Why do crypto enthusiasts get such a bad rap?
Crypto enthusiasts have been called the bad news ever since they started getting vocal online. Why?
Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology behind them are emerging as a very disruptive force in the financial system, such that it has disrupted more than just banking institutions.
It has also taken on governments and established institutions such as media, content creation industries and even politics itself. This take has been indirect, but let’s face it — many people now do feel lied to and that’s weakening the power of established authorities.
Political issues
We could trace it all back to fear of the unknown. Another part of it is the fact that crypto is based on a completely new technology.
Too many fundamental changes are happening faster than most people thought possible, within the last decade. People have lost jobs due to automation and other things they were considering science fiction until recently.
If you would have asked the general public to predict how fast it would take for new technologies to transform our lives completely, the answer would be probably “a generation” at least — meaning roughly 30 years or more. But look how quickly things go in reality.
Governments are also getting increasingly cautious because they risk their power slipping away from them while they cannot stop nor control this outflow of information and value transfer. It sounds like a dystopia, but this is very real and just one country after another has tried to ban Bitcoin in its early stages only to learn that you cannot legislate against math.
This growing mistrust between government institutions and cryptocurrencies will probably reach fever pitch where some countries will try to shut down the blockchain technology by limiting access to electricity. That’s one thing where especially PoW cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can be threatened easily on a local level — their mining depends on access to electric power.
However, in the world the way it is now, it is extremely unlikely that all countries around the world would ever agree to cooperate and jointly shut down mining of cryptocurrencies to destroy them. There are too many competing agendas, and cryptocurrencies are too widespread and decentralized for that to succeed fully anyway.
Privacy issues
Following the advent of social media, privacy-fond followers of cryptos have been labeled as “criminals,” and it hasn’t changed down since. They are seen as villains by large enterprises, terrorists by some governments, and troublemakers by large companies attempting to resist the tide of change while also doing all possible to avoid making money at least until later.
This is where many ordinary people stop following what’s going on and move on with their life. Who wants to have anything to do with the bad guys, right?! Well, the choice is yours, but maybe you are missing out on something.
It is true that cryptocurrencies gave a launchpad to many a scammer, but they also created opportunities for people who had been marginalized, discriminated against or who have been unable to work due to illness and disability. Those cases are possibly more rare than the average get-rich-quick bro case, but some argue that even if there is just a few of them, it makes it all worth it.
Bottom line
All in all, it is up to you to decide where you stand in the grand scheme of things.
Governments are still trying to pass laws against cryptocurrencies while some are already looking into how they may implement blockchain technology in order to make their own institutions more efficient.
The gap between cryptos and fiat currency is getting smaller only slowly, but as the fitness people say, slow progress is better than no progress.
Mainstream media has been very negative about this entire space, and only a few brave souls dare speak out for crypto-fans, but at the same time, cryptocurrencies have become a much more ordinary topic of conversation since a few years back. That in itself is a sign of development, both in cryptocurrency space and in the issue of crypto enthusiasts getting bad rap.
