Another whistleblower wrote a book about how corrupted crypto is, and Pavel Durov, the CEO of everyone's darling messaging app Telegram, got arrested in France—where he went to donate sperm hang out with a female influencer. 

But that's not even all... 

Story One

McDonald Experiment

Last week, McDonald's Insta audience woke up to learn that the fast-food chain was experimenting on Solana with the launch of a memecoin named after their purple mascot, Grimace. 

But crypto bros following the burger empire hoping to improve their hiring chances when the bear strikes again quickly had these, and other hopes shattered: it was nothing but a hacker. 

After creating the memecoin on pump.fun and distributing 75% of its supply to their own wallet, the hackers proceeded to post about it. As expected, the price shot up, taking the marketcap from a few thousand to $30 million in less than 30 minutes. 

15 minutes later, the hacker dumped their holdings, not without changing the McDonald's Instagram bio to tell people they got rugged.

Probably the male urge to brag about one's achievements. 

McDonald's has since restored access, and overall "just" $700,000 was lost—enough for 110,759 Happy Meals. 

Takeaway: Another one in a long line of hackers leveraging Web2 brands and crypto to execute a hack. The only solace I have is that chances are that most of the people who had SOL ready to yolo-into a memecoin were crypto-natives and not the average McDonald follower. 

Story Two

Sony taking an L? 

As a half-Japanese, people are tired of people realizing how wrong their perception of technologically advanced Japan is.. I really wanted to be excited about this.

The entertainment giant Sony just announced that they'd be launching an L2 in collaboration with Startale Labs, the entity driving Astar Network, another failed L1 turned L2 now chain-hopping wherever they get marketing support. 

Soneium, as the chain is called, will be built on Optimism's OP stack and rely on the creme de la creme of Web3 infra providers such as Alchemy and Chainlink. 

Anyone reading the blog post going along with the announcement searched in vain for meaningful distinction from other L2s. All they got instead was buzzword bingo. The only thing close to a value prop is their comment that they want to explore profit-sharing mechanisms - because that worked so well with royalties 🤷

Takeaway: If Sony wanted to make a splash they should focus on their IP blockchain patent and start getting in on the Story Protocol beef.

Story Three

Balaji's Network School 

Balaji, Jesus for white e/acc enthusiasts in their anti-nation-state arc, has announced  a pop-up city on an island near Singapore to teach about the core ideas from his book "The Network State." In it, he describes building a sovereign nation, starting with an online community that eventually buys land. 

The 90-day experiment will kick off later in autumn; thousands have already applied. Lectures will include topics like digital nomadism and the role of cryptography in strengthening democracy. 

In case you wonder whether you're part of the target audience, you qualify if you agree that: 

• BTC will succeed the Federal Reserve.
• AI has better opinions than US courts.
• Legacy institutions suck, and I have no respect for them. 

It also helps if you can afford to sustain yourself financially there or at least work remotely. People with real jobs like doctors, teachers, or plumbers do not need to apply. Sorry Mario and Luigi. 

Takeaway: If anyone else was getting people together for a 90-day indoctrination event on an island, it'd be called a cult, and your friends would stage an intervention. So far, I'm failing to see how network states make a difference for the people who need them most. 

Fact of the week: If all this depressing talk made you crave a Happy Meal, I have bad news for you. McDonald's prices have surged, nearly doubling since 2014 across items. If you still don't want to give up on the Big Mac, consult the Big Mac index for the cheapest one, currently in Taiwan. 🍔

Naomi for CoinJar

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