Ep 180: MALWARE, serious tech news from unserious people. 1) $PNUT, the Peanut The Squirrel memecoin 2) McDonalds x Doodles Collab 3) Polymarket FBI Raid

[00:00] Malware is a non-technical look at the tech news of the week. This is a podcast where we learn together about everything from crypto to AI to whatever comes next in tech. I'm Natasha Hoskins. I'm Dina Burke. And this is Boys Club. Wait, is it just Boys Club? It's just Boys Club. [00:18] The boys club podcast. No, no. [00:20] Just boy stuff. [00:21] Welcome to Malware. Malware is serious tech news from unserious people. We have a stand-in co-host today, Blake Finucane for Natasha Hoskins. Blake, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here with someone I love and adore and so look up to and am inspired by every day. Blake, you're too kind. You're really too kind. I love you. It's just the truth. Just a little lore on Blake for folks who don't [00:48] know her. Blake is the host of the Context podcast, which is a Boys Club podcast. And she is entering into season four of that, which is very exciting. And she has some very great guests coming up. Blake is, I think you're the smartest person when it comes to NFTs and art. I do think, I know that you're making a face, but I do think that. So for the listener, Blake got [01:18] 2018? I wrote about crypto art in 2018 with my master's thesis. So before really NFTs, I did not use the term NFTs in my paper because it was just happening at that time. What terms did you use? Like crypto art. There's a lot about Bitcoin, obviously, like rare Pepe's at that time, but it was really just like crypto art, Bitcoin art at that point.

[01:42] and you are our historian as well. [01:45] That is true. [01:46] So just in terms of, you know, that famed, fabled intersection of art and technology, I do think that you're right in the middle of it. You're right in the center point. And so I am just always so proud of you and always love to the opportunity to get to say that to people all the time when I'm with you and we're meeting new people. [02:16] collectibles or AI art, AI and art, any, anything in that intersection, um, [02:22] you should go listen. And Blake, you did a great job briefing me on a couple stories on today's podcast. [02:28] Thank you so much. It was a joy to dive right in. We covered the peanut story, peanut the squirrel story. We covered the McDonald's and Doodles collab. And then we finished up with the Polymarket, Shane Copland, founder of Polymarket Raid on his home. So that's what you can expect in today's show. And Blake, thank you so much. It was a pleasure doing this with you. You're going to have to do it. You will have to do it again soon. I can't wait. I'm ready. [02:53] All right. Enjoy the show. [02:56] Hey, Natasha. So a question we get asked a lot is, what do you look for in a crypto platform? So let's talk about it. Well, Dina, I look for a secure, no fuss platform that I can dive into right away. That's why I love today's sponsor, Kraken. If you're waiting for the right time to get into crypto, Kraken makes it super easy and intuitive to get started. Plus, if you get stuck, they have an award-winning client support team that's available 24-7, along with a bunch of educational guides, articles, and videos to help you along the way. If you're ready to check

[03:25] to trade crypto, go to kraken.com backslash boys club. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers through Payward Interactive, Inc. [03:38] Should we start with... [03:39] Peanut the squirrel. Let's do it. I can't wait. [03:43] Cointelegraph announced earlier this week that Donald Trump had become the largest holder of peanut spelt. [03:49] P N U T just for those wondering. Now the tweet has since been deleted. It seems like he is not a holder at all. There's a lot of debate. [03:59] However, this tweet led me down an absolute rabbit hole that I must share with you. So, [04:05] Peanut is a meme coin named after Peanut the Squirrel. [04:09] Who is that? [04:10] Now, an animal conservationist [04:12] And... [04:14] Only fan content creator. Of course, you have to have both. Get yourself a man who could do both. This is the beautiful duo we all look for. His name is Mark Longo, aka his content creator name, [04:26] Squirrel Daddy. [04:28] He rescued Peanut, the squirrel, because he said he could it couldn't survive on its own. And this squirrel became a social media sensation, like hundreds of thousands of followers. It even slept in its own bedroom. And after receiving complaints, authorities from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Health raided Longo's house the Wednesday before the election and euthanized squirrels. [04:52] So, [04:53] Longo documented this all on social media, on Twitter specifically, but

