Some members of the crypto community believe this could trigger a domino effect, with other countries potentially following Brazil’s lead.
Members of the crypto community expressed their frustration on social media on Aug. 30 after a Supreme Court justice ordered the suspension of X in Brazil.
“Brazil is absolutely nuts for banning X. But the US is equally nuts for attempting to ban TikTok,” Scott Melker, also known as “The Wolf of All Streets,” told his 959,300 X followers on Aug. 30:
https://x.com/scottmelker/status/1829627217409945856
Crypto community reacts negatively
Another user, “MrMoontastic.eth,” highlighted that “Brazil will not follow the bullrun news. Very sad.”:
https://x.com/Mr_Moontastic/status/1829629372845998325
One crypto analyst even commented on the importance of decentralized currencies such as Bitcoin following the announcement:
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
“I wonder if a decentralized, uncensorable, scarce, digital, global monetary asset might be useful for the world right about now,” Glassnode lead analyst James Check stated:
https://x.com/_Checkmatey_/status/1829646630729236665
“Is anyone building something like this?” Check added.
Meanwhile, tech lawyer Preston Byrne believes that if Brazil “succeeds” in its battle against X, other countries may follow its lead.
“If Brazil succeeds in beating X, the EU, UK, Australia, Canada will ban X next,” Byrne explained in an X post:
https://x.com/prestonjbyrne/status/1829628762368967122
“If X beats Brazil, censorship regimes around the world will be shown to be toothless vs Americans, and rapidly fall,” Byrne added.
Musk given firm deadline
The ban came after Elon Musk refused to name a legal representative for the social media platform.
On Aug. 30, it was reported that Justice Alexandre de Moraes followed through with his intention to shut down X’s Brazilian operations if Musk failed to appoint a legal representative by Aug. 29. X’s Global Government Affairs team said the platform “would not comply with [Moraes’] illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
Moraes had been investigating X for allowing and promoting misinformation related to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The suspension came nearly two weeks after X claimed that Moraes threatened its legal representative in Brazil with arrest.
In response, the social media company announced on Aug. 17 that it was closing its operations in Brazil but that the service would remain operational for all its Brazilian users.