With the recent FUD flowing is crypto heading back to a bear market?
I liken the crypto movement akin to another passion of mine, punk rock. It started from a very underground movement by those defiant and wanting to prove the establishment wrong. My only hope is that some of those original movers and the major influencers handle crypto differently than punk. It was truly a beautiful thing in the early days… Raw, Passion, Energy… Punk meant something, it moved people, and it scared those who didn’t understand it.
Crypto can also be labeled with the same adjectives above, but it is also technology first and foremost and the raw emotions that started the movement can’t let what helped get it started to get undone. Proving the establishment wrong with the production of the whitepaper and subsequent implementation of Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto and other early pioneers was the biggest middle finger to those in control of the financial system.
Much of the FUD created in this recent bull market is created from the establishment to help bring down, introduce doubt, and scare future adopters from getting started. Although this is a major problem that still needs to be dealt with by crypto leaders, I think the bigger problem with crypto is internal. The tribalism and maximalism that were vital to getting the movement started are getting tiring and played out. Diehard supporters of different coins/protocols support tooth and nail their cause which is valiant but done in such poor taste. Growing the community (which should be the goal) is really a put-off for those learning the ropes and taking a dive into crypto. At the root of crypto, again it’s technology — blockchain technology, not some secret clan, group, religion, or any other associative thing that people can try to label it. The irony is that what makes native tokens to a protocol like Bitcoin to Bitcoin and Ether to Ethereum different from fiat currency is ownership at all times, many supporters feel like their allegiance isn’t to the tech, but a particular protocol.
How often do you see Apple Maxi’s go and get in verbal arguments between leaders and major influencers of Microsoft or Google supporters against Amazon… THEY DON’T! The decision to choose to support a given product/company doesn’t identify or mark a person belonging to that group as it does for the crypto community. The community needs to evolve if it hopes to grow and really establish mainstream adoption. This tribalism is tactless, defensive, and hurting the whole industry as a whole. Just like the tech companies mentioned above and also the existing major players in the financial world, there are billions of people in the world who will choose and want to use different things, either for cultural reasons or to spite neighbors or whatever, so there is plenty of space in the world for different protocols to work, exists, and ultimately be interoperable with each other.
The last piece that really chaps me about the community is the influencers that push an agenda around crypto about half-baked TA, price targets, and played out phrases like “To the moon!”. The focus of influencers to audiences should be fundamentals, utility, and advancements. Although not everyone has the technical depth to understand the underpinnings of blockchain technology the focus on HOW it makes like better by using it and not just by hodling it should be the focus. How many “influencers” I’ve seen today talk about having to go and take profits after their relentless tweets of bear-ish remarks, unrealistic price targets, and trying to generate an artificial movement of the price through emotion was the most ironic thing for me today. I don’t want to see anyone losing money, but the focus should not be on how crypto affects me in the pocketbook through investment, but how it improves some facet of my life. These types of influencers need to have their wings clipped a little bit because all they’re really good at is talking a good talk to someone new in the space to “buy and hodl” when in reality it might not be the greatest financial decision. The cop-out of “DYOR” as the “don’t blame me if you listened to my crap” is so disingenuous and unoriginal.
It’s time for the crypto space to improve both technologically, emotionally, and not to implode like the punk scene from the late 70’s and early 80’s…. There is so much potential there to grow, improve people’s lives, and make the world a more efficient and trustless place for the better. We can’t let it fizzle itself out and let internal warfare, crappy attitudes do it in before the rest of the world gets a chance to use it.
PlatoAi. Web3 Reimagined. Data Intelligence Amplified.
