Why Coin Tribalism is bad for you and me

There is a disease that has spread through the crypto community -  It’s called Coin Tribalism.

Many are affected by this plague, but few realize it.

Some unfortunate souls had the best of intentions, but the disease snuck up on them without their knowledge and consumed them. They are forever lost in the echo chamber of “their” coin.

If you believe the death of one coin would mean that “your” coin would prosper, if you have ever thought the lack of upward price movement of “your” coin is because investors are stupid and can’t see how great “your” coin is, or if you get a rush of dopamine when you hear positive news about “your” coin and a flash of anger when anything negative is said - then you may be suffering from Coin Tribalism.

Coin Tribalism is unhealthy, it blinds you from opportunities, and in the long run, will cost you money.

What is Coin Tribalism?

Coin Tribalism is the result of online communities forming around cryptocurrencies and turning from healthy enthusiasts and supporters to downright cult-like extremists.

These groups will then begin attacking other groups that they perceive as competition. They aren't only belittling other coins, but they also belittle the supporters of those coins. As they are doing this they shamelessly shill “their” coin. It's “their” coin that is going to change the world and save all our souls from eternal damnation. Anyone who isn’t buying “their” coin is a heretic.

"Everything I believe is true and anything that differs from my beliefs is wrong and stupid." - 99.9999% of humans.

This phenomenon plays out all around us. Such things as religion, politics, and diets are classic examples of irrational tribalism occurring. However, there are murmurings of this happening with cryptocurrencies and this should be of concern.

Coin Tribalism is a contagious disease and it must be stopped.

Why Does Coin Tribalism Occur?

The homo-sapien is a pack animal. We are designed to exist in tribal units. This evolutionary preference is a breeding ground for some very interesting modern psychology.

We can break it down into a primitive equation.

The desire for group acceptance + the erosion of individuality in favor of the group + group survival instinct + the interest of group harmony + an echo chamber of group culture and ideas + fear of ostracisation = A bunