Digital Mischief-Makers Manipulated New York City's Canine Political Election
The crypto sphere recently added another grand achievement to its record: converting a joyful New York City dog contest into a mere online manipulation scheme for price inflation.
The Honorary NYC Dog Mayor Elections of 2024 aimed to be a light-hearted competition between affectionate canines. Pet owners register their furry friends for the contest, and then internet users vote for the cutest contender to be crowned the dog mayor of New York City. Essentially, it's like fantasy football, but with dogs instead of athletes.
However, according to the New York Times, crypto fanatics caught wind of the competition and inserted their manipulative greed. It appears that one of the adorable contenders, a Pomeranian named Bertram, or 'Bertie' as he is affectionately known, had a cryptocurrency named in his honor. Speculators allegedly started promoting Bertram enthusiastically, hoping to raise the coin's price if he won.
Olivia Caputo, an influencer and one of the dog owners, began noticing irregularities in the competition after observing the swiftly growing vote counts. In the quarterfinal matchup between Bertram and Ziggy the Yorkie mix, Bertram's vote count skyrocketed dramatically. This was following the breed's increased social media promotion and even incentives of payment for additional votes, Caputo claimed.
Caputo discovered a highly active public chat on Telegram, where she witnessed numerous hateful and violent messages directed towards her dog, Enzo. The messages contained threats of manipulating the platform to inflate the coin's price. Eventually, Caputo decided to withdraw Enzo from the competition, fearing her dog's reputation and the event's integrity. "I don't want my name associated with any price manipulation scheme," she stated to the newspaper. "It took all the fun away and devalued the whole thing entirely."
In the end, Bertram secured the most votes, but the competition organizers remained concerned that the competition had been rigged by web3 criminals. "I saw spikes in Bertram's votes according to certain times," said Stephen Calabria, the contest founder. "There were clearly irregularities. For example, blocks of 2,000 votes in a row. It went from neck and neck to Bertram winning by 96% or something."
Bertram graciously conceded victory to his rival, a cattle dog named Simon, eager to help restore some integrity to the competition. "Frankly, I imagined this as a light-hearted and wholesome competition," Calabria said to the Times. "It would serve to adopt shelter dogs and provide a platform for good causes. If I could hear the word 'crypto' never again, it would be a blessing."
Regrettably for Calabria, his hope to hear the word 'crypto' less frequently appears to be unrealistic. As we have previously mentioned, crypto supporters have recently experienced a series of electoral victories. As a result, the prevalence of crypto in this country is likely to expand further in the coming years, along with the industry's impact on U.S. financial policies. Despite increased regulatory scrutiny during the Biden era, the Washington Post has reported that president-elect Donald Trump is currently considering major crypto proponents for key financial regulatory positions. Several agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, may soon be led by officials with close ties to the industry, allowing it to expand its influence and control over financial regulations.
Trump has publicly expressed his intention to dismiss Gary Gensler, the current head of the SEC. Gensler has received criticism from the crypto community for doing his job effectively as a federal regulator. During his tenure, he investigated misconduct by crypto companies and sought to enforce reasonable legal requirements on an industry dominated by unrestricted financial activities that have drained billions of dollars from the American public. However, Gensler's critics have blamed him for being an overbearing bureaucrat, while in reality, they are facing the consequences of their own reckless actions. Democrat support for the crypto industry wavered until the FTX fiasco, which severely damaged the industry's reputation and prompted regulators to intensify their scrutiny of web3's apparent excesses and criminal activities. Today, Gensler announces that he may soon be leaving the SEC.
In summary, despite Calabria's wishes, we shall undoubtedly be bombarded with the term 'crypto' more frequently. With events such as this one likely to continue, it looks like the 'good times' have truly rolled for web3 enthusiasts and their manipulative schemes.
- As the future of finance evolves, there's an increasing expectation that technology, particularly in the form of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, will play a significant role.
- In the tech-driven world of today, the crypto industry's influence on financial policies is expected to expand further, potentially leading to more instances of manipulative schemes like the Dog Mayor Elections.
