People Don’t Care For Crypto, So Why Do I Bother Writing About It?

There is probably no topic more divisive than this.

Nobody wants to read about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. The space is already saturated with articles, videos, and pages upon pages of content. It’s hard to tell fact from fiction, reality from hype, and many stories turn out to be thinly veiled ads for meme tokens or ideological rants.

I only have anecdotal evidence, but I’d hazard a guess — most people aren’t interested to read about the topic. Some try to understand cryptocurrency, but it turns out to be far too confusing.

Then, there are those who seem to think cryptocurrency is one big Ponzi scheme. There are also those who don’t understand the big deal about what appears to be money created out of thin air — “money” not backed by governments.

Suffice to say, it’s probably not a stretch to say that most people probably think that it is hogwash at best, if not a gigantic financial fraud. Or maybe everyone is just plain tired of reading about cryptocurrency.

None of it seems to make sense.

After all, it does sound strange. There are lots of strange nouns. Bitcoin. Ethereum. Blockchain. NFTs.

It sounds like modern sorcery.

And that is why I write about it— to try to make sense of it all.

Too much techno mambo-jumbo

Technology is scary. Computer code is scary. It’s difficult to understand and shrouded in jargon. One might even think of computer programmers and developers as modern-day conjurers, casting their arcane spells with languages that can only be learned by studying esoteric tomes of wizardry.

I am not a developer. Neither am I working in the cryptocurrency industry. I am not interested in promoting any meme tokens.

If the tech world is like the wizarding world, then I’m a muggle like most people are.

Cryptocurrency isn’t the most straightforward topic

I’ll be frank — cryptocurrency isn’t the easiest topic to cover. A lot of research, reading, and fact-checking goes into writing a story. This is a technical field, and it deals with money.

I don’t pretend to be the most technically knowledgeable person. Neither can I keep up with the extremely fast pace of the cryptocurrency market.

I make mistakes sometimes. I am not infallible. But if I change my thinking on a topic, or discover new information, I’m open to revising what I know. Only a fool remains stubborn in the light of new evidence.

But despite all of that, I believe I need to share what I know. Because we cannot let the tech-bros confuse us with their spells of illusion. We need to teach ourselves Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Too many extreme positions about Bitcoin and crypto-assets

The anti-crypto camp often repeats one or a few of the following phrases:

Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme.

Bitcoin is worthless.

Bitcoin is going to zero.

Cryptocurrency is a solution looking for a problem.

Cryptocurrency isn’t backed by anything.

Cryptos are a scam.

And then, there is the flip side of the coin (pun intended), which takes an equally extreme view:

Fiat currencies are dying (or dead)!

Cryptocurrency is about giving money back to the people.

The future will be decentralized.

DeFi is the future.

Cryptocurrency is trustless.

Cryptocurrency gets rid of the bankers.

Anyone would be confused. People don’t know what is real, or who to believe.

Oversimplification is dangerous, especially for cryptocurrency

All of these are over-simplified messages.

As a marketer, I know the first rule of marketing is to simplify messages as much as possible.

This is the Internet age. Content is practically infinite and each article or video created is but a tiny molecule in a vast ocean of information. Hyperbolic claims and strong assertions are a necessary evil to get noticed.

Yet, the problem with oversimplifying messages, especially in cryptocurrency, is that it leads to a loss of nuance. Very good when making an advertising campaign and when companies want consumers to buy fast.

But, when huge money is at stake, oversimplification is a dangerous thing. Even I was even accused of oversimplification — the very thing that I try to avoid.

Part of the problem is the cryptocurrency industry itself. Too many people pump out advertorials that masquerade as informative articles. Too many people trying to promote tokens and coins — including so-called social media influencers.

The decentralized, unregulated, and anonymous nature of cryptocurrency attracts fraudsters and scammers.

I have always held the view that crypto-ads are unethical. The rampant promotion of coins and tokens is the reason why people call cryptocurrency a giant Ponzi scheme.

Cryptocurrency isn’t going away

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think cryptocurrency is a fad. Remember what people were saying about the Internet in 1995?

Pets.com and a whole lot of other Internet companies didn’t survive the collapse of the tech-stock bubble of the late 1990s.

Yet, one need only look at companies like Google, Amazon, Netflix, Meta (Facebook) to see that the Internet was not a fad.

The Internet changed the world. I believe it will be the same with cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin has already been around for 13 years. Huge amounts of money have been invested into building Bitcoin mining centers — powerful computer “farms” that make the Bitcoin network work.

For me, the greatest thing to come out of the cryptocurrency and the “decentralized web” movement is the questioning of the relationship between money and governments, how copyrights should operate, and how we record, store, and transmit data and value in an increasingly digitalized world.

The rest of the dominoes are falling

When I first wrote late last year that cryptocurrencies are already mainstream, I didn’t appreciate how fast the rest of the dominoes would fall.

This was in the wake of news in September 2021 of China putting out a blanket ban on all cryptocurrencies. Warren Buffett’s long-time associate Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway admired China for doing the right thing.

It seemed like the anti-crypto camp had been vindicated.

Then, in February 2022, the Russian government announced that it was considering regulating crypto as a form of currency. Perhaps Russia too recognized that cryptocurrency wasn’t going anywhere. Better to regulate than to ban — at least the government can generate some revenue from taxing it!

In the same month, Ukraine decided to legalize bitcoin and other crypto-assets. I didn’t know this, but Ukraine trades more cryptocurrency than fiat currency.

Does the timing of this decision have anything to do with the Russo-Ukrainian conflict? I don’t know, I am not a geopolitics expert. Maybe it does.

It is an uphill task

Technology is eating the world, and as a non-techie, this scares the hell out of me. But fear of the future and the unknown is no excuse to ignore the tremendous change that is hurtling along literally at the speed of light.

Convincing the general public of the importance of financial literacy is hard enough. In many ways, talking about money is more taboo than talking about sex.

Avoiding the topic of money does not change the fact that the monetary economy touches everyone.

It is the same with cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency industry may be opaque, but if it succeeds, it is going to have a far greater impact on our lives than any one of us can imagine.

As a writer covering this hated topic, there are all kinds of ideological biases and monetary interests one needs to cut through. Worst of all, one is accused of promoting a Ponzi scheme when one writes about Bitcoin.

The son of my father’s friend got scammed in cryptocurrency a while ago. That’s why I believe that everyone — even if they believe themselves to be a Luddite — should try to have some understanding of the topic.

Avoiding knowledge of this field is not going to make it go away.

One needs to fight magic with magic.

Why I must write about cryptocurrency

As an observer of the social world, I must document the changes happening in society.

Technology is a tool, but its impacts are never purely neutral. It has ripple effects throughout society. Some groups gain and some lose from technology. So the question of “for better or worse” is one that each reader must decide.

And all of that is why I write about cryptocurrency.

I write to make sense of it all.

I write to educate myself, and hopefully to educate others.

I write about cryptocurrency because I must — such is the vocation of a social observer.

Disclaimer & Disclosure: This is not financial advice or legal advice. Please do due diligence and consult a financial and/or legal professional before trading in any digital and/or non-digital assets. The author owns several cryptocurrencies. He does not own any Bitcoin at the time of writing. 

Update on 24 Feb 2022: War has broken out. Russia has invaded Ukraine, and I have written a follow-up to this story:

The author writes on a variety of topics. His key topics are Japan, society, culture, modern work, and cryptocurrency, with the occasional fictional story, creative piece, or reflective essay. Discover his most-read stories here.

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