Having A Gas: This Week In Crypto Pop Culture, January 7-11

It’s Friday, January 11, everybody! If you’re like me, you’ve spent your week thinking back to your first pack of Pokémon cards in celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the game’s US release. (My first pack had a hologram Machamp. I was hooked immediately.) But for those of you who may have been Digimon stans, ETHNews is here with a roundup of some of the lighter stories in the crypto and blockchain world in this week’s edition of Having A Gas.

What’s Your Sign?

Everyone handling this week’s shift into a new moon Capricorn phase alright? As a moon sign Sagittarius, it’s been a nightmare for me. As a sun sign Capricorn, my backbone, knees, and skin have never been better. As a rising Scorpio, well, we don’t have to get into that mess.

If you want to apply some mysticism to your cryptoeconomics, we’ve got you covered. ConsenSys design strategist Andrea Morales released version 1.0 of a cryptoeconomics tarot card set this week. The card set is an introduction to how developers design cryptoeconomic systems, and presents a tangible way for designers to think about the sustainability of the economy of their crypto systems.

The crypto community seems tailor-made for tarot card representation. Just look at the characters of the standard Major Arcana tarot set. The Magician … Ethereum has those. The Emperor … I think we know who that is. The Lovers … SpankChain offers a certain kind of love. The Fool … there might be too many of those to list.

Do You Even Lift, Bro?

A video posted on reddit this week showed two arm wrestlers, each with rubber bands keeping their phones attached to the backs of their hands. This isn’t your standard arm-wrestling match: The competitors each try to move their own phone’s front-facing camera over a QR code that, when scanned, transfers money from the loser’s account to the winner’s.

While the two wrestlers may or may not be wagering with virtual money, the video prompted some commenters in the Reddit thread to wonder if this type of competition could be a new use case for cryptocurrency.

Part of me doesn’t see this taking off as a use case, mostly because it seems to actually work.

Another part of me could see this becoming a popular trend. Being able to #hodl means you’re lifting, right? I can already see a #litf movement forming, where incredibly buff crypto traders challenge one another to arm-wrestling matches.

Talk about proof of strength.

The Great GWei in the Sky

This week, The Block published an article highlighting CoinAgenda’s Media Showcase, an event that hosted 15 crypto and blockchain startups, each looking for funding in the midst of a crypto winter. The event was held at Mike Tyson’s former Las Vegas mansion, which featured in the first “Hangover” movie.

While the tech startup crowd mingled, a Pink Floyd cover band played a “rousing rendition” of the band’s hit “Money,” according to The Block.

But this wasn’t your normal cover band. It featured Pink Floyd’s actual saxophonist, Scott Page. The band’s guitarist, Kenny Olson, moonlights as a member of Kid Rock’s band.

First: Oh, that sounds so utterly sad.

Second: Is your band a cover band if some of your musicians are members of original famous musical groups? Sounds more like a super group that’s too “over it” to write any originals.

Third: Wow, Pink Floyd is the perfect band for the crypto crowd when you think about it. A group of white men complaining about the government? And who could forget hits like “Comfortably Node?” Or their 1979 magnum opus “Another Brick in the Blockchain?”

Okay, those aren’t real song or album titles, but they did say “Money, it’s a gas” way before Ethereum came along. That’s got to count for something.

That’s it for Having A Gas. Join us next week, and remember, [insert clever catchphrase here]. 

Nicholas Ruggieri studied English with an emphasis in creative writing at the University of Nevada, Reno. When he’s not quoting Vines at anyone who’s willing to listen, you’ll find him listening to too many podcasts, reading too many books, and crocheting too many sweaters for his dogs, RT and Peterman.

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