Crypto influencers started a joke about wrapped Ethereum (WETH) losing its peg and becoming insolvent over the weekend, causing a brief panic within the community.
The joke started on Nov. 26 when blockchain developer Cygaar tweeted that WETH was about to become insolvent and that they would bail out anyone at a rate of 0.5 ETH for one WETH.
אכטונג: WETH איז וועגן צו זיין ינסאַלוואַנט.
איך וועל באגרענעצט בייל אויס ווער עס יז וואָס האלט WETH מיט אַ קורס פון 0.5 ETH פּער WETH צו ראַטעווען דעם פּלאַץ. איר קענט מיר דאַנקען אַמאָל די קריזיס איז אַדווערטייזד.
— סיגאאר (@0xCygaar) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
Other popular Ethereum advocates also joined in on the joke. Anthony Sassano, popularly known as sassal.eth, tweeted that someone he trusts told him that WETH would collapse. He, therefore, advised anyone exposed to be concerned.
Gnosis founder Martin Köppelmann האט the constant burning of עטה means that WETH is no longer fully backed, and there might be a bank run soon.
ווי ETH ווערט קעסיידער פארברענט אלנגעוויקלט ETH (WETH) איז ניט מער גאָר באַקט דורך עס. מיר קען באַלד זען אַ באַנק לויפן אויף ויסלייזן WETH.
— מארטין קעפּפּעלמאַן 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin joined in the joke, ווערטל WETH and WEF sounded alike.
פּערסנאַלי איך בין מער סאַפּרייזד אַז קיין איינער האט נאָך באמערקט ווי WETH און WEF געזונט אַזוי ענלעך. ניצן WETH, עסן די באַגז!
- vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
At the same time, Tron founder Justin Sun joked that he and Buterin would invest $2 billion into WEF to recover lost funds.
As a humble member of the crypto industry, I personnally have discussed with my BFF @ וויטאַליקבוטערין און צוזאַמען מיר וועלן ינוועסטירן $ 2 ב אין WEF צו צוריקקריגן אַלע די געלט. בלייַבן # SAFU! Stay strong! https://t.co/UmjtljyRNz
— ער דזשאַסטין זון🌞🇬🇩🇩🇲🔥 (@justinsuntron) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
Meanwhile, they soon clarified that they were joking, adding that WETH was as strong as ever and could not be affected by a bank run.
WETH is under no threat
א 27טן נאוועמבער Twitter thread from Ethereum developer Hudson Jameson explained the joke and why it was funny to the Ethereum community. According to him, WETH is a smart contract that accepts ETH in exchange for WETH, which is an ERC-20 token.
There are a lot of funny jokes today about WETH (wrapped ether) crashing or being insolvent. WETH is not in trouble, and I want to explain the joke for those who may have been worried seeing the tweets today.
- Hudson Jameson (@hudsonjameson) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
Since WETH operates through a smart contract, its price does not deviate from ETH, and a centralized exchange or group does not store it. This means a bank run can’t happen. He said:
“The WETH jokes today play on the fact that WETH is an ERC-20 token that is impossible to go insolvent (besides an unlikely contract flaw) and will always be backed 1-to-1 by the ether deposited by you.”
Did the WETH joke cause FUD?
While the crypto community joked about the WETH peg, Ethereum’s price fell by over 4% during the weekend, according to CryptoSlate data.
לויט Richard Heart, jokes about WETH depegging from ETH “could get the silliest of users rekt .”
There’s a joke going around about #וועטה depending from # עטה. All the big names are playing with it including vitalik. I am not because I don’t think joking about things that could get the silliest of users rekt is funny. Thus my jokes suck a bit more, but save more lives.
— ריטשארד הארץ (@RichardHeartWin) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
Mainstream publication Bloomberg News also געמאלדן that some analysts had raised concerns over wrapped Ether. According to the newswire, the concerns were raised from jokes on Twitter that falsely claimed wrapped Ether’s value depegged from Ether.
Dankrad Feist highlighted that outsiders not aware of the workings of ETH would not realize that “there is literally almost zero risk.” As such, he advised that such tweets should be clearly marked as jokes.
פילע מענטשן מאַכן דזשאָוקס וועגן WETH.
ביטע זיין אַווער אַז עס קען נישט זיין קלאָר ווי דער טאָג פֿאַר אַוציידערז אַז עס איז גאָר אַנדערש פון ברידזשד אַסעץ און עס איז ממש כּמעט נול ריזיקירן. איך טראַכטן עס וואָלט זיין בעסער צו צייכן די מער קלאר ווי וויץ.
— Dankrad Feist (@dankrad) נאוועמבער קסנומקס, קסנומקס
Source: https://cryptoslate.com/jokes-about-wrapped-eth-depeg-cause-brief-panic-on-twitter/