5 strange and surprising crypto stories of 2024

In the year Although 2024 will be remembered as the coming year of the crypto age, with spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchanges opening in the US and the industry gaining support from once skeptical politicians, don't be fooled – the weird and wonderful world of crypto hasn't gone away.

Here are some of the craziest things of 2024.

The FBI created its own shitcoin

In May, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) created a fake AI-based token to catch fraudsters involved in market manipulation.

The “trap token” NexFundAI (NEXF) is designed to trap people involved in fraudulent cryptocurrency activities, particularly pump and dump schemes.

The FBI, masquerading as fraudsters, told traders it wanted help controlling the token's trading volume to fool investors into thinking NEXF was more popular than it was.

At least 18 people have been indicted by the FBI.

Charlene Ho, managing partner of Rica Law, told Cointelegraph that the source code used by the FBI was not licensed and thus may have engaged in copyright infringement.

But because the MIT license it used was “broadly designed to give people broad rights to use the software,” the FBI's action could be fined in court.

TruthorDare dev set himself on fire

There's a reason crazy shows are left to the professionals.

In a May 22 live stream that went horribly wrong, TruthOrDare (DARE) memecoin developer Mikol had his friends douse him in isopropyl alcohol and then set off fireworks to get attention for the memecoin.

The end result was third-degree burns on his face and body, spending several days in the hospital and heavy medical bills.

The live stream quickly turned into chaos as Mikol was hit by a firework and knocked out of his head as he screamed in pain. Another told the cameraman to “stop filming and start helping.”

Divvy just set himself on fire with only a 160K market cap for the coin?!

He is now in the hospital and Telegram V.C

Real ❤️$ courage on the blockchain

HMGTHjie38diyPjEUWC5fgf8xsYfgFoRJfDCs37iDxtP pic.twitter.com/7jqRhOJAJN

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

However, the gains caught the attention of some memecoin traders, pushing DARE's market cap above $370,000 after a few hours, DEX Screener data shows. It hit a high of $450,000 two weeks later, but has since fallen below $50,000.

More than $3,000 has been raised from a GoFundMe fundraiser to help Mikol with his medical bills.

Mikol said he is no longer doing the TruthOrDare stunt for the memecoin clone and is instead focused on improving himself and his relationship with God.

“I want to dig holes like you. I want to be happy and successful,” Mikol posted on X on Oct. 4.

“I want to be consistent with God and be a person with a positive attitude that puts smiles on people's faces. Life will hit you hard but lords know I never give up.”

A 13-year-old carpet pulls the live broadcast, while traders get the last laugh.

Solana-based memecoin Gen Z Quant (QUANT) has soared to $70 million shortly after its 13-year-old creator pulled the trigger on a Pamp.fun livestream feature.

The school boy While celebrating November 20th, he sold his 51 million QUANT tokens directly for $30,000.

But other traders had the last laugh, bringing the token back from the dead and making huge profits from the 77,000% price pump, leaving the 13-year-old relatively wealthy.

This kid created $QUANT for $30k while live streaming everything 😂😳 pic.twitter.com/xdptttHeJz

— Gordon (@Altcoin Gordon) November 20, 2024

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

QUANT rose to $0.08 on Nov. 21, with a market cap of more than $70 million, but fell below $1 million as the new stock wore off, DEXScreener data shows.

It didn't end there.

The kid then created another “sorry” coin and reportedly won over $20,000 by tossing those tokens again.

Tron's Justin Sun ate a $6 million banana posted on a wall

Tron founder Justin Sun paid $6.2 million at a New York auction in November for an artwork featuring a banana on a wall — and then ate it.

“I bought the banana,” Sun wrote on X on Nov. 21. “This is not just a work of art; It represents a cultural event that brings together the art, meme and cryptocurrency community.

The Sun unveiled the banana skin and took its first bite in front of an audience on November 29, revealing a distinct taste:

“To be honest, for a banana with such a background, the taste is naturally different from the usual.”

Many of my friends have asked me about the banana flavor. To be honest, for a banana with such a background, the taste is naturally different from the usual. I was able to catch a glimpse of what Big Mike's Bananas looked like 100 years ago. 🍌 pic.twitter.com/Sz6zaePGpv

— HE Justin Sun 🍌 (@justinsuntron) November 29, 2024

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

The Hellcat criminal organization showed its comic side when it hacked electronics company Schneider Electric in November and demanded a $125,000 ransom with one of two options: $125,000 in Monoro (XMR) coins or $125,000 worth of sweet French fries.

“We are seeking a payment of $125,000 in Baguettes to secure the deletion of this data and prevent its public release,” according to a screenshot taken by CyberScope from Hellcat's Tor website.

“Failure to meet this demand will lead to the spread of corrupted information.”

However, Hellcat later asked to be paid for the privacy-focused Monero coin, which Picus Security researcher Hussain Khan Yucel Hellcat may have actually wanted to be paid for.

Related: 9 weirdest crypto projects, from Dentacoin to Cthulu

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

“[Hellcat is] I am trying to gain attention and build trust in ransomware-as-a-service for future victims and partners,” added Khan Yucel.

Schneider Electric did not respond to questions from Cointelegraph about whether it paid the ransom.

Other crazy things that happened in 2024

A crypto user fingered a whopping $90,000 fee for a 2,000 Ether (ETH) transfer, while many in crypto took their beef from X to the boxing ring.

One of the most high-profile matches was with Ben “Beatboy” Armstrong, who called “Extra Light” – the creator behind the HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu memecoin – in February. He then battled another crypto influencer, Ansem, in Dubai on December 6. The match ended in a draw.

Infinex founder Cain Warwick and the bank's owner David Hoffman also battled, with Hoffman winning by a unanimous decision.

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