🍾 The Indian behind this NFT scam

Gm, this is the doodhwala, we’re the crypto newsletter that’s like a sandwich without the crust, the pizza with extra cheese burst, and the idli-vada with the sambhar dip.

We know how you like it 🫶

Here’s what we got on the menu for today:

• Hear the music in the air

• The Indian behind an NFT scam

• Chaach and Charts: Hello Solana, are you there?

• Milky Meme of the Day

FINALLY! The weekend is here

The Indian behind an NFT scam

This is Rikesh Thapa

(the dude on the right ofc)

He’s the CTO of an NFT marketplace called BlockParty.

Hold up what does BlockParty do:

Yeah, CTO stands for Chief Technology Officer, but in this case, it could also stand for Chief Taking-away-all-your-BTC officer (CTO).

Because that’s what our man Thapa just did.

Thapa is accused of stealing nearly $1 million in cash and 10 Bitcoins worth $172k rn.

And it was done in the funniest way ever:

• Thapa co-founded the company in 2017

• Thapa left BlockParty in 2019

• Thapa kept the company’s $1 million, 10 BTC, in his bank and crypto accounts

• Thapa stole the company’s native crypto ($BOXX), travelled to Europe, set up a meeting with investors, and sold them the BOXX tokens for cash. He even told them to keep their mouth shut so that the CEO doesn’t know.

🤣

I’m sure you have a few questions here.

Q. How tf did Thapa manage to keep $1 million which belonged to the company he was not a part of?

 Honestly, it’s quite funny.

He convinced his co-founders that he would keep the $1 million in his bank account for “safekeeping.”

He told them that banks might stop doing business with crypto firms, so it was a bright idea. 💡

And they fell for it. 🤡

I need Thapa’s negotiation skills to get out of writing an unfunny newsletter, and getting a real job. 😭

Q. How did he cover up everything?

He did the most dramatic thing eva!

He faked his Bitcoin trades. He faked his bank statements.

He even deleted his co-founder, the CEO’s email account.

This is some serious crazy ex-girlfriend energy.

🤪

Q. What did he spend his money on?

Like anyone who ends up with $1 million and 10 BTC which doesn’t belong to them, Thapa spent the money on:

• nightclubs

• travel

• expensive clothing

• doodh from cows grazing in the Swiss alps, listening to Mozart, and sipping some Chardonnay

Now, Thapa is set to be nabbed by the police and face 20 years in prison.

Let’s see if he can convince the judge to make him serve those 20 years in his mansion, just for “safekeeping” you know. 🙃

Doodhwala’s take: We’re with Mark Cuban here — if a founder is running around partying all the time and not putting in the work, be skeptical.

 🔥 When in PUNE, you gotta DECODE

StackOS Decode for yet another edition!

This time in Pune!

So if you're free on Saturday, 10th December then do drop by and be enlightened! 😇

Register here.

Hear the NFT music in the air

The NFT market has been on a CRAZY ride over the past few months.

It's been up, it's been down but mostly been UP.

Every kinda NFT is having its “Shahrukh Khan at Mannat” typa moment.

Solana NFTs, Tim Ferris NFTs, even freakin’ Cardano NFTs! 😅

Now…there is another type of NFT that’s slowly being brought to the spotlight:

Music NFTs! 🎵

Wtf is that? 🤷‍♂️

Cool but do we really need this? 😅

Traditional music models are a total joke. 🤡

Labels that just sign the artists are making a buttload of money while the artists themselves are left with spare change.

This model is worse than RCB’s winning record in the IPL finals. 🥲

More importantly, artists aren’t connected with their fans anymore.

We mostly hear new music when we see teenagers dancing to a new song in a 15-second Instagram reel. 🤷‍♂️

We don't know who the artist is or what the name of the song is.

Music NFTs change that.

It gives the artists better access to their fans and also a better model of revenue. 💰

And fans can also own a piece or the full IP of a song they love.

So what’s happening now? 🤨

Artists and fans are finally realizing the power of Music NFTs.

There have been more Song NFTs minted in the past month than ever before! 🤯

Check this dashboard for a Music NFT minting platform called sound.xyz!

Artists are releasing a high volume of music at a very small price or even for free and the fans are just gobbling it up!

With this artists get to:

• Expand their fan/collector base

• Create a powerful network effect

• Be featured by the doodhwalas everywhere

Pretty cool stuff. 😎

But it’s still worth remembering that most of the “bigger” artists or songs are not on this bandwagon yet.

Imagine how it will be when they do eventually realize the power of these Music NFTs. 🚀

Chaach and Charts: Hello Solana, are you there?

Solana.

The blockchain that has more stoppages than the FIFA World Cup, is down bad!

The total value moved on the Solana blockchain is down by 96% since FTX collapsed last month

*cue Indian dad saying, “why just 96% why not 99%?!” 💁‍♂️*

Most of the coins that are moving around on the Solana blockchain are:

• SOL (obvi!)

• SRM (the native token of the Serum DEX)

• ETH (wrapped version of ETH on Solana)

• Stablecoins (USDT and USDC)

Out of these 👆 SOL and SRM are down by 60-70% since October.

Ouch.

Can Solana bounce back like 🇦🇷 in the world cup? Or is it gonna crumble like 🇩🇪?

Milky Meme of the Day

If you want more doodh then, be sure to follow our Twitter (@DoodhwalaDaily)

That’s all for today bhaiyo aur bheno! Naale Sigona!

Aakash "Dahi Cheeni" Athawasya & Arvind "Doodh Peda" Krishna

Yo! Our legal and financial advisors (aka our good ol’ conscience) have asked us to add this boring disclaimer.

None of what you read here is financial advice. We aren’t here to get you to buy or sell a crypto. We’re only here to tell you what’s up in crypto today and make you laugh. So, if you screwed up on a trade, that’s on you G. Stay safe in the markets.