‘Ello lads. Twitter seems to be on everyone’s minds beyond Elon's buy. Binance accidentally rolled out swastika emojis on the platform 😰 and has been sharing client data with the Russian government 🐍 😬. 

In other news…Why Netflix is taking a huge L in the streaming wars 🙀, and $34 million of ETH locked up in a codebase because someone counted wrong 🙈. 

Somehow Binance didn’t realize its “hashflag” (those emojis tied to particular Twitter hashtags) included a literal swastika. Of course, Twitter was pissed, and Binance quickly rolled back the design. But the emoji seems to be the tip of the iceberg for the crypto exchange 🧊🐧.

Reuters claims that Binance’s head of Eastern Europe and Russia agreed to share client data with Russia’s financial intelligence unit, an arm of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB’s successor agency 🕵. In particular, Russia wanted to trace transactions linked to Alexei Navalny, the currently-jailed opposition leader to Putin’s government.

Supposedly, Binance has been building ties 🤝 with the Russian government to grow its business in the country for a while — which it hasn’t denied, stating that it’s “actively seeking compliance in Russia.”

On the other hand, the exchange said it's no longer actively engaging with the Russian government due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, and also mentioned that it is limiting service for major clients in Russia. But… Binance is still operating in Russia, and its trading volumes have boomed in the country since the war began 🤦.  Keep in mind, other major payment players such as PayPal and AmEx have halted service in the country.

Cya on the flip side? ✌

Events Calendar & Updates

🔮 Upcoming 

• Product Radio x Cheres Team: Join us on Discord on Sunday, May 1st at 4pm EST where we'll be chatting Cheres product roadmap, our learnings, and where you can share your own thoughts, feedback and chill with the product team.

🧓🏼 Passé 

• Unofficial hangs with Boysclub.eth on Spaces: Alongside Ladies Get Paid, we chatted with Boysclub.eth on investing in stocks, cryptos,

• Web 3 Familia x Cheres: We spoke to Web3 Familia in Spanglish on our personal journeys in investing.

Cancel FOMO — keep up with the Cheraverse on Twitter, IG, and TikTok.

Quick News Bites

Another week, another exploit… another fortune down the drain 💸🚽We can all learn a lesson from the AkuDreams and BAYC debacles: like any other investment, do your research before throwing cash into random web3 projects. Oh bb, you were out this weekend and missed the drama? Np 🙊. 

AkuDreams lost 11,539 ETH, worth about $34MM, because of a few lines of bad code. For the technically inclined out there, someone messed up good ‘ol increment logic and locked the ETH into the AkuDreams smart contract 🔒. Neither individual users nor the AkuDreams team can access the money, according to crypto developer/researcher @0xfoobar. And while the AkuDreams team said that they’re working on unfreezing the contract, it’s doubtful that the money will ever be recovered, according to a deep dive by Twitter user @0xInuarashi.

Bored Ape Yacht Club's Insta and Discord were hacked on Monday (reminder to use 2FA and unique passwords!). The hacker posted a fake link on both platforms, claiming that people could mint land in the BAYC “OthersideMeta” metaverse. A lot of people took the bait 🎣, with 54 NFTs stolen and transferred to the sus wallet.Before we go, let’s pour one out 🍻 for the Aku community. The team seems to be doing everything they can to refund folks + more, and plenty of Akutar holders are doing the most to support each other. Best of luck, friends 👼.

Netflix is losing the streaming wars. Bad 💀 The streaming wars are getting aggressive. It feels like you have to sub to every service to keep up with the latest, like Hulu’s The Kardashians and Disney+’s Moon Knight. Trad networks are also getting in on the action with exclusive livestreams, like NBA TV League Pass 🏀 (Dub Nation, anyone? 🌉). Unfortunately, Netflix is struggling to keep up. Last week, the stock dropped 40% after announcing 200,000 subscribers lost in Q, the first net decline in subscribers they’ve seen in a decade 📉. Netflix said the decline can be attributed to:

• Less people getting smart TVs

• Password sharing

• Increased competition with trad TV and other streaming platforms

• Shuttered service in RussiaOfc, we have a spicy take on the sitch 🌶: The two biggest problems are exclusive content and market saturation.

📽 Exclusive content.Netflix is (comparatively) new to the production space, and heavy hitters like Disney are spending a fortune on TV production budgets. Big media companies also already own, or have the funds to buy the rights to, popular franchises such as “The Office” and “Friends,” which means they can snatch popular content from Netflix.🌎

Market saturation.Super understated part of the equation. Everyone and their mother (and grandmother!) has a streaming subscription nowadays, so there isn’t much room for subscriber growth. Plus, higher subscription prices, crackdowns on password sharing, and less compelling content leads to greater subscriber churn in a landscape full of competition.

🔥Hot Person Tip🔥: Disruptors only have an advantage as long as competition hasn’t caught up.