Enron headquarters (Greg Smith/Getty Images)

Enron 2.0

Birds aren’t real, and neither is the Enron relaunch

What we do know: the guy behind “Birds Aren’t Real” is involved and there’s probably a cryptocurrency coming soon.

12/2/24 4:00PM

Enron posted an obscure hype video on X on Monday morning, alluding to “growth,” “change,” and “rebirth,” kickstarting speculation about what’s going on with the bankrupt energy company now.

We're back. Can we talk? pic.twitter.com/9kt4g0Q84Z
— Enron (@Enron) December 2, 2024

I reached out to Enron’s PR team and a representative from media-strategy firm Stu Loeser & Co. replied, saying that they would have “more to share soon — including a big announcement in the energy space,” matching language seen on the company’s site:

But if you scroll the site, it feels… off. First, all mentions of “energy” are obscure at best, and the rest of the company’s listed values (Energy, Nurture, Repentant, Opportunity, and Nice) are accompanied by descriptions that are more whataboutisms than substance. Additionally, while Enron’s site has a careers page, where you can add your email address to get updates on job opportunities, the employee profiles on the page appear to be fake.

A reverse image search of “Aaron,” an HR manager at Enron, shows that it’s a stock photo from Getty Images.

The site’s terms of use also states: “THE INFORMATION ON THE WEBSITE IS FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTED PARODY, REPRESENTS PERFORMANCE ART, AND IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.”

Who would relaunch the Enron brand under what appears to be a misleading (at best) website, and why? On the second point, it just feels like a crypto play, reminiscent of when Alex Mehr and crypto influencer Tai Lopez bought the rights to the RadioShack brand and tried to launch a cryptocurrency exchange called “RadioShack DeFi,” using the RadioShack X account to draw attention to their new project. (They have since sold the brand rights to UniComer Group, an El Salvadoran retail group that opened the first RadioShack in the Latin American county in 1998.)

One thing pointing in the direction of Enron’s relaunch being crypto-related is the message under the hype video warning readers that “this is the final tweet in this thread,” and any other posts below from impersonators are scams. These messages are common on virtually every big crypto account on X, such Trump’s World Liberty Financial. It’s interesting to see the Enron account lead with this despite no other mentions of cryptocurrencies.

pic.twitter.com/5iNscOdW12
— Enron (@Enron) December 2, 2024

Enron’s site also has a page for “decentralization,” saying: “True innovation doesn’t ask for permission. Decentralized technology is advancing, and we will of course have a role to play in its future. We couldn’t be more excited to show you, but until then please stay vigilant and avoid falling for scams. When we announce something, you’ll know.” Again, we have a vague “energy-related” announcement coming from a company that’s excited about decentralization and is warning its X followers about scam links, and an “Enron” LinkedIn page already posted a now deleted link to an Enron meme coin on Sun Pump.

I feel pretty confident that seven days from now, when the timer on Enron’s site hits zero, we’ll get a press release saying that Enron is launching a Web3 energy trading product on the blockchain. Or something like that.

My next question was who is running the Enron account, and the answer appears to be Connor Gaydos, the cofunder of “The College Company.” According to Enron’s Certificate of Incorporation, shared with me by the company’s comms rep, I saw that Gaydos is the sole incorporator of the business, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. According to its LinkedIn, The College Company “creates and operates clothing brands in the United States,” and it has served “notable names such as Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Kacey Musgraves, Brockhampton, and more.”

The College Company had owned the Enron trademark since June 2021, allowing it to legally sell merchandise with the Enron logo, and that trademark is now owned by Gaydos’ new Enron Corp. (For those curious, The College Company also owns one other trademark, “Birds Aren’t Real,” alluding to a Gen Z conspiracy theory that birds are government agents.)

Basically, Gaydos formed a new Delaware corporation, “Enron Corporation,” transferred the ownership of the Enron trademark to this new organization, and is now planning to launch something in the “energy space,” that, given the context clues on its X account and website, is almost certainly going to be a cryptocurrency.

If it feels like we’re entering a Golden Age of Grift, it’s because we probably are. I for one am excited for the launch of Enron Coin.

Sage D. Young15h

XRP tops 24-hour chart on South Korean crypto exchange

XRP is among South Korea’s favorite coins.

In the last 24 hours, XRP saw the highest trading volume on South Korean exchange Upbit at over $105.3 million, a figure exceeding bitcoin’s $102.6 million, ethereum’s $62.9 million, and dogecoin’s $27.7 million, data from CoinGecko shows.

Meanwhile, spot XRP ETFs saw $5.3 million worth of inflows on Tuesday, bringing monthly inflows to more than $65.3 million, according to SoSoValue.

