- Kanye West was recently seen wearing a Satoshi Nakamoto cap
- West was ditched by JPMorgan after a string of unsavoury comments on social media
- Where would West fit with the growing list of worst Bitcoin ambassadors?
Kanye West was spotted wearing a cap emblazoned with ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ on it this week, sparking rumours that the rapper had discovered the beauty of Bitcoin. This may be the case, but there is another more simple reason – it was a middle finger to JPMorgan, which has ditched him as a client. This follows a number of unsavoury comments from West, and raises the prospect that he might become a rather unwanted Bitcoin advocate. Let’s explore who he may have to unseat to earn that crown.
Alex Jones
The conspiracy theorist and supplement peddler was recently ordered to pay the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre close to a billion dollars after years of publicly denying the attack ever happened.
Jones has made a name for himself by getting outraged at non-existent events and is a laughing stock for most rational people, which is why it was a problem that in February 2020 he talked up Bitcoin on his show, Inforwars, comparing it to “the power of fire not just being given to the gods but to Prometheus”.
No thanks.
Max Keiser
The man who Jones was talking to about Bitcoin was Max Keiser, a famous pro-Bitcoiner and establishment pariah who, in that Jones interview, predicted Bitcoin was set for $400,000. This is the latest of many pro-Bitcoin comments he has made, but his support was problematic given that the only remaining home he could find for his show, The Keiser Report, was on RT – the Russian TV network backed by the Kremlin.
Keiser was a staunch denier that war in Ukraine would ever start, with his pro-Russia stance horrifying many people. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Keiser deleted his pro-Russia tweets and quit his show.
Too little, too late, for his reputation at least.
Michael Saylor
Although not in the same league as Keiser and Jones, Saylor has a lot to answer for. The Microstrategy founder turned Bitcoin evangelist preaches it like a pastor on a Sunday morning, telling the world on a more than daily basis that it is the only sound money, that everything else is going to collapse and that Bitcoin will be the only thing left standing.
When Microstrategy first bought Bitcoin in August 2020 it was a sign that institutions were taking it seriously, and Saylor was seen as a hero. Two years later however, he has tied the value of the company almost explicitly to Bitcon’s price, and even advocated that people should mortgage their house and buy Bitcoin in July 2021 at $40,000 (DON’T do that).
Saylor now induces nothing but deep cringe, and his ceaseless prosthelytizing of bitcoin, which is close to becoming a mania at this point, is actually putting regular people off. Saylor is now held up by critics as a symbol of an unhealthy Bitcoin addiction, a warning of what can happen if you love it too much, and anyone holding Saylor up as a good example of a pro-Bitcoiner is, at this point, simply an enabler.
Plenty of Competition
As we can see, West will have competition for the title of worst ambassador if he decides to take a pro-Bitcoin stance. Given that there are many people already fearing for his mental health, let’s hope for Bitcoin’s sake that this eventuality doesn’t come to pass.
