The Kidnapping of Ape #8398

Plus, Doop Snogg, and details about the upcoming Crypto Island Zoom Meeting

illustration of Detective Seth Green via Midjourney

Hi everybody,  

First off, thank you to everybody who bought a paid subscription after the last episode. It means a lot. I said this before, but, if anyone can’t afford a subscription, shoot me an email and I will hook you up.

This Friday, we’re going to do the first Board Meeting (basically, a Zoom where people can ask questions about the show and about what might be next for this podcast). Details on that at the bottom of the email.

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New episode!

Spotify | Lightly used Sasquatch Costume

My absolute favorite kind of stories to report are the ones that start with deceptively simple questions.

This is one of those stories. This time, the question was – why, last year, did so many celebrities start aggressively pitching NFTs to their fans?

I don’t want to say much more because I think this is one where, hopefully, the journey of the story is part of the fun. I guess I can say this is a bit of a heist story as well. 

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Something that made me laugh online

This was my favorite thing that happened on Crypto Twitter this month. A reporter at the NFT NYC conference noticed something unusual:

Kevin Collier @kevincollier

I'm at the NFT NYC conference again in Times Square, and Snoop walked by, flanked by security. I grabbed his handler, said I'm a reporter, would love a few minutes. The guy said actually that's an impersonator, legally can't say it's him, they hired him to drum up excitement.

Another person got a picture of the impersonator, the name tag is the part that makes it:

photo from @regiscake

I didn’t see anyone point this out, but I just want to observe that the company MoonPay is a crypto company that has raised a lot of money from celebrities, including the actual Snoop Dogg. MoonPay was one of the conference sponsors for NFT NYC (You can see their logo on the badge).

Which raises the possibility that Snoop Dogg has signed off on, or is at least aware of, the existence of Doop Snogg.

Life contains many tragedies. Here’s another: The greatest is that universe creates infinite mysteries, but we’re offered only a finite amount of time here. We can’t know everything. This tragedy should probably be known as The Doop Snogg limit.

Board of Directors’ Meeting

It’s happening. We’re going to do it as a Zoom. This Friday, July 1, at 1PM Eastern time. Anybody who is a paid subscriber to the newsletter is invited, you will get an email link that morning. (Also, if you want to be a paid subscriber but can’t swing it financially, as always, email me and we’ll figure it out.) 

Basically, any questions you have about Crypto Island, or crypto, or journalism, or storytelling, that I can answer, I’ll try to answer. 

Do I have to stay on the entire call?

Nope, you can log off anytime.

Do I have to talk or ask a question if I join the Zoom?

Of course not, you can just listen if you’d prefer. 

Will the call be moderated?

Yes! I am going to have a friend hosting and moderating the call. In the unlikely event someone is being rude, they can be muted or removed.

Do I have to be visible through my camera?

No of course not, you can have your camera off. 

I’ll send a link to paid subscribers Friday morning.

Thanks everybody. I always feel lucky to be here, doing this.

PJ