Dangers of Pop Culture Ignorance Around Blockchain

Anyone who has, like us, been on this blockchain roller coaster for the last couple of years has noticed a significant change in awareness. The days of your acquaintances’ eyes glazing over when you try to explain cryptocurrencies were replaced by, “should I buy bitcoin? How do I do it?” Bitcoin and Blockchain hit the mainstream, thanks to easy trading platforms such as Coinbase and constant media coverage. The general public started to grapple with the idea of token sales when celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Floyd Mayweather began endorsing projects, albeit not necessarily great ones.

Blockchain gained even more mainstream attention when an entire episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was centered around cryptocurrencies. Oliver covered the anomalies of crypto such as bitcoin, dogecoin, Bitconnect, citing his “annoying” coworker, Dan (who is a real person) who “won’t shut up” about bitcoin. Oliver would have really hated working at Melrose PR, because earlier this year, we too were excessively talking about #hodling our #BTC until #moon. While entertaining, Oliver’s segment also served as a PSA, warning the audience that purchasing cryptocurrency is more of a gamble than an investment due to its volatility. Rather than taking cheap shots at how confusing blockchain or bitcoin is, Last Week Tonight’s writers appeared to have thoroughly researched the topic, and suggested very helpful advice to viewers: never invest more than you are willing to lose.

When the blockchain industry began moving to Puerto Rico to take advantage of the tax laws, Samantha Bee visited to interview who she called, “tax locusts” for her show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. This segment was more about “blockchain bros” living lavishly among the impoverished in Puerto Rico — all the while not paying income taxes. Bee then interviewed Rep. Manuel Natal Albelo, who is not a fan of the tax breaks. Rep. Natal said, “we are busting our ass to survive, and these people are coming in and displacing our communities.” To give both sides equal time, Bee spoke with Edgar Rios, a local tax attorney that is happy to see blockchain businesses reside in Puerto Rico, as he believes they will spend money and create jobs. Bee interviewed Michael Terpin, CEO/Founder of Transform Group, ending the segment with one question: What is blockchain? “Blockchain is a distributed ledger,” Terpin began, and Bee, very bored, collapsed on the ground and began to snore. Bee’s feature about blockchain in Puerto Rico was not only humorous, but did a great job capturing a hot debate that remains today.

Ellen Degeneres opened up a segment on her talk show, Ellen, by asking the audience who can explain bitcoin, and calling those that raised their hands a “liar.” Degeneres then went on a rant, claiming that, “Nobody knows how [bitcoin] works. Nobody. Everybody is talking about bitcoin, nobody understands it.” The segment ends with her (rightfully) poking fun at the security of storing cryptocurrency on digital wallets and concluding that investing in bitcoin will either “make you a millionaire, or you will be totally broke.” Ashton Kutcher, an investor in crypto and fiat payment protocol, Ripple, appeared on Ellen and made headlines. He announced that Ripple was donating $4 million in XRP tokens (instantly converted to Rwandan francs) to Ellen’s new nonprofit, The Ellen Degeneres Wildlife Fund. Degeneres was, understandably, extremely grateful to the point of tears. “I love Ripple. Now you can just send money easily.”

Much like a suburban house with a perfectly manicured lawn, once you dig a little deeper, things aren’t always what they seem. While Ripple has done a great job marketing themselves to the general public, many industry professionals are skeptical. Yuki Takenaka, the operator and manager of Ripple Trade Japan, was reportedly arrested for fraud, and admitted guilt to most of the charges. Additionally, some find the fact that Ripple owns 60% of XRP tokens in circulation to be discerning, as that means they can heavily influence the price. If you google “Ripple scam,” almost four million results come up, chock-full with debates on forums such as Reddit, Steemit, BitcoinTalk. Is Ripple a scam? I wouldn’t say that. Are they a legitimate company? It’s very likely. Should you do extensive research and invest responsibly, rather than blindly following Ashton Kutcher? Absolutely.

Thanks to reality TV and celebrity socialites, we all learned at a young age that pop culture and media attention does not necessarily equal respect. Bitcoin definitely was operating at a 2005 Paris Hilton status — the media loved to hate it, couldn’t stop talking about it, but didn’t necessarily respect it. While there was a lot of coverage about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the last year or so, not only has it not been favorable, but the quality has been lacking. Rather than taking the time to understand cryptocurrency and be able to accurately comment, a lot of media used the buzzwords as an opportunity to make a quick joke, or appear more relevant. Last Week Tonight is among the few that provided a very honest, thoroughly researched analysis, with an important message: Purchasing crypto is not like putting your money in a tradition investment account, but rather a gamble. On Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Bee took the glamorous industry of wealthy blockchain bros, pulled back the layers to find some questionable policies and actions.

While it may not really bother some if a celebrity mocks or promotes a cryptocurrency without much knowledge on it, the ripple effect (no pun intended!) can be very dangerous. Any crypto experts will advise you to research and understand what you are purchasing before you do so. However, the record-breaking high of bitcoin that we saw last year resulted in a scramble of new investors blindly throwing their money down on bitcoin because people were talking about it. Two decades ago, we excitedly accepted the Internet, without understanding much about it. It was a useful tool for work, a fun way to pass the time playing games, chatting with friends, or even pirating music (whoops!). Now, we are dealing with serious consequences of this life-changing, but complicated, technology as it pertains to data protection and privacy.

As a professional working in the blockchain space, I get a lot of friends, family, acquaintances asking me about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, especially when it comes down to “what to believe.” Here’s my advice: Watch the funny skits about bitcoin. Talk to your friends about it. Defend the merits to your family, if you feel so compelled. But do your own research, and learn about blockchain, which, cryptocurrency debates aside, is a pretty incredible technology.