Is Crypto to blame for the current Crypto Winter?
So a year has now passed since Terra Luna collapsed and the Crypto Winter began. But was this a failure of an algorithmic stablecoin or a spectacular rug pull by Do Kwon that had even the most sophisticated investors fooled (yes I’m looking at you Mike Novogratz)? This collapse/rug pull was then followed by Celsius and Mr Alex “Banks are not your friend” Mashinsky informing (I’m trying to think of a better word than bullshitting) his customers and the rest of the crypto world that all is ok, while he and his co-founders quickly extract as much value out of his company as possible before the CEL token goes down quicker than the Missing CryptoQueen sinking to the bottom of a sea helped by her fellow “business associates”. But not to worry because as the crypto world burns away, a knight in shining armour is hard working away in the background to show us all how crypto companies should be run. I mean this guy is literally advising US regulators how to police his industry (and we wonder why the US regulators suddenly distrust crypto — pants pulled down springs to mind). And then bang! It turns out this knight is just playing a knowledgeable businessman and in fact DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE. If you want evidence of this, check out his “I’m sorry, I fucked up” tour footage on YouTube.
This was the final straw for many in the 2022 tour of crypto explosions, it certainly was for my company as we closed things down in November last year. I mean I was pissed off with the bad name crypto was getting through these selfish con artists all year but when SBF nailed my company’s coffin shut… what an #@$%&! 🤬
And this brings me to the first example of my point (eventually I know — I get to the point quicker than a Billy Connelly joke though trust me!). Crypto is suffering not because of the tech, or the volatility of the coins and tokens, and not even the hacks, but because there have been so many bad apples running the biggest crypto companies out there.
But blaming crypto and the technology on this is wrong. Crypto suffering as a result is wrong.
Bernie Madoff used a Macbook. Fact. SBF and Bernie have been compared, and rightly so. Yet crypto gets a bad wrap and Apple does not. Why? It is because by the time Bernie’s scams blew up in 2008, everyone understood how the Macbook worked and how it couldn’t possibly be to blame for what he was doing.
Crypto is different. Most people have no idea how it works, or worse people think they do and preach their incorrect bullshit to people. So when crypto companies explode like Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, it must be the tech. I mean it’s this new unknown thing thats we don’t understand and people have been questioning it, so obviously blockchain is to blame *sigh*. People fear the unknown and the media love jumping on fear… the vicious cycle begins.
Bad actors started this cycle and when it’s a media focused business in a relatively misunderstood industry, people will believe what they read. I mean why try and understand the complexities of a layered Ponzi scheme when you can just say, crypto is bad m’kay.
Yes there are legitimate facts that are negatively impacting the industry right now. Energy prices are high and Bitcoin mining is energy intensive. This is not great but again, is not as bad as people make out. A lot of renewable energy innovation is occurring around bitcoin to help this problem.
Then we had COVID and the sudden flurry of new day traders with nothing better to do. Prices in DeFi and NFTs went far too high too quickly, and it was inevitable that these prices and the hype would come back to earth. Even the VCs were jumping into the FOMO while SBF sat there playing League of Legends (you will never see that happen again!)
Then we have the regulation challenges (well challenges if you are the SEC… come and speak to the EU if you want some help there guys 😉) but these will get worked out and despite some small price impacts when unexpected announcements come out, the market is becoming less responsive to these. Even with Operation Choke Point 2.0 in play, crypto companies are used to being seen as the ugly duckling, and we’re ugly enough and tough enough to deal with this. Yes this is impacting some companies from doing easy business but it’s certainly not impacting bitcoin prices like it once would have.
So in summary, if you want to know why we are in a Crypto Winter, it’s because there were bad actors taking advantage of an immature technology, and an uneducated customer base. This was then followed up by an ignorant and careless media that needed to print more and more bullshit for clicks and giggles.
Bring on the regulation, bring on the education, and throw the selfish con artists in jail! We’ll get there together eventually.
#Don’t panic 👍📕
