Effects of the Misrepresentation of Cryptocurrency by mainstream media on the Blockchain Industry

By Emmanuel Sunday

When you open your news app—Tv, radio, online and print publications, etc—to check the latest development in the crypto world, you are most likely to be met with ugly stories about crypto — relating to scams, drugs, terrorism, exchange hacks, exchange collapse, human trafficking, and so on. Which is not a crypto problem, but an individual, management, or societal problem.

Despite this knowledge, cryptocurrency is still that guy targeted by media outlets to take the fall.

Several attempts to put a reason behind their actions have been traced to the combination of ignorance, hate, and laziness to dig out the root of the vices. In an opinion piece for Bitcoin Magazine, Vitalik Buterin states that "a substantial volume of disinformation about Bitcoin circulates across the internet." 

Competitive Disparagement

In a 2019 article, Motley Fool reported that out of the many Bitcoin flaws as an investment, three stood out for them. They speculated that Bitcoin isn't really "scarce", that Bitcoin has limited use cases, and that investing in Bitcoin is like buying into the wrong asset.

These opinions would have tried to hold water if they hadn't recommended a similar investment option in the same article.

The Government is in the race, too. In the European Union (EU) Parliament, the idea of crypto—allowing regular folks to control their finances away from third parties—divided the house in a meeting held to discuss the regulation of cryptocurrency.

As some Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) frown at crypto, others are worried that a technology supposed to be cared for is being prosecuted for a crime that the traditional financial sector is also known to be guilty of.

And it has led to questioning the motive of those pleading for the dismissal of cryptocurrency.

Dutch S&D MEP Paul Tang argued that they aren't standing from the point of hate but from the point of concern over the energy consumption, false advertising, money laundering, and plain greed evident in the crypto industry.

To Counter his argument, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield asked, “Why is it shocking what crypto is doing when others have been doing it for decades?”

Collapsed

In November 2022, tragedy struck the crypto world. Many investors experienced significant financial health damages when FTX filed for bankruptcy. Sam Bankman-Fried has been secretly mismanaging investors' funds which became a problem when a Coindesk November 2nd article exposed the shaky financial foundation of Alameda Research, FTX's sister company.

This resulted in big players —like Binance—liquidating their holdings, and several investors financially harmed.

But in mainstream outlets, the FTX story is largely sold as the dangers of cryptocurrency instead of the mismanagement of a crypto exchange company.

As crypto optimists put it, if the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008 didn't take wall street down with it, therefore FTX or any other exchange that has crashed in the past can't rub cryptocurrency in the mud.

"There are attempts to make this about cryptocurrency and lack of regulation, but this disaster has nothing to do with crypto in and of itself," economist Pete Earle of the American Institute for Economic Research said in an interview with CNN. "It's about fraud and the power of virtue signaling."

He added: "This scandal, far from destroying crypto, practically ensures that crypto will be around for a long, long time."

Crypto Hacked

When hackers access and steal investors' crypto assets in a crypto exchange platform, mainstream outlets often interpret this compromise in the exchange's servers as a breach in crypto's core software, thereby talking down on its security.

"If Bitcoin is so safe, why does it keep getting hacked?" Emily Stewart, a crypto pessimist, tried to answer the "wrong" question in a Vox article following Binance Hack in 2019. "For a technology that’s supposed to be hyper-secure, in practice, it’s often proven itself to be, well, not."

At the time, her desperation to fault crypto made her ignore the right question: "Why do exchanges keep getting hacked?"

Although the article went on to explain the differences between Binance's operation and that of crypto's blockchain, articles like that would have given the average reader who didn't read past the headline and first paragraph a wrong idea about Bitcoin and the crypto market at large.

This is the height of gaslighting the crypto industry constantly endures from media outlets.

What do Pessimists want?

Crypto pessimists often pride themselves in citing that Bitcoin—the biggest crypto asset by market cap—isn't relevant in mainstream transactions and that only a few businesses accept it. "If it can't get me a cup of coffee at the local coffee store, then it isn't money, yet." A statement that has been associated with them.

However, amidst the resistance the crypto industry is faced with, a local crypto enthusiast, Peter McCormack, is using Bitcoin to transform Real Bedford Football Club and his hometown.

The story has commanded the attention of mainstream media big boys — the likes of the BBC, the Guardian, and Sky News.

These guys mostly have a negative opinion at the mention of crypto or a crypto-related project. The BBC and other British mainstream media outlets characterized McCormack as the crypto lover making his bed without much consideration for the impact on others.

“I couldn’t care less what he wants to do. He’s using this vehicle to be able to advance a whole bunch of other stuff, which is cool.” Jeff Booth, the author of the Bitcoin book The Price of Tomorrow, said in an interview.

Despite the maltreatment and pessimistic projections from the media, McCormack and his Real Bedford Football Club are still winning hearts and drawing the attention of other football lovers.

"You know, you’re attracting more people, which is why there are so many international people here already because they’re interested in cryptocurrency — they’re interested in Bitcoin, which is bringing them here to Bedford.” A local elected councilor for the Liberal Democrats, Jake Simpson told Cointelegraph after attending the last game of the season.

In all, what is the fate of the Blockchain industry?

Blockchain technology is an exciting invention that is designed to enable transparency in the creation and management of projects. However, cryptocurrency is one of the most popular projects built on it. Making it difficult for most people to define their relationship. 

The negative media buzz around crypto has distracted many people from milking the advantages of the blockchain industry. Investopedia explained in an article that not all crypto transactions can be tracked on the blockchain. This means that while some transactions can be tracked on a publicly available blockchain ledger, other transactions are occurring off the records because they are cheaper. Therefore, things could go wrong without being detected by even blockchain analysts with years of experience under their belt.

In the end, reports like this question the integrity of the technology, and hamper the growth of the industry. 

Author Bio

My name is Emmanuel Sunday. I am an independent journalist and content strategist who takes full advantage of crux journalistic and marketing theories to tell unique stories. While I've covered stories across Finance, Marketing, Tech, and Gaming, I like to think I speak fluent Crypto. Here's my Twitter handle: @jamesabuchi2000