The activity has not, however, translated into positive momentum for the token, with XRP remaining flat at the $1.43 level in the period.

Prediction market-implied odds of XRP rising above $1.50 in May (a level that hasn’t been surpassed in over two months) now stand at 70%, up from as low as 9% at the start of the week.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

XRP returning to Upbit’s leadership position in trading volume follows the news earlier this week that Ripple’s prime brokerage unit secured a $200 million debt facility from global investment management firm Neuberger Berman to aid with the unit’s margin financing solutions.

Elsewhere, the XRP Ledger notched a new record of 332,000 addresses holding at least 10,000 tokens, worth $14,300, per data analytics platform Santiment. “Historically, rising numbers of mid-to-large wallets suggest increasing conviction from investors who are less focused on short-term price swings and more interested in long-term positioning,” Santiment posted Tuesday night on X.

“This is especially notable because XRP has spent much of 2026 trading below previous highs, meaning many holders appear willing to accumulate during fear rather than chase momentum,” Santiment added.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

16h

CLARITY Act could help reshape bitcoin’s narrative for second half of 2026

“Thursday isn’t the finish line, it’s the gate. A clean markup is what tells institutional capital it’s safe to come off the sidelines.”

EL SALVADOR-ECONOMY-CRYPTOCURRENCY-BITCOIN

$6.75B

Sage D. Young5/12/26

Cryptocurrency theft has become a huge source of state revenue for North Korea.

Between 2016 and early 2026, threat actors linked to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have stolen ~$6.75 billion across 263 documented incidents, security services provider CertiK estimated in a report published Tuesday morning.

The data likely falls short of the actual magnitude, as hundreds of smaller exploits against individuals and early-stage projects remain underreported.

“DPRK actors have consistently targeted humans and supply chain weaknesses rather than smart contract code vulnerabilities,” the report stated. “Across nearly a decade of operations, their primary attack vector has rarely been code. It has almost always been people.”

For example, North Korea’s more than $270 million exploit on solana-based protocol Drift was six months in the making. It involved Drift contributors physically meeting in multiple industry conferences across several countries with people claiming to be part of a quantitative trading firm.

DPRK actors who siphoned $625 million from the Ronin network in 2022 also used a social element: an exploiter impersonated a job recruiter on LinkedIn and provided a fake offer to an employee at Sky Mavis, the firm backing Ronin, through a PDF infected with malicious spyware.

“They are state employees executing a strategic mandate with the full backing of a nuclear-armed government. Their persistence, resources, and willingness to invest months in a single operation reflect institutional incentives that no criminal enterprise can match,” the report added.

“The fundamental challenge remains: North Korea has weaponized cryptocurrency theft as an essential revenue stream for regime survival. Until that incentive structure changes, the threat will persist and evolve.”

Last month, the decentralized finance ecosystem saw 28 hacks, the highest monthly number of exploits ever, totaling $635.2 million, with the largest coming from ethereum-native protocol KelpDAO.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Bitcoin breakout?

5/12/26

Bitcoin’s bull-bear cycle signal turns green

When the indicator moves out of bear territory and enters the early bull zone, it often suggests that the worst phase of the correction has already passed and that market structure is beginning to recover, according to one analyst.

Sage D. Young5/11/26

BitMine, the largest ethereum treasury firm, will slow down pace of accumulation

After acquiring more than 5.2 million ethereum tokens, worth $12 billion at current prices, BitMine Immersion Technologies announced it will dial back its weekly buying.

The company commands 4.3% of the total supply of ethereum and will likely meet its target of 5% this year.

“If ETH closes above $2,100 at the end of May 2026, this would be the third consecutive monthly gain — this has never been seen in a crypto bear market,” according to BitMine Chairman Tom Lee. “Thus, a close above $2,100 would validate ‘crypto spring’ has arrived,” Lee continued in a statement.

Meanwhile, SharpLink Gaming, the second-largest ethereum treasury company, announced a nonbinding agreement with Galaxy Digital to roll out a $125 million liquidity fund that will deploy capital into on-chain yield strategies.

“This marks an extension of our treasury strategy into more active strategies, aimed at providing sustainable term structures to great projects,” SharpLink CIO Matthew Sheffield said in a press release.

SharpLink also released its Q1 earnings results Monday morning, reporting total quarterly revenue of $12.1 million and a net loss of $685.6 million, below analyst expectations, “primarily driven by non-cash unrealized losses and impairments offset by net realized gains.”

In other ethereum ecosystem news, Ronin, a gaming-based blockchain known for Axie Infinity, will be migrating on Tuesday to a layer 2 network on ethereum. Ronin was previously exploited for around $625 million by North Korea’s Lazarus Group in March 2022.

Birds aren’t real, and neither is the Enron relaunch

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