Page 1 of 6 Next
Advocates of crypto claimed that it would liberate ordinary people from the constraints of big finance and state-backed money. In reality, it’s become a vehicle for high-risk financial speculation, with the same narrow elite harvesting the gains.
There’s lots of breathless chatter out there about how cryptocurrency will reshape the world. But the truth about crypto is simple: capitalists are using it to get rich and screw the rest of us.
Most of us sense cryptocurrency is a scam. But some boosters claim progressives shouldn’t abandon crypto. Examine those claims closely, however, and you won’t find much — perhaps because there really isn’t an argument for crypto from the Left.
The next time a speculative bubble is massively inflating around a fancy new asset like cryptocurrency and financial carnival barkers are screaming it will change everything, remember Sam Bankman-Fried and how quickly all of his promises proved to be bullshit.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin took huge nosedives this week. Unfortunately, we aren’t living through the end of crypto — but hopefully the talk of it being the money of the future that will make us all rich has been shown to be lies.
Once-celebrated crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried is now sitting in a Brooklyn jail cell, awaiting trial for several counts of fraud and money laundering. But the scammy Silicon Valley capitalism he represents isn’t going anywhere.
The cryptocurrency exchange FTX recently collapsed in spectacular fashion. Yet a lawsuit linked to the exchange is currently attempting to force crypto into the retirement market.
In times of war, stocks in weapons companies have always been a safe investment. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown that wars are also a big opportunity for crypto bros — another group of disaster capitalists profiting off other people’s misfortune.
Last September, California governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have imposed rules and transparency on the state’s largely unregulated cryptocurrency industry. The move came after the crypto industry spent more than $400,000 on lobbying Newsom.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX cryptocurrency exchange, rose swiftly as a Democratic mega-donor, rubbing shoulders with elites as he lobbied for crypto-friendly regulation. With FTX collapsing now, it’s clear his politicking demanded scrutiny long ago.
How America got high on the crypto bubble — and lost it all.
The blockchain industry is coming under increasing scrutiny — but that isn’t stopping crypto interests from enlisting allies in Washington’s halls of power.
Many low-income people invested in the now-disgraced crypto exchange FTX. That’s because the exchange allegedly targeted poor and underbanked people and convinced them that FTX was just as safe as a regular bank.
As usual with the tech industry, cryptocurrencies weren’t just sold as a risky investment — they were framed as a social good. Now that the crash has ruined lives, those who promised societal transformation through crypto should be held accountable.
Some of the world’s biggest football clubs are using their supporters’ loyalty to sell them blockchain assets, “fan tokens,” and NFTs. The crypto takeover of football promises to empower supporters — but in truth, it’s just marketing fluff for a web of pyramid schemes.
Years of efforts by crypto interests — most prominently, Sam Bankman-Fried — to deregulate the industry have finally paid off. Last month regulators at a small federal agency allowed a cryptocurrency firm to vertically integrate, endangering customer assets.
Former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried is now on trial for massively defrauding his company’s customers and lenders. The lurid web of lies the trial is uncovering strengthens the case that crypto is a giant scam.
Crypto millionaires are attempting to buy an island in the Southwest Pacific. It’s the latest in a long line of schemes by libertarians asserting the rights of private capital above all else.
Sam Bankman-Fried, apostle of “effective altruism,” has done one good thing for humanity: he’s revealed that finance, and particularly crypto, is a wasteful cesspool that must be reined in.
Sam Bankman-Fried fanned the flames of crypto madness. And he couldn’t have done it without his powerful friends.