While much of the mainstream media decided against running pranks this year due to the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis — the crypto community decided to have some fun anyway.
One of the earliest, and funniest, was CoinMarketCap listing ‘Toilet Paper Token’ as the number one cryptocurrency above Bitcoin — the circulating supply, naturally, was ‘out of stock’.
Satoshi predicted the COVID-19 outbreak
CryptoPotato broke the news that Satoshi Nakamoto predicted the coronavirus outbreak in the original Bitcoin whitepaper. It was a pretty convincing story too, thanks to a cleverly fabricated image of the ‘introduction’ to the whitepaper where Satoshi argues the economic system can come to a standstill “in times of severe economic recessions or by the outbreak of a novel virus”.
But they happily admitted the story was fabricated at the end.
Craig Wright is Satoshi #1
Trust Wallet tweeted simply that Aussie Craig Wright has been confirmed as Satoshi Nakamoto .... before admitting in the next line it was just a joke.
Craig Wright is Satoshi #2
Finance Magnates broke the news ‘Craig Wright Victorious in Kleiman Case After Signing with Satoshi’s Key’. They wrote: “Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur Dr. Craig Wright has been granted a victory in the Kleiman v. Wright case after he was able to provably send a transaction from one of the Bitcoin wallets known to belong to Bitcoin creator ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’”.
The only issue with that gag story is that if Wright somehow manages to prove he is Satoshi, he’ll probably lose the case as Kleiman’s family already accepts Wright is Satoshi which is why they want to claim half of Satoshi’s billions.
Satoshi holds an AMA
ChangeNow took the opportunity to announce an Ask Me Anything, featuring Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitfinex energy drink
Bitfinex introduced a new energy drink with remarkable likeness to Monster energy drink, except with the famed green claw marks replaced with green candle wicks. Some Twitter users liked the idea and said they would happily buy the drink if Bitfinex did decide to follow through.
Bitcoin never sleeps so why should you?
— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) April 1, 2020
Introducing The Bitfinex energy drink, coming soon! 😎 pic.twitter.com/srec6JQXlh
Pornhub launches crypto
BeInCrypto reported that Pornhub was launching its own cryptocurrency called PORN which uses the novel ‘Proof of Jerk’ consensus algorithm. Given this sounds exactly like something Pornhub would do, it’s probably more a prediction than a joke.
But some ‘prank’ stories might be true…
Showing just how weird crypto can be, it was hard to tell what was real and what was a gag on April Fools Day.
Satoshi created Monero?
The Monero Outreach Organization released an article on April 1st, stating that new research showed the famous Bitcoin creator had also founded Monero. The article discusses the similarities between both coins’ whitepapers in terms of word use and image style. Although the story has been reported as fact by numerous crypto publications, it certainly seems pretty fishy to announce anything Satoshi-related on April Fools Day.
Binance to buy CoinMarketCap?
Many initially thought the news Binance was acquiring Coinmarketcap for $400 million was an April Fools Day gag. Whether it’s true or not, CZ commented on Twitter how his feed had blown up as a result.
My Twitter feed today:
— CZ Binance 🔶🔶🔶 (@cz_binance) March 31, 2020
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