## This Week in Crypto: (1) McDonald’s is Now Accepting BitCoin · (2) Coinbase CEO goes on rant · (3) NFTs continue to make billions This $h!t just got real. ![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2912/0*FyVV05vALc0l3Diu.jpeg) Happy hump day, friends. *Let’s talk.* ## McDonald’s ### [McDonald’s now accepts Bitcoin, but only in El Salvador](https://cointelegraph.com/news/mcdonald-s-now-accepts-bitcoin-but-only-in-el-salvador) > *El Salvador’s recognition of Bitcoin ([BTC](https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price)) as legal tender has opened up new payment options for its citizens, with fast-food empire McDonald’s reportedly accepting payments in the cryptocurrency through Lightning Network.*

Just walked into a McDonald's in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no.

But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I'm enjoying my desayuno traditional! pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U
— Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) September 7, 2021

As the expression goes… *this $h!t just got real.* ### [McDonald’s Starts Accepting Bitcoin In El Salvador](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/09/07/mcdonalds-and-panda-express-accepting-bitcoin-in-el-salvador/?sh=6005a75a3e2d) > *California-based bitcoin payment processor OpenNode confirmed to *Forbes *it has formed a partnership with McDonald’s to allow it to begin accepting bitcoin (*Editor’s Note: *OpenNode earlier told *Forbes *that Panda Express was also using bitcoin, but has since said that was an error and we have clarified the piece).* > *Bitcoin can now be used to pay at all 19 McDonald’s locations in the country, as well as online and through the delivery app, OpenNode said.* > *Though this appears to be the first major American company to adjust to El Salvador’s cryptocurrency initiative, OpenNode spokesperson Ryan Flowers said his team is “currently onboarding multiple multi-billion dollar businesses based in El Salvador.”* ### [I have a feeling that the biggest news today is not El Salvador, but big retailers like McDonald’s and Starbucks accepting Bitcoin](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/pjw9ir/i_have_a_feeling_that_the_biggest_news_today_is/) In this thread, some think it is a test for things to come from our governments/the establishment, whereas others view it as the emergence of the sovereign individual. ## CoinBase ### [CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong goes on a (passive aggressive) rant against the SEC. Here’s the full transcript!](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pk36ip/ceo_of_coinbase_brian_armstrong_goes_on_a_passive/) We don’t want to fill up this entire post with the transcript, so click the article to read it if you feel so inclined. Otherwise, it’s what you expect: big daddy government getting in the way as they try to get their share. ## NFTs ### [Teen Artists Are Making Millions on NFTs. How Are They Doing It?](https://time.com/6093982/nft-art-teens-money/) > *Jaiden Stipp was watching a Star Wars movie at his afternoon youth group in Tacoma, Washington, last March when the bids started coming in. First it was a fragment of an Ethereum coin, worth about $300 at the time.* > *Then it was more. Eventually Stipp — who is 15 years old and will soon be starting his sophomore year of high school — sold his artwork, a [digital illustration](https://superrare.com/artwork-v2/forever-colored-19780) of a waving, astronaut-like cartoon figure, for 20ETH. (That converted to over $30,000; it was traded a month later for nearly $60,000.)* > *“My dad was like, ‘No way this is actual money,’” Stipp says. “It seems like it’s a lot of fake money being passed around. So we took some of the money out just to see what’s actually real. And then at the bank. I was like, ‘Whoa.’”* This is a long article with too many good tidbits to share them all. If you want to get into the NFT market, don’t skip this one. ### [NFTs Boom Anew as DOG Coin Becomes $550 Million Asset Overnight](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-03/nfts-boom-anew-as-dog-coin-becomes-550-million-asset-overnight) > *The frenzy for [digital artwork](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-02/day-trading-army-goes-all-in-on-nfts-as-meme-stock-mania-ebbs) is breaking new ground as one of the Internet’s best-known memes gets turned into a near $550 million asset overnight.* > *The DOG coin — a fraction of the non-fungible token depicting the famous Doge meme — has doubled in value in less than 24 hours of trading, according to CoinGecko [data](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/the-doge-nft). That makes it one of the most valuable NFTs yet.* No, they’re not referring to [DOGE](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dogecoin). We were confused for a second there too. It’s [DOG coin](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/the-doge-nft). There will be many more similar assets to come. ### [CryptoPunks blasts past $1 billion in lifetime sales as NFT speculation surges](https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/28/cryptopunks-blast-past-1-billion-in-lifetime-sales-as-nft-market-goes-wild/) > *Back in April, [I wrote about a platform called CryptoPunks](https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/08/the-cult-of-cryptopunks/) that — at that point — had banked more than $200 million in lifetime sales since 2017. The little pop art pixel portraits have taken on a life of their own since then. It was pretty much unthinkable back then but in the past 24 hours alone, the platform did $141 million in sales, a new record.* > *By the time you read this, the NFT platform will have likely passed a mind-boggling $1.1 billion in transaction volume according to crypto tracker [CryptoSlam](https://cryptoslam.io/). With 10,000 of these digital characters, to buy a single one will cost you at least $450,000 worth of the Ethereum cryptocurrency. (When I sent out this newsletter yesterday that number was $300k)*