[04:58] This squirrel became a conservative icon. J.D. Vance called Peanut the Elon Musk of squirrels and said that Trump was fired up over the animal's death. The official Twitter account of the GOP House Judiciary Committee posted about it. Elon Musk posted and reposted over [redacted address] Journal ran an opinion piece as an example of abusive government, quote, abusive government. Now. [05:25] let me tell you that on november 7th after trump's win [05:29] Peanut, the meme coin. [05:31] P-N-U-T was at $0.09. Eight days later, I tried to take the most up-to-date price. It is at $2.08. [05:42] So it is rolling. I obviously think the Trump news, fake news, whatever you want to call it, really helped. I think it is representative of politics, crypto, memes, social media all coming together. There is no more modern of a story for industry than Trump. [06:02] Peanut the Squirrel. Okay. My experience of Peanut the Squirrel, my introduction to Peanut the Squirrel was on that Wednesday. [06:10] - Mm-hmm. [06:12] Elon Musk and everyone was tweeting about it. And it was... [06:16] It was one of those things where I was like, I'm going to draw a line. [06:20] And this is the line that I will not be crossing. I'm not going to get involved in this story. I'm not going to get involved in what's happening with this squirrel. Everything I'm seeing about the squirrel is against my will. I do not understand why there is a squirrel in the culture war. And I am not going to find out. You ever reach your limit with something? And you're like, this is something that I'm just not going to consume. Absolutely. And lucky for you, I crossed your line here on the podcast.

[06:50] Well, no, I appreciate getting briefed by someone who this is a safe space for the briefing. But yeah, I certainly didn't want to learn about it from Elon Musk's crazy person. Yes. Yes. Okay, so I was like seeing everything about it. And the youth in his day, I didn't know about the OnlyFans part of the story. Hilarious. So, [07:06] That happens, Peanut dies, has been immortalized in this meme coin. [07:12] The Donald Trump wallet part of it. Tell me a little bit more about what's happening there. Like that's fake news or it's real. I didn't even know he had a wallet. Yes. So there was a Cointelegraph screenshot that they tweeted out saying that he had become the largest holder and he held about one point three seven percent. And since then, the tweet has been deleted. People are saying that that's not true. That was incorrect information. [07:42] come out with a statement about it. Again, because of Trump's involvement with his own project, he does have public wallets, but it seems like people were confused. So... [07:56] that's kind of where the story is at the moment. And I mean, this got like a lot of play. Taylor Lorenz, which is one of my favorite newsletters, she wrote about it. She wrote a whole newsletter about it. She included the Trump wallet in there. So it's really crossed over into non-crypto media, so to speak. Of all the stories to cross over. Of all the story. And that's the thing.

[08:26] creator as well and do and the stories about them how compelling they are we did breeze over that part but i think you cannot you know he's using this as a promotion for his only fan for him honestly good for him is it explicit uh only fans content i do believe it is i um i actually don't have an only fans accounts nor did i i did look at his instagram though i did look at his instagram [08:56] as promotion. [08:57] Sure. [08:58] Yeah. As any good entrepreneur would. Yes, exactly. Things move from drop shipping to OnlyFans to crypto and it just it works as like a circle. What a brutal pipeline that is. It was listed on Binance, right? I think that was also part of the mania around it. Yes. So it was listed on Binance on November 10th on Monday and it surged 300 percent [09:23] since then, but it's really, really taken off in the last couple days. Do you have any? [09:29] I do not. I do not. It really is like it confirms the thesis, the idea that the dumber the better. With meme coins. [09:39] 100% and just like symbology storytelling meaning making you can make anything mean. [09:47] something. And it's really, really easy to do that online where everything is flattened. [09:54] Thus, you can add to it anything you want. And, you know, again, I think because of the intense way in which meme coins move up and down and people continuously, continuously lose money. Of course, some people make it, but it just leads to that dream of making money even more. And I think this OnlyFans creator represents that so clearly, too. Yeah. He didn't start the meme coin, though, right? He did not.

