Sacks crypto and AI czar.

What Media Said ????:

• While Biden shackled crypto and, to a lesser extent, AI, the incoming Trump administration has promised to supercharge crypto and beat China in AI development, suggested Scott Rosenberg (Axios). “For years, the tech industry's conservative-libertarian wing has complained that Washington's leaders and culture stifle innovation. Now it will be their turn to call the shots.”
• Sacks’s “portfolio is dotted with crypto and artificial-intelligence companies,” noted Rolfe Winkler & Angel Au-Yeung (WSJ). The part-time appointment means he now has “an opportunity to shape policies key to Silicon Valley and himself”—which “could create conflicts of interest.”
• The job description for this newly created post is unclear, but “on the crypto side, Sacks is expected to be the driving force behind what the Trump Administration has promised will be a new era of digital asset regulation.” Trump said Sacks will work on a “‘legal framework’ for the industry that will help provide the ‘clarity’ many execs have been requesting.”

PR Perspective ??:

Until we know whether Sacks will continue podcasting about (and actively investing in) crypto companies, it’s hard to know what to think. While his appointment could open up new opportunities for exposure, there are plenty of pitfalls as well.

[I Scam Legend?]

Internet celebrity Haliey Welch, better known as the “Hawk Tuah girl” promoted a memecoin that lost roughly 95% of its value almost immediately after launching. Experts are calling it a rug pull.

What Media Said ????:

• “Haliey Welch catapulted into internet fame this summer when a TikTok of her colorful intimacy advice went viral,” explained Leo Schwartz (Fortune). The rising popularity of memecoins—”cryptocurrencies based around internet trends such as Pepe the Frog that sometimes reach market caps in the billions of dollars”—provided an opportunity for her to extend her 15 minutes of fame.
• No points for guessing what came next. “Bubblemaps, the on-chain data visualization company, determined on Thursday that 285 wallets collectively acquired some 96% of HAWK’s supply during token presales and giftings,” wrote Sander Lutz (Decrypt). “Within the first minutes of HAWK’s debut, the majority of those wallets dumped their tokens to make a quick profit.”
• Welch and her team attempted damage control with an X Spaces event, insisting they hadn’t sold, Miles Klee (Rolling Stone) wrote. Facing tough questions, Welch abruptly went to bed and later removed the recording from X. “And while it remains to be seen what legal or reputational consequences she’ll face for her foray into crypto, she’s already had the dubious honor of inspiring a ‘revenge coin,’ $TUAH, as in ‘straight tuah prison.’”

PR Perspective ??:

Remember the NFT boom of 2021, when celebs either bought their own PFPs or created them? Well, now it’s memecoins that are de rigeur for internet influencers. Memecoins aren’t automatically illegitimate—Dogecoin has been one of the top cryptocurrencies by market cap for years—but many are cynical attempts by interlopers to cash in on a craze. Anyone attempting a memecoin should work with proven teams on tokenomics and marketing. And if they don’t know any, maybe they should hold off.

[Choke Was No Joke]

Coinbase revealed documents showing that Operation Chokepoint 2.0, an alleged policy by the U.S. government to prevent crypto companies from having bank access, was apparently real.

What Media Said ????:

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The usual disclaimer: This newsletter collates the main themes and headlines of the week in DeFi/crypto/metaverse/Web3/NFT land and tries to provide unbiased context. It's aimed at anyone who wants to keep an eye on the space. It's put together by a team at YAP and doesn't contain any promotion of our clients (if one is mentioned, we'll flag that).

The team: Founder Samantha Yap and consulting editor Jeff Benson, Andrew Wickerson, Emma Murphy, Nathalie Larrea, Trisha Goswami and Shajar Qureshi. Your feedback is, as always, welcome. Ping us at [email protected]. Old newsletters can be found here.

This newsletter is prepared by YAP Global, an international P.R. Consultancy focusing on helping cryptocurrency, Decentralised Finance (DeFi) and brands through impactful storytelling. Find out more about us here.