SBF was arrested… old news. Bitcoin is now rallying… yeah, don’t ask me why just HODL. We’re either going to make a fortune or go broke… but most likely, we’ll go broke like the majority of everyone else in crypto. One question: Is this what cryptocurrency was actually meant to be? All thoughts here belong to the author. This does not constitute professional advice. Please do your own research before making investments. Disclaimer: A Royal Obsession In the Old Testament, when the Israelites asked for a king, they did so out of a desire to be just like all the other nations. They saw what was but didn’t have the courage to see what could be, or if they did, they were too afraid of a novel way of life. So as a last warning, Samuel tells the people that if they are granted a king, they will also be imposed with taxes and slavery. But nonetheless, they continued to plead and so were granted a king. Likewise, the crypto community first inherited the promise of a new way of doing things. There would no longer be a single entity (or a select few) in charge of all the economic power. Everyone would share the responsibilities and liberties of a decentralized currency. But, a slowly-accumulating vestige of Silicon Valley culture encroached on the dream, and soon the lust for a tech-savior sank its teeth into this movement too. Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos…. look at how all the tech movements that change the world have an infallible leader! We want one too! But crypto’s leader was a shadow, and so people revolted and sought out a new face on which to put all the movement’s laurels. Factions splintered off, and the leaders of each began to war for their vision to become the sole survivor. And so we got Vitalik Buterin. We got Changpeng Zhao. We got Ruja Ignatova. We got Elon Musk, Tom Brady, Larry David, and Matt Damon. And, of course, we got the supposed best of them all: Sam Bankman-Fried. We got our kings, and for some time, it seemed as if they were finally leading us out of the fringes and into the mainstream. A Royal Mess Needless to say, crytpo’s prices reached the moon, but they also hit the fan on their way. Trillions of dollars were lost. The rose-colored tint of crypto must have worn off by now. If there is any tint left in the glasses, it ought to be blue. Blue for the Cryptocurrency Ice Age, for the countless amount in retirement funds frozen, for the young and vital blood left hypoxic from the wuthering heights that they had been promised were safe. Sam Bankman-Fried is just the most recent of a string of Krakens lurking in the crypto waters. Gerald Cotten. Ruja Ignatova. Glenn Arcaro. Kwon Do-Hyung. Sam Bankman-Fried. Nothing has changed yet, so chances are there are more of these Krakens yet to be discovered. More crypto royals are waiting to exact their taxes and make their slaves, and we are waiting for the next Crypto King. Why do we continue to choose this route? A Royal Revolt My fear is that the dream of a democratized cryptocurrency is sold out for the sense of security the ambitions of a few billionaire scammers give us in return. This is no way for the crypto world to behave. We must not tolerate an ounce more of shadiness and greed. Now is the time to form our own coalitions of oversight, to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected and that we never again will we give in to the hype of a “bull market” because crypto is supposed to be a currency and not an investment. It’s not that we don’t have a need for kings; we have a need to have one at all! not So get back to the basics of this movement, hug your loved ones closer, and make your next decision on crypto based on protecting them instead of gambling their well-being on some king you’ve been warned about. The world deserves the chance to hear our message from our actions and not the words of yet another felon. ALSO: DON’T FORGET TO MY WORK AND GET MY WRITING ON MANY OTHER TOPICS AS WELL! SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK TO SUPPORT Also published here.
