Strange, but true: 5 outlandish and weird crypto stories of 2024

While 2024 will likely be remembered as crypto’s coming-of-age year, with spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds launched in the United States and the industry winning support from once-skeptical politicians, don’t be fooled — the weird and wacky world of crypto hasn’t gone away. 

Here are some of the craziest crypto stories from 2024.

The FBI created its own shitcoin

In May, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) created a fake AI-related token to catch fraudsters engaged in market manipulation.

The “trap token,” NexFundAI (NEXF), was designed to act as bait, targeting people engaged in fraudulent cryptocurrency activities, particularly pump-and-dump schemes. 

The FBI, masking as scammers, told traders it wanted help in manipulating the token’s trading volume to fool investors into believing that NEXF was more popular than it was.

At least 18 people have been charged from the FBI’s sting operation.

The FBI may have engaged in copyright infringement, as the source code it used wasn’t licensed, Rikka Law managing partner Charlyn Ho told Cointelegraph.

Source: Cygaar

But the FBI would probably be fine if an action were brought against it in court, as the MIT license it used was “broadly designed to give people broad rights to use the software.”

TruthorDare dev sets himself on fire

There’s a reason why crazy stunts are best left to the professionals. 

In a May 22 livestream gone horribly wrong, TruthOrDare (DARE) memecoin developer Mikol made his friends douse him in isopropyl alcohol and then shoot fireworks at him to gain attention for his memecoin.

The end result was third-degree burns over his face and his body, multiple days spent in the hospital, and a hefty medical bill.

The livestream quickly turned into chaos when Mikol was hit with the barrage of fireworks, setting him alight as he screamed in pain. Another person then told the cameraman to “stop recording and start helping.”

— Meags.eth (@DogeGirl420) May 22, 2024

The stunt did, however, capture the attention of some memecoin traders, pushing DARE’s market cap above $370,000 a few hours later, DEX Screener data shows. It reached a high of $450,000 about two weeks later but has since tanked below $50,000.

Over $3,000 was raised from an apparent GoFundMe fundraiser to assist Mikol with his medical bill.

Mikol says he is no longer performing TruthOrDare stunts for memecoin clout and is instead focused on improving himself and his relationship with god.

“I just wanna make it out the trenches like you. I just wanna be happy and successful,” Mikol posted to X on Oct. 4.

“I just wanna be consistent with god and be a positive human being with an outgoing personality that puts smiles on peoples faces. Life gon hit you hard but lords know i’ll never give up.”

13-year-old rug pulls on livestream, but traders get last laugh

Solana-based memecoin Gen Z Quant (QUANT) soared to a $70 million cap shortly after its 13-year-old creator seemingly rug-pulled the token on Pump.fun’s livestream feature.

The school kid sold all his 51 million QUANT tokens live for around $30,000 while celebrating on Nov. 20 as the token plummeted.

But other traders had the last laugh, bringing the token back from the dead and profiting massively from a near 77,000% price pump while the 13-year-old was left with his comparatively measly fortune. 

This Kid creates and rugs $QUANT for $30k while live streaming the whole thing 😂😳 pic.twitter.com/xdptttHeJz

— Gordon (@AltcoinGordon) November 20, 2024

One trader made a 2,141x return worth nearly $1 million on their QUANT investment.

QUANT soared to a high of $0.08 on Nov. 21 with a market cap of over $70 million but later fell below $1 million as the novelty wore off, DEXScreener data shows.

It didn’t end there.

The kid then created another coin called “Sorry” and reportedly dumped those tokens again, making over $20,000.

Tron’s Justin Sun eats a $6 million banana taped to a wall

Tron founder Justin Sun paid $6.2 million at a New York auction for an art piece consisting of a banana taped to a wall in November — which he has since eaten.

“I’ve bought the banana,” Sun wrote on X on Nov. 21. “This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.”

Source: Justin Sun

Sun peeled back the banana skin and took his first bite in front of an audience on Nov. 29, revealing that it had a rather unique taste:

“To be honest, for a banana with such a back story, the taste is naturally different from an ordinary one.”

Many friends have asked me about the taste of the banana. To be honest, for a banana with such a back story, the taste is naturally different from an ordinary one. I could discern a hint of what Big Mike bananas from 100 years ago might have tasted like. 🍌 pic.twitter.com/Sz6zaePGpv

— H.E. Justin Sun 🍌 (@justinsuntron) November 29, 2024

French baguettes or Monero: Hackers leave Schneider Electric with two options

The Hellcat crime organization showed off its humorous side when it hacked electronics firm Schneider Electric in November and asked for a $125,000 ransom payment through one of two options: $125,000 worth of Monero (XMR) coins or $125,000 worth of tasty French baguettes.

“To secure the deletion of this data and prevent its public release, we require a payment of $125,000 USD in Baguettes,” Hellcat said, according to a screenshot captured by Cyberscoop from Hellcat’s Tor-based website, which has since gone offline.

“Failure to meet this demand will result in the dissemination of the compromised information.”

The Hellcat group’s statement on its onion website has since gone offline. Source: Cyberscoop

However, later, Hellcat apparently asked to be paid in the privacy-focused Monero coin, the currency that Picus Security researcher Hüseyin Can Yuceel said Hellcat likely actually wanted to be paid in.

Related: 9 of the weirdest crypto projects, from Dentacoin to Cthulu

“Ransomware is a business model, and we can think of this bizarre baguette demand as a marketing stunt,” Can Yuceel said in a Nov. 6 Forbes report.

“[Hellcat is] trying to get attention and establish trust for future victims and associates for a possible ransomware-as-a-service operation,” Can Yuceel added.

Schneider Electric didn’t respond to questions from Cointelegraph about whether it paid the ransom.

Other crazy things that happened in 2024

Infinex founder Kain Warwick and Bankless co-owner David Hoffmann also fought, with Hoffman winning in a unanimous decision.

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