Here’s what happened in crypto today
Today in crypto, Hyperliquid launched 4,600 Hypurr NFTs on HyperEVM, with one selling for over $460,000. Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov claims intelligence services wanted him to censor political content and ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood says Hyperliquid reminds her of Solana’s early days.Early Hyperliquid user sells airdropped Hypurr NFT for $467,000Early adopters of the perpetuals-focused layer-1 blockchain Hyperliquid were rewarded handsomely on Sunday after the Hyper Foundation finally airdropped the much-awaited Hypurr non-fungible token collection. At the time of writing, the Hypurr NFTs have a current floor price of around 1,458 Hyperliquid (HYPE), or $68,700, according to OpenSea data.However, there have already been eye-watering sales well above that range. The Hypurr #21 NFT with the extremely rare “Knight Ghost Armor” and “Knight Helm Ghost” traits went for 9,999 HYPE, worth $467,000, on Sunday. Pavel Durov claims French intelligence wanted Telegram to censor Moldovan election contentTelegram co-founder Pavel Durov claimed that French intelligence officers asked him to censor political content on the messaging platform related to the election in Moldova, which he refused to do.Durov said the officials approached him and indicated that if he censored the content, they would put in a good word with the judge overseeing his legal case in France. He wrote in a Telegram post on Sunday: “The Telegram team received a second list of so-called ‘problematic’ Moldovan channels. Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments. We refused to act on this request.”Durov has routinely been critical of the French government and the European Union for pro-censorship policies, and his case continues to be watched by the crypto community and online free speech and privacy advocates.Cathie Wood: Hyperliquid ‘reminds me of Solana in the earlier days’ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood has compared Hyperliquid to Solana’s early-stage promise, calling it “the new kid on the block.”“It’s exciting. It reminds me of Solana in the earlier days, and Solana has proven its worth and is, you know, there with the big boys,” Wood said during a recent interview on the Master Investor podcast.ARK Invest currently holds three main crypto assets in its public funds, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL). The firm’s exposure to Solana is through Breera Sports, which Wood clarified is tied to the Solana treasury and supported by Middle Eastern investors. She also noted advisory ties to the project through economist Art Laffer.Wood did not confirm any position in Hyperliquid but described the protocol as one to watch. Her remarks come as competition between perpetual futures DEXs has been heating up after Aster launched a token earlier this month and saw its trading volume and open interest surge past Hyperliquid.