Naughty Bitcoin - Subtle assault on cryptocurrency wrapped up in flag of Zimbabwe coup - This article also contains the phrase "EXTENDED POO"... Twice!
Millions of Zimbabweans now wearing Armani suits and driving Ferraris.
I don't have a clue what's going on in Zimbabwe. Neither do you probably. Everything you know about the place is being given to you in nice, less than 300 words packaging, mobile ready and intersperced with infomercials about erectile disfunction, Kevin Spacey's fingers and how Annelise from neighbours looks like a horse now she's 30 years older.
And this morning I spotted plastered across a number of news media websites a very interesting piece of shit-bait about Bitcoin prices.
*EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT BITCOIN AND ZIMBABWE* squeaks CNBC.
*IMMIGRANTS INJECTING BITCOIN INTO BABIES* splutters the Express.
If you hadn't done any proper thinking this morning, you might be forgiven for thinking that the entire population of Harare had suddenly turned into Bitcoin entrepreneurs overnight, ditching the last 30 odd years of ridiculous poverty and hyperinflation and suddenly and unexpectedly buying loaves of bread not with wheelbarrows of money, but instead investing in 10 bedroom condo's and purchasing diamond encrusted Lambourghini's.
These same media organisations are trying to make out that somehow Bitcoin exchanges in Zimbabwe are seeing activity and volume which is completely unexpected.
And there am I, skeptically thinking to myself "Yeah, what a load of old bollocks"
Because when I see headlines in the mainstream media which contain the word Bitcoin, for the vast majority of the time, the big daddy of Cryptocurrencies is mentioned in the same sentance as a story that makes you think of something negative.
And I think that's entirely the point. Because when you look at the facts, they just don't support the idea that in a country where nobody really knows how many people in the country even have a job (the estimates range from 4% to 95% unemployment depending on who you speak to), where there is no national currency, and where just a few years hyperinflation meant that you could have 100 trillion dollars and still not be able to buy a bag of sweets.
And most of the time, we don't even question it, or look at the context. Or even the facts.
Who needs facts eh, when you've got a story that most people will read, digest and then think they've forgotten, like a discarded Starbucks cup after a satisfying early morning cappuccino?
The fact is that in the last 30 days, the exchange GOLIX, which is quoted by these mainstream media sources, has only done 158BTC worth of volume trading. Even at the high of $13500, thats only $2.13M dollars worth of transactions. In a month. Bittrex does that in the time it takes you to have an extended poo. (Men only....I'm reliably informed that women never do extended poos).
Yes, this time last year it was doing a tenth of this amount. But this time last year, Bitcoin was about a tenth of the price. It's hardly rocket science. Yes the volume has increased, but then it's done roughly the same across the world.
The very idea that ordinary Zimbabweans are turning to bitcoin is ludicrous. Most of them couldn't afford to buy a bitcoin at global prices, let alone with a 90% hike in the price on their local exchanges.
So, it's clear to anyone with half a brain-cell that this news is somewhat stunted. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and call it "fake news", but certainly "taken out of context and skewed to present a message of fear uncertainty and doom to make you think Bitcoin is Satan in a digital format" news.
The same negative news flow happened with Wannacry ransomware. At the time, if you didn't know better you would be left thinking that Russian hackers were crippling the very fabric of society, whilst extorting businesses and the NHS for billions. But it just wasn't true.
In this case, the hijackers (who incidentally used US government created technology) only netted around $100,000 worth of payments in total. But you might think it was the heist of the century if you only listened to the mainstream media.
Savvy investors know to read past this, but people who aren't as educated about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency continually see it lumped into the same headlines as the bad news, the evil news, the armageddon news stories.
Of course, I may be completely wrong, and actually the whole of Zimbabwe's mostly farming population is in fact ditching their crops for digital assets and turning into Internet gazillionaires.
But I genuinely smell a rat, and think it's a massive pile of horseshit. Now time for an extended poo......
100 000 000 000 000 $ ))))) they are billionaires
Yeah, bless em....
Hopefully the idiotic sensationalism will make cryptocurrencies skyrocket as I am forced to spend some soon. I see through it too, but.....Cui Bono?
maybe. But I suspect that many people will continue to be frightened off. Thanks for posting!
Upvoted and resteemed
Many thanks. I hope you read it!
Yes I did that's why I love it and decided to share everyone to also learn and appreciate your good work
Thank you @solowire, and appreciate you commenting back. I get so many bots telling me they think my posts are "lovely", but the account owners never even see it, and I'd much rather they didn't bother. So i just want to tell you how much I appreciate a real genuine bit of curation. Thank you!
You are welcome
God will bless your hand work full you with more creative ideas
posted is very beautifull and usefull. thank you
beautful is not necessarily how I'd describe my own article which contains "extended poo", but thank you, dear bot-voter who's not bothered to read my post and is only trying to jump on curation rewards. I don't blame you, but I feel good about pointing out how ludicrous this is.