Fake news has been plaguing the world since time began. While the term “Fake News” has only more recently been adopted, such content has been used to deceive bygone empires and manipulate the course of history. Fake news became more publicly known during the course of the 2016 American elections, as a BuzzFeed reporter did some digging into some suspicious websites. It turned out that there were over 140 fake news sites registered in a small town in Macedonia called Veles. Since then, fake news has gone on to cause chaos around the world and wreak havoc on the markets.
The latest bit of fake news came from Business Insider, who reported that Goldman Sachs was abandoning its Bitcoin trading desk plans. The news caused crypto markets to plummet, with BTC down just over 6%.
Fake News is a Disease
Bad news sells, a negative headline is more likely to attract readers than a positive one. This motivation to boost readership coupled with potential desires to manipulate the crypto markets makes it very likely the “unnamed source” gave false information for personal gains. Unfortunately, several well-respected crypto news outlets believed the fake news, and rather than verifying reports for themselves, simply ran the same story – causing further panic in the crypto community.
Could DREP be the Key?
DREP is a blockchain startup that is planning to wipe fake news from the face of the Earth with its content reputation scoring system. Authors whose content receives negative feedback and flagged as fake news will then see their trust rankings fall – effectively making their content invisible to site viewers. Conversely, authors who are applauded and upvoted will have their content more easily accessible and it will show higher on the platform. This new content reputation system will ensure news outlets do their research before posting news in an effort to verify stories as accurate. In an exclusive interview with BitStarz News, Belinda Zhou – DREP CMO – said “those who have made false reports and negative reviews would see their reputation value decrease, which would affect the weight of his future actions, and gradually they will be phased out by the Internet.”
Fake News is Bitcoin’s Biggest Enemy
Bitcoin has many enemies, and they come in all shapes and forms. However, the biggest enemy and threat to the Bitcoin community is fake news and false reports. By misleading readers on Bitcoin’s technology and current adoption levels, larger portions of the population will quickly believe that Bitcoin is a lie and scam – very bad news for Bitcoin.
Goldman Sachs Still Working on Bitcoin Trading Desk – Don’t Worry
Goldman Sachs has been clearing and providing liquidity for BTC-linked futures from the CBOE and CME Group for some time now. While Martin Chavez – Goldman Sachs CFO – said they won’t be trading BTC directly any time soon due to missing market infrastructure, it is however working on creating Bitcoin derivative, non-deliverable forwards that will be sold OTC and settled in USD – giving US investors another way to get into BTC markets. These derivatives will be similar to how Skrill’s crypto trading currently works. Instead of buying the actual BTC – or any other crypto for that matter – users instead buy an asset directly linked to the value of BTC, giving users BTC exposure without the need to configure wallets.
Fake news needs to be stopped any way possible. Solutions like DREP will allow communities to deal with authors publishing fake news appropriately. If the crypto community acts and downvotes all fake news, a number of top crypto news outlets could potentially disappear. This would then drive journalists to research their stories properly before publishing. DREP makes it harder for news outlets to mislead the public and puts the power in the hands of the consumers, not the corporations.
