From Vitalik Buterin touting “degen communism” to a white paper from the Solana CEO for a token designed to operate through shortwave radio channels, here are some of the most outlandish April Fool’s Day gags that almost tricked Crypto X this year. 

BunkerCoin, a token transmitted through radio waves 

In an April 1 post to X, Solana CEO Anatoly Yakovenko announced the launch of a new Solana-based token called “BunkerCoin” which made light of the oftentimes over-complicated architecture of new cryptocurrencies.

Yakovenko claimed the new BunkerCoin token operated on “shortwave radio channels” and leveraged several complicated technologies, including ZkProofs, Groth16 proofs and a “Nakamoto-style longest chain rule.”

Overall, the post was a jumble of crypto-related buzzwords designed to prod fun at new tokens.

“If you are into mainstream adoption, pivot to bunkers,” wrote Yakovenko — a not-so-subtle reference to a similar post from All In podcast co-host Jason Calcanis on June 9 last year.

Degen communism, the only correct ideology: Vitalik Buterin

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made a prank of his own, writing a humorous blog post that declared “degen communism” — a light-hearted jab at memecoins — to be the only acceptable political philosophy for crypto.

According to Buterin, degen communism is a political ideology that “openly embraces chaos, but tweaks key rules and incentives to create a background pressure where the consequences of chaos are aligned with the common good.”

While the post overstates the importance of degeneracy and chaos, it comes back to an idea that Buterin mentioned in a March 29 blog post, where he talked about the need to make memecoins more of a positive force in financial markets.

Bankless co-host turns into a Solana maxi

In a more light-hearted attempt at humor, Bankless co-host and well-known Ethereum maximalist David Hoffman made a tongue-in-cheek announcement that he would be leaving the Ethereum ecosystem and joining forces with Austin Federa and Yakovenko at the Solana Foundation.

Hoffman jested that he would join the Solana Foundation as the "VP of Decentralization" — a subtle reference to a common criticism from Ethereum fans who often claim that Solana isn't as decentralized as ETH. 

Hoffman, a known Ethereum maximalist has long traded blows with Solana developers and enthusiasts alike — so a sudden switch comes across as deeply out of character for the Bankless co-host. 

Related: SBF speaks out after sentencing: ‘I never thought what I was doing was illegal’

The real April Fools? Pump and dumpers

One of the more questionable April Fools Day pranks, at least, according to Crypto X, came from an account associated with an Ethereum-based crowdfunding protocol called JuiceBox which claimed it had received financial backing from crypto venture capital firm Paradigm.

In an April 1 post to X, pseudonymous account Briliegh.eth — since made private — wrote that JuiceBox has secured a $69 million fundraising deal with Paradigm, sending the protocol’s native token JBX surging more than 45% to $0.0043, per CoinGecko data.

It took an hour for Briliegh to reveal that the post was an April Fool’s Day joke and the token retraced 25% to $0.0034.

The post — which was screenshotted and shared across X by several commentators — was met with backlash from users who took issue with the humor.

“Waiting an hour to tell the world it's an April Fools joke — CRIME,” said one user. “Jail,” wrote another.

A similar situation unfolded when “Sasha” the pseudonymous founder of the decentralized tech stack Waves announced that the protocol would be integrating with AI and replacing its “Waves” ticker with “AI.”

At the time of the announcement, the price of Waves (WAVES) jumped 5% before quickly retracing back to earlier levels. Several users failed to find the humor in the jest and declared it to be more akin to market manipulation.

“Is this [a] joke? Market manipulating,” wrote one user in response to the post.

Other notable mentions

BitMEX Research joked that Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's (GBTC's) outflows stood at $0. The post was poking fun at the previous high volumes of outflows from GBTC over the past few weeks.

It clarified the joke in a follow-up X post, sharing the real GBTC outflow on April 1 of $303 million.

The tomfoolery reached well beyond the more niche corners of crypto X, with Republican majority whip Tom Emmer using the day to take aim at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. 

In four separate posts to X, Emmer appeared to make several statements praising the SEC and its chair Gary Gensler before finishing his post with “April Fools!”

Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time