When I published this back in April, the cheapest CryptoPunks were $30k, today the cheapest one available for sale is just shy of $300k https://t.co/X4iTSl6FjC
— Lucas Matney (@lucasmtny) August 27, 2021

> *It’s not just CryptoPunks either; the entire NFT world has exploded in the past week, with several billions of dollars flowing into projects with drawings of monkeys, penguins, dinosaurs and generative art this month alone.* > *After the NFT rally earlier this year — culminating in Beeple’s $69 million Christie’s sale — began to taper off, many wrote off the NFT explosion as a bizarre accident. What triggered this recent frenzy?* > *Here’s some advice from Figma CEO Dylan Field who sold his alien CryptoPunk earlier this year for 4,200 Eth (worth $13.6 million today).*

Just getting into NFT’s? Welcome!! It’s a fascinating world and this is just the very start :)

My unsolicited advice: exercise caution + restraint. There are a lot of speculators in the space right now. Buy things you love / plan to hold forever and don’t expect prices to go up!
— Dylan Field (@zoink) August 28, 2021

### [Utah Jazz launch revolutionary NFT-based virtual locker room](https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/07/utah-jazz-launch-nft-virtual-locker-room/) > *The Jazz will be the first professional sports team in the world to offer access to a virtual locker room via NFT. Team owner Ryan Smith says the opportunity is as important for the Utah community as it is for the team’s more tech-savvy fans.* Everyone. Everything. Soon, our dogs, mothers, and even our mental health will have and be their own NFTs. ## Old News to Revisit ### [Atari Is Building a Casino in Ethereum’s Virtual World Decentraland](https://decrypt.co/60721/atari-is-building-a-casino-in-ethereums-virtual-world-decentraland) > *Atari is launching a crypto casino in crypto-powered “metaverse” Decentraland next month.* > *The casino will feature Atari-themed games, and 88% of the profits will go to a Decentral Games DAO.* *Metaverse Alert.* ## Miscellaneous ### [The strategy I learned from this sub is actually making me lose money. Where is my mistake? Help!](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pk6usf/the_strategy_i_learned_from_this_sub_is_actually/) > *When the price was sufficiently high, I bought some and waited for the price to go down. I sold. After quick math, I noticed I was at a loss — must have been fees.* > *I decided to try with a larger amount and there just happened to be ADA ATH. I bought. Then crash. I sold.* > *I did exactly like you said and I’m somehow losing money? Wtf, reddit??? I don’t know, I’ll try a couple more times, but that’s it!* > *Is “buy high, sell low” even a real strategy? Has it worked for anyone? And don’t tell me I should have gone with the “DCA” joke!* **Our two cents:** *This guy needs to learn to HODL.* ## Pour Conclure **TL;DR*** — Buy crypto, and Mint and/or Trade NFTs.* *Oh, and remember to HODL.* Checking out. Your Pal, **The Gopher** ### P.S. You’re early. Don’t fret if you feel like you’re missing out on the gold rush. It hasn’t even started. **Disclaimer:** None of this is to be deemed legal or financial advice in any way, shape, or form. You are reading opinions from an anonymous news publisher in Cartoon Gopher Format. **Questions & Comments:** Please feel free to ask questions and leave comments as it relates to Crypto, Blockchain-Tech, NFTs, & Web 3.0 — or if you’d just like to say hello — I want to hear from you! **Connect With Us:** [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Gopher_Gazette) · [Gab](https://gab.com/gopher_gazette) · [BitClout](https://bitclout.com/u/Gopher_Gazette) **Publications:** [Medium](https://medium.com/@gophergazette) · [Steemit](https://steemit.com/@gophergazette) **Visit Our Groups:** [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/2891924347690930) · [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/gophergazette/) · [Minds](https://www.minds.com/groups/profile/1276925523934580744) · [MeWe](https://mewe.com/group/61251560edd4c720d87a0717) **Recommendations:** [MetaMask Wallet](https://metamask.io/) · [CoinGecko](https://www.coingecko.com/en)