Every day there are stories throughout the mainstream and even in the crypto media that accuse crypto of being a scam on a Ponziesque level. The usual references to drug lords, terrorist financing, and money laundering are also much used. The public’s lack of education on the subject make these stories fertile ground for the continued onslaught of misinformation.
Two sides are always needed for a debate to be successfully held, and it must surely be argued that both sides need to have more than a superficial understanding of their own, as well as the opposing view.
However, it still appears that crypto is fair game for many media outlets given that influential leaders in the highest institutions in the land continue to give the sector short shrift. These include the likes of Janet Yellen, secretary of the US Treasury, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, and Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, among others.
Whilst acknowledging that these people must surely have some quite reasonable understanding of the fiat monetary system, for them to have read Satoshi’s Bitcoin white paper, or to have done more than the most cursory investigation into cryptocurrencies is highly unlikely.
Each of their hugely uninformed utterances on the supposed failings of crypto are met with reverential respect in most circles, and are slavishly reported across the world’s media, as is, and with little or no analysis.
Of course, there are articles that refute the accusations, and that do their best to inform and educate the public. However, these are generally hosted on crypto media platforms and do not come to the notice of the vast majority of the population.
A typical mainstream report on crypto was published in “The Mail” yesterday. The article suggested that Bitcoin was a “scam that will only end in tears”, and likened the cryptocurrency to a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
The argument for this was supported by a quote from former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who said that crypto was like:
“the flimsy currencies that proliferated in the US during and after the American civil war of 1861-65 and eventually disappeared.”
Another from James Gorman, chairman of Morgan Stanley, who said that he doubted Bitcoin was worth more than $60 (when it was worth $60,000 at the time).
And finally a Boston senior fellow who argued that “comparing Bitcoin to a Ponzi scheme is unfair to Ponzi schemes”.
Such trite nonsense from bankers and academics does help to do its part in misinforming the public, and keeps them from investing in one of the only assets that might save them when the fiat monetary system implodes.
It’s a sad reflection on society that the bankers and those in authority are able to manipulate the world’s media on such a scale. We are living in almost pre-apocalyptic times and yet those in power are able to draw a screen of misinformation across what is happening.
The public still has access to many experts, and their analysis of the economy, on platforms such as YouTube. But, even here, there is central control and certain videos are already censored or shadow banned.
It might be argued that some videos really do need this censorship, and given their damaging content, most decent people would go along with this. However, it might be wondered just how long it will be before the ‘opposing view’ is just filtered out and removed as well. When society arrives at this stage, full-scale totalitarianism is where we will be.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
