How Republicans Fell in Love With Crypto
Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency, which is dominated by the most reactionary and stupid representatives of the tech industry, has made it a partisan issue. But it might turn out to be a misstep.
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Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency, which is dominated by the most reactionary and stupid representatives of the tech industry, has made it a partisan issue. But it might turn out to be a misstep.
Pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 election cycle are enjoying a major funding boost from the $2.5 trillion cryptocurrency industry, which is fighting hard to reverse regulatory measures put in place by government agencies like the SEC.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mario Gómez is one of El Salvador’s most prominent critics of the government’s recent embrace of Bitcoin — which may explain why he was recently arrested by Salvadoran police, he told Jacobin in an interview.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The blockchain industry is coming under increasing scrutiny — but that isn’t stopping crypto interests from enlisting allies in Washington’s halls of power.
Cryptocurrency is not merely a bad investment or speculative bubble. It’s worse than that: it’s a full-on fraud.
Cryptocurrency promises to liberate the monetary system from the clutches of the powerful. Instead, it mostly functions to make wealthy speculators even wealthier.
Between the growing authoritarianism of his government and the massive popular pushback to his absurd new Bitcoin law, the honeymoon for El Salvador’s young, self-styled “disrupter” president Nayib Bukele is over.
Bitcoin is an asset so useless that even if a financial transactions tax completely destroyed it, the world would be better off.
The definitive explanation of why Bitcoin is stupid.
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