[10:24] has been public about it. Oh, actually, no, I did. I did read something about this. Okay. One of the devs that started [10:31] it sold really early he like got like 700 or something crazy like that where it's [10:37] And I mean, I will just say, like, the amount of Dogecoin millionaires has increased 40% the week now. [10:46] the day of the election. So it went from about a thousand and 17 millionaires, i.e. people that hold a million dollars or more of those in their wallet to over fourteen hundred. [11:00] So the opportunity to make money off of these election coins or these political coins is so high. And I think to me, obviously, meme coins are they just represent so much more clearly a way to profit off of politics and media combined versus polymarket. It's just like it's such a it's like a pure way. And it's like the advanced way to do that. [11:30] Both Doge and Peanut represent that so clearly in terms of where we're going. So lucky us. Okay, let's move on. Let's do it. [11:45] So McDonald's and Doodles big collab announcement this week. Tell us about it. [11:52] So my favorite topic is

[11:55] NFTs, they're back. So on Tuesday, November 12th, McDonald's teased a Doodles collab. The collab was just a seven second video cartoon, a cartoon hand picking up a coffee cup. And there's an outline of a Doodle below it. Today, it's November 14th. [12:13] Doodles officially announced that they will be partnering with McDonald's for the holidays. There will be about 100 million limited edition cups. So it'll be McCafe, the coffee cups times Doodle holiday cups. It will be Doodles imagery all around the cups. And it will actually say Doodles on the cups too, which I actually think is really, really huge. I think one thing for people who might not know, maybe a little just context. [12:43] I would say original big character [12:46] NFT projects. So it was released by two people who originally worked for Dapper Labs in Vancouver. And Vancouver shout out. You can't help yourself. And so it was really, really, really well received. They went through a lot of iterations. Again, I don't want to say exactly the highest price that it reached because right now it is at around 2.5 ETH, but significantly higher than that. [13:16] over 700 million dollar valuation so they've had money to sustain themselves through the [13:21] quote unquote bear market. They have really pivoted to be an entertainment company. That's what they've wanted to brand themselves as. They put in the former president of Billboard as their CEO. And it's like little funny animated cartoon guys. Literal doodles. Colorful pastels. Really

[13:51] So they've really moved into that side of things. They've released music with Pharrell, with Lil Wayne, with Lil Yachty, with Coilerae. So... [14:01] really trying to expand obviously beyond Web3. It's been [14:06] And basically in terms of how the NFTs have related to doodles, it's really been you get early access to the music, things like that. And... [14:18] So the McDonald's, it doesn't necessarily on the surface really immediately relate to their entertainment kind of spin of things. I love it, obviously. I mean, you couldn't get bigger. And so... [14:30] Essentially, what they've officially announced is they've tweeted pictures of the coffee cups. You'll have the really cute doodle cartoons on McCafe coffee cups. 100 million McCafe coffee cups. [14:44] across the US. What we've also discovered is that you will also be able to through specifically ordering through the McDonald's app, which unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure of using maybe now that you will be able to access and stream the doodles movie. There's not full details release, but I do know they're working on a short film. And there'll be an exclusive collection of McDonald's times times doodles digital apparel for your doodles avatar. No, [15:14] real info on that doodles avatar and no mention of NFTs. - Okay. [15:20] So your avatar like in the McDonald's app or like on Twitter, where do you think if you were to guess?

[15:26] Good question. I don't know how the McDonald's app works. If there's like an identity component to it, maybe you'll be able to have your identity dresser little doodles avatar in your app. I know that it is collectible in the sense that it seems like you'll be able to collect several different outfits. And there will also be a limited edition run of physical merch showcasing some of the doodles characters. So I also wonder, I mean, Pudgy Penguins does this if... [15:55] There was the idea that Doodle's owners are able to put forth their actual Doodle to be featured so that they can kind of gain a following for that particular one. I'd be interested in the licensing and IP aspect of all of this, too. [16:11] It's so interesting. It's clearly... [16:14] a huge win for doodles huge huge distribution at a scale that i don't think any other web3 company has [16:22] seen at least in America, maybe overseas, there's been some other examples, but certainly in America, 100 million cups on all the kiosks. That's a crazy amount of eyeballs and attention that I don't think we've seen that scale yet. So huge win for doodles. I guess when I'm in McDonald's, [16:39] seat. [16:40] I... [16:41] And... [16:42] wondering like why they would do this kind of like it feels like [16:48] I guess... [16:50] the IP is really strong in that the visuals are really cute and there's these characters that people identify with, but it's not as though they have recognition outside of the bubble that we're in. And so for their customers, seeing them, seeing these characters,

