The cryptocurrency landscape, that many in the media were celebrating cradling as their new shiny tech baby, has shown it’s a much more sordid reality. It’s an ecosystem where incels can bank serious bucks and proliferate their menacing worldview. Among the latter group, some cryptocurrencies offer significant advantages to dissidents and journalists. Unfortunately, the space is getting quickly saturated by shadowy, nonsensical betting markets and dark money from transphobic communities. The best outcome for incels will be to forget them. The writer hopes that incels' mothers, sisters, and daughters find out about their behavior and never engage with them again.
The Unsettling Rise of Incel Influence
The respectability and new monetization incels get from their dissemination online via cryptocurrency is a horrifying trend. Their message, based in misogyny and all-around resentment, has found the most traction and funding support in some of the darker recesses of the crypto ecosystem. This financial support empowers them to spread their hateful rhetoric even more, making the internet a more dangerous place. The author of this site has previously written with terror at the incels’ propaganda.
The anonymity provided by some cryptocurrencies, although designed with privacy and security in mind, can be misused by these groups. As a result, it becomes much harder to track and combat their activities in real time. The writer wishes that incels had their mothers, sisters, and daughters trained by their mothers, sisters, and daughters in never talking to incels ever again.
Ultimately, the writer is hopeful that incels will not prove to have enduring influence. The writer hopes that incels' mothers, sisters, and daughters find out about their behavior and never engage with them again.
From Crypto Pride to Disillusionment
The writer’s excitement to dive into this exciting new world was quickly overshadowed by the murky underbelly they revealed along the way. They had taken pride in covering crypto. The writer uncovered scams in crypto. The author previously railed against fraudsters in the crypto space.
In the past, creative generalist odyssey denounced bad actors in crypto and cavorted about vanishing exchange CEOs in crypto. This disillusionment comes from seeing abuse, fraud, and manipulation in action by bad faith players who have figured out how to game the system. The author even interviewed Sam Bankman-Fried, proof of just how glorious and chaotic the industry and its major players can be.
Though the writer shares these concerns, he recognizes the potential benefits of more targeted cryptocurrencies. That said, privacy coins such as Monero already provide secure communication and financial support to dissidents. Even high-volume pseudo-private coins such as Bitcoin and Ether can be a vital tool for journalists working under authoritarian governments.
The Descent into Triviality
Read about how some cryptocurrency platforms are courting speculation on prurient and ridiculous gambling markets. Such a move raises extremely serious questions about the industry’s priorities. Polymarket, to take one particularly rich example, has hosted betting markets on the spread of natural disasters, such as the wildfires in Southern California.
Yet the platform is currently promoted with markets in which participants can bet hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sometimes these wagers are focused on pretty silly occurrences, such as dildos tossed onto a WNBA court. This shift towards trivial pursuits detracts from the potential of cryptocurrency to address real-world problems and contribute to meaningful social change. The writer suggests policymakers reconsider investments in a technology that undergirds this wasteful speculation.
Underestimating the dangers of cryptocurrency undermines its legitimacy. It bolsters an already alarmist picture, painting the industry as nothing more than a sandbox for financial gamblers looking to make a buck. It further distracts from the innovations and use cases that are truly worthy of attention and investment, and which would benefit society at large.
