Cryptocurrency has seen a swathe of negative news in the past few days, coinciding with its collapse in price. One of the articles circulating around social media was from a wealth preservation lawyer by the name of Jay Adkisson entitled ‘The Great Cryptocurrency Scam’. This may not be a particularly novel occurrence, but it represents the fourth such attack from this seemingly unconnected source in a year. It all started with ‘The Bitcoin Scam’ in December 2017.
Again, an individual with a vendetta against Bitcoin is nothing new, but the content, and the source, bear looking at in a little detail.
Bitcoin in “Deep Trouble”
Adkisson’s article seems to hinge on the argument that Bitcoin was promoted as a guaranteed wealth-creator, but has lost almost 80% of its value in a year. While the usage for payments is also drastically down, which certainly doesn’t. Because of this, he says, Bitcoin is in “deep trouble”. By this notion then, uranium must also be in deep trouble, having lost 85% of its value since peaking in 2007 and with supply at its lowest for years. Equally, silver is 72% down from the top of its bubble in 2011. Yet cryptocurrency is the one singled out as being “one of the greatest destroyers of wealth in the financial history of mankind”, failing also to mention that the purchasing power of the US dollar diminished to just $0.05 by 2013, representing a 95% drop.
Investors Blame Free?
Adkisson states that the crypto crash “hasn’t stopped lesser firms from attempting to generate fees by attracting investors who largely don’t have the first inkling of what they are investing in, but succumb to predictions of instant riches.”
Firstly, Adkisson seems completely confused on the subject of fees in cryptocurrency, and secondly he seems to be absolving the duped investors of any blame for throwing their life savings at under-researched and ill-understood projects. Of course, some startups deliberately used confusing and complicated language, and some outright lied. But, Adkisson doesn’t state how many of these individuals undertook research into their investments before buying, or went ahead without understanding what they were reading.
Blockchain is a complicated subject, and it’s highly doubtful that every investor exercised caution when deciding what to buy. The adage ‘buyer beware’ has never been more appropriate.
Speaking for Himself?
Adkisson presents himself as “an attorney who practices in the areas of creditor-debtor litigation, asset protection and wealth preservation, and captive insurance companies and insurance/reinsurance litigation.” The link between this line of work and cryptocurrencies is unclear, until you find out that his law firm “typically represents affluent business owners and wealthy families.”
As many within the cryptocurrency community are well aware, some of the fiercest critics of the sector are those who have a vested interest in maintaining the financial status quo, such as the aforementioned affluent business owners and wealthy families. Of course, Adkisson may just be sore that he missed out on the 2017 bull run and is using his Forbes platform as a tool of vengeance, but it’s more likely he is representing some displeased, or even worried, clients.