[17:04] there's not like a warm and fuzzy that they'll feel. And so, yeah, I'm just like, it's an interesting move from McDonald's. [17:10] And maybe it's just like experimentation, but it's experimentation at a at a [17:14] scale that is pretty, pretty big. Yeah. And I wonder, I mean, I think the only thing that maybe could be compared to this is the Pudgy Penguins getting in Walmart and having a feature kiosk in Walmart, the feature pallet in Walmart. Very different experience, obviously. Yeah. But what it seems like the people from McDonald's have said is Doodles is an entertainment brand [17:41] We chose them because they're an entertainment brand. I wonder if McDonald's is also wanting to move in and experiment with Web3, and this is the beginning of some larger tests. That's the only thing that really makes sense to me, and building your identity in-app through Web3. [18:00] these collectibles that maybe make sense and and the idea of I mean it's way cheaper for McDonald's than you know giving Happy Meal toys like if you can get something digital true that just makes so much sense from an identity and just from like a consumer perspective with kids and and you know having that loyalty there so I wonder if it's that you know I go oh my gosh you know kids could collect things move them into Roblox like there's just so many things that you can do on the [18:30] that you cannot do anywhere else. So it makes sense that McDonald's would be exploring it. It's really interesting that they're doing it with doodles. I know, you know, they're incredibly connected in terms of who works for them with Julian and, you know, the whole team there.

[18:44] I can see it. I mean, I have an eight year old and he will collect anything that he can. I have always felt like a little disconnected from the... [18:53] fashion collectible product or experience because it's just not something that I've ever personally wanted to do. But with kids, I'm like, totally, I totally see it. He would do anything he could to get stuff into whatever he felt like his wallet was. So yeah, that part of it makes sense. If McDonald's is like, okay, is this the new frontier for how... [19:12] we want to be thinking about rewarding or surprising and delighting a certain new kind of consumer. I guess it's like it just still goes back to me where it's like it is an entertainment brand for sure. And I think it's a really strong entertainment brand. I just there's no. [19:25] there's no recognition of it. And so... [19:28] it's trading then on the strength of these little characters yeah for mcdonald's and that's really great and that's i think a huge testament to the ip that they've built doodles but it's crazy it's it's [19:39] A huge win for them. I'm really happy for that team. I know it's fantastic. And just in terms of the actual price action, it has doubled since the announcement. So it's been sitting at like 1 to 1.4 ETH-ish. And it's now at around 2.5. So... [19:56] When it comes to the actual NFT holders, I also wonder how they will be impacted or how they will be involved, if at all, and how that piece will be brought in. Do you hold a doodle? I have held doodles. I do not hold one now. Hmm. [20:11] I sold, I know. And I never sell. I never sell. And, uh,

[20:17] Yeah, and now I regret it, but here we are. See, that's why I don't sell. [20:23] You can't lose or win if you don't sell the motto. Exactly. [20:27] you [20:28] It's time for a more open, inclusive, and transparent financial system. A system that serves nearly everyone, everywhere, all the time. That's why we love today's sponsor, Kraken. Kraken is a crypto platform that provides a super simple on-ramp to the world of crypto with a 24-7 support team. Crypto transcends physical and imaginary borders. No matter where you are, you can send funds easily and quickly to almost any part of the world. Plus, forget about waiting times and waiting lines. You can send, receive, and trade crypto anywhere near instantly. [20:58] kraken.com backslash boys club not investment advice crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to us customers through payward interactive inc no third-party transfers available [21:10] All right, I'm going to be briefing you on... [21:12] Shane Copland, founder of Polymarket, raided in his home by the FBI in the early hours, 6 a.m. on Wednesday, November 13th. [21:24] They [21:25] took his electronics, like took his phone and no charges were filed and he's gone free. But that happened. At first, the story was, okay, the news broke that he was raided. They took his electronics. Everyone's freaking out. He sends this very edgelordy tweet that says new phone, who dis, which is well done for Shane. And everyone loved it. Not being shy about that it happened. And immediately kind of the discourse around

[21:52] this [21:53] Story is that polymarket called the election and [21:57] correctly last week and this is political retribution for that for being somehow in bed with the trump campaign or for somehow manipulating the results or whatever so [22:15] That was kind of the discourse that started swimming around. [22:17] Then there were a couple of people that were like, I don't know that [22:22] a judge would [22:24] sign off on [22:26] arrayed [22:27] for [22:28] calling the election correctly. Like that doesn't really make sense to people who are really familiar with the justice system where they're like, I don't know, that doesn't seem like enough, really. And there's not really anything there. And today, there's more news that has come out, which is basically that in 2022, there was a settlement with the CFTC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that was basically like, [22:53] polymarket was operating in the US. They weren't registered. [22:57] And they can't do that. You can't run a betting company operation in the US without a certain number of registrations and complying with. [23:06] the regulations and the laws. And so the CFTC was like, you got to stop doing that. In 2022, they [23:11] settled, they paid a 1.4 million fine and they were like, we are not going to offer our services to US customers anymore. And so now the speculation is basically like that the Department of Justice is investigating whether or not that they have violated that settlement and have been letting US users place bets on their platform. And...

