- The Department of Justice was yesterday roundly mocked for taking down an exchange that no one in crypto had heard of
- The DoJ had promised a “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action” which ad crypto worried
- Relief was mixed with amusement when it the reality was made clear, resulting in a meme festival
The Department of Justice (DoJ) was mercilessly mocked yesterday after its “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action” resulted in the closure of a Russian crypto exchange no one had ever heard of. Yesterday at noon, the crypto world was expecting action against a known target such as Binance, but instead the five-person top-tier panel announced that it had shuttered Russian exchange Bitzlato due to money laundering. This resulted in a spectacular meme festival the likes of which hasn’t been seen in some time.
Meme Festival Starts as Bitzlato is Revealed as Target
When the DoJ pulled a Justin Sun and made an announcement of an announcement earlier in the morning, revealing that a five-person panel, led by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, would be announcing major enforcement action in the crypto space, the crypto space was understandably worried. The Bitcoin price, too, dropped $1,000 on the suggestion that a large exchange such as Binance or Coinbase was in trouble.
However, when news broke that Russian site Bitzlato was the target, the response was unbridled hilarity. The fact that Bitzlato was used by illicit darknet sites to the tune of $1 billion, and the fact that the authorities didn’t actually criticize cryptocurrencies at all, was ignored as the jokes and memes began to pile in.
Here we present a collection of the best:
This conference sounds like the US government will protect us from even more airdrops
— Livercoin (@Livercoin) January 18, 2023
Enough is enough
Can we have one week without a black swan? pic.twitter.com/Rs7TqfwRDa
— DonAlt (@CryptoDonAlt) January 18, 2023
All 6 of Bitzlato users are in disbelief
— Jason Choi (@mrjasonchoi) January 18, 2023
DOJ pic.twitter.com/ccdN3Aarl8
— Hsaka (@HsakaTrades) January 18, 2023
— Cope (@Timccopeland) January 18, 2023
DOJ caught a big one today, excellent work 🫡 pic.twitter.com/JtijSbk9MA
— db (@tier10k) January 18, 2023
The US government congratulating itself with fanfare over a complete nothingburger is so cringe. Reserve your livestreams for when you take down Jump and arrest Kanav, please.
— FatMan (@FatManTerra) January 18, 2023
DOJ with bitzlato pic.twitter.com/jVv3rZSt3W
— red (@redxbt) January 18, 2023
Someone tell the DoJ that 7 figures crime in crypto is called a regular Wednesday. https://t.co/zpV6LcLrpW
— Dylan LeClair 🟠 (@DylanLeClair_) January 18, 2023
“Massive blow” lmao yeah show them tiger
— //Bitcoin 𝕵ack 🐐 (@BTC_JackSparrow) January 18, 2023
It can’t be ignored that part of the outpouring of joy also brought with it another emotion – relief. The next time we might not be so lucky.
