Each week we go through the mainstream media to find what outdated and prejudiced reporting has gone on in the past seven days from the notoriously anti-crypto brigade. This week the media discussed proposed Chinese mining bans, record low Bitcoin trading, and crypto’s ‘flaws’.
No China Miners
There was only one major story in mainstream media this week – China’s ‘ban’ on Bitcoin mining. The news was reported with a barely disguised glee by anti-Bitcoin outlets, many of whom had neglected to mention its $1,000 jump last week, presumably because it didn’t fit with their ‘Bitcoin is dead’ narrative.
Little in the actual reporting added much weight to what was already known, with only the BBC adding a nice little point:
The National Development and Reform Commission’s intervention appears to have had little effect on the value of Bitcoin. Its notice was published on Monday, since then one bitcoin has continued to trade for above $5,000 (£3,820) – its highest level since November 2018.
To which the crypto community replies:
China fud preceded the largest bitcoin bullrun in history. Can it happen again?
— Łitecoin Biker (2018 ? mkt. survivor) (@PB_and_J_LITE) April 9, 2019
Anyone who was around in 2017 knows China FUD when they see it, and that it’s usually meaningless – next!
Crypto’s Flaws ‘Exposed’
The New York Times wasn’t very gentlemanly this week as it attempted to point out cryptocurrency’s flaws. And in public too. The cause of this dressing down was the unexplained nature of last week’s $1,000 jump, which it said reminded investors of “…dysfunction in a market plagued by problems from thin liquidity and poor price discovery to unreliable data and an absence of fair value for major assets.”
Unreliable data? How dare they! CoinMarketCap has some of the finest fictional data you’ve ever seen! And fair value? Dentacoin once had a market cap of $2.68 billion, so don’t come to me with your lack of fair value rubbish.
Of course, no one with half a brain can deny any of what the Times says, but what they bemoan is what we love about crypto – we love the garbage, the scams, and the utterly nonsensical price jumps as much as we love the serious, potentially life-changing projects that will actually be around in five years. It hasn’t changed since the first Bitcoin was mined in 2009 and it is, in the words of Paul Simon, still crazy after all these years.
When a Report is Completely Unnecessary
Staying with the New York Times, a wonderfully irrelevant report from TradeBlock made its way into the paper last week. The report stated that “Bitcoin’s trading volume dropped to a two-year low in March”, which could have been meaningful had it not enjoyed its biggest buying volume in almost a year three days before as it belted up to $1,000.
We’re not having a go at TradeBlock of course, they just call it as they find it, but it seemed odd for the Times to put out a report that discussed falling volumes, hiked exchange fees, and Coinbase adding XRP and Stellar apparently in an attempt to attract traders, when the rest of crypto, and mainstream media, was reporting the exact opposite. Never change mainstream media, never change.
That’s All Folks!
That’s it for this week’s Crypto in the News. We look forward to seeing what nonsense they come up with next week!