[23:31] So that's kind of how things have shifted today where people are like, actually, I think this is actually what they're looking at. I don't know that it's exactly political retribution, but certainly the story on crypto Twitter are all saying that Polymarket is just being scapegoated. And I don't know that that's exactly like. [23:50] good faith reasoning. Yeah. Do you know where was he in Miami and San Francisco? He was in New York. He was in New York. Okay. Yeah. Got it. It is kind of like [23:59] It is an open secret that Americans use. I mean, I use Polymarket. I use it on the show. Oh. [24:05] I said, I will say it openly and loud. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe they're going to come rating me next week. But people use it in the US for sure. But they, I will say, and I've never seen any comms from them that have encouraged people in the US to use it. I think they've been pretty careful since then, but people definitely use VPNs to... [24:25] trade. [24:26] Of course. And I mean, I think this all speaks to just the power of polymarket. I think it speaks to how relevant [24:33] the company has been. I think people outside of quote unquote crypto, Twitter, whatever we want to call it, have really understood, OK, wow, you know, Polymarket was so dismissed before the election. So I think it also just speaks to the influence. People are still trying to understand this tool and what it represents and what it can tell us. And I think that the raid points to that

[25:03] I agree. I think it will be interesting to see where they go from here. I think the presidential election market was by far and away their most popular and biggest market on the site. Made headline news all over the place. Totally, constantly, every day. And I do kind of wonder where they go from here. I mean, certainly sports is right there, but I don't know that that is enough because there's a lot of other competitors in the sports category, certainly, that people are used to betting [25:33] whatever it is. So I don't know what happens next, but I think it's a fascinating company. And I think it's a fascinating product. And I know there's a lot of hand wringing and like pearl clutching around the morality of betting. And I think that those are all valid conversations and interesting conversations also to have. But it's incredible to watch its rise. [25:52] is there a topic that you think you would... [25:55] be inspired to bet on next? I bet on the election market. I lost. I bet Kamala to win. Alas, I would have lost as well. There were some really good odds there for a minute that I was like, really pumped about. But lost that one. I had bet also on the market of Trump going on [26:13] Joe Rogan. [26:14] Yeah, and I won that one. So it seems like the next move will be... [26:20] heading into the cultural side of betting, playing odds in some way. [26:26] What do you think? Yeah, I have actually been texting a lot with Evan McMullen about this and we've been talking about a Polymarket Netflix show, which I think is totally possible. So I think the reality TV

[26:41] side or possibilities with polymarket are there right because you need a binary you want it to happen at a moment in time there is insider trading stuff that can happen with reality certainly certainly but it's it's a little bit mitigated by like they're trying to keep the so I think [27:03] betting on the outcomes of reality TV, [27:06] is it possible? And that's like one layer. But I think there's another layer, which is [27:11] interactive [27:12] like live betting on [27:15] a show, a new type of show format. Maybe it's dating, maybe it's a dating show, maybe it's not, maybe some sort of other reality TV news type of survivor thing where Polymark is actually integrated into the show. Like X Factor is a British example, but like the fan sort of participation element was a big part of that show. And you're like, you're dialing in, but you can see sort of a version of that with a Polymarket type thing. So [27:41] I see it. Don't you? [27:42] I love that idea. First, I thought you meant Netflix show, i.e. following Polly Market Betters, and I thought I'm tuning into that. I don't know who they are, but I'm there. I also think of streaming. Yeah. [27:58] integrating into twitch or a crypto native streaming app which i think we're still waiting for i've seen some deals come across [28:06] my desk around [28:08] crypto integrated streaming apps but i think that's a big idea and betting on streamers playing video games what they'll do obviously there's so many issues around that when it comes to you know there's issues everywhere we look like here is there issues everywhere you're right you're right but i think i think um live streaming is a huge opportunity for betting as well which is just another version of you know live streaming on netflix yeah

[28:37] Yeah. Be interesting to see where they take it. [28:40] super super interesting all right thank you blake thank you for having me so fun so so fun