In this episode of Crypto Curious, your hosts Tracey, Blake, and Craig round up all the latest news that’s happened in the crypto industry the past few weeks.

Elon Musk’s recent Twitter buy-out has sent ripples of excitement through the crypto community and given Musk’s pet-project Dogecoin a significant boost. Some people think Musk might integrate Dogecoin as a way to tip Twitter users, something former CEO Jack Dorsey already implemented for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The move has also been somewhat controversial, prompting some users to speculate on whether Musk will reactivate the accounts of users banned for political reasons.

Stripe has announced it will help freelancers and merchants receive payments in the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, the second-largest stablecoin after Tether (USDT). This is a great way for non-crypto users to get involved in the sector, and make it easier for merchants to receive money from foreign sources.

After refusing to sanction Russian users for the past few months, Binance has finally succumbed to pressure and blocked Russian citizens and companies that have over 10,000 euro in their accounts. To add fuel to the fire, Binance then launched a new Twitter emoji that inadvertently looked like a swastika. Naturally, the PR meltdown was intense and Binance quickly took the logo down but not before someone pointed out that it was launched on 20 April - Adolf Hitler’s birthday!

And in some local news, two Australian Bitcoin ETFs and an Ethereum ETF received approval last week and could begin trading in as little as seven days. The most anticipated Bitcoin ETF, from Cosmos Asset Management, is expected to attract $1 billion in inflows. The second Bitcoin ETF and Ethereum ETF have been launched by 21Shares in collaboration with ETF Securities.

And finally, NFTs are back in the news after the newly minted MoonBirds NFT project attracted $280 million worth of liquidity after launching last week. In addition, Yuga Labs launched its Bored Ape Yacht Club metaverse project ‘The Otherside’, in which users can buy virtual land using Apecoin (APE) tokens. The launch controversially required buyers to submit know-your-customer (KYC) information, a financial regulation that many decentralised community members are against.

Listen to the full episode for more NFT news about the NBA Top Shots project and Solana’s recent Okay Bears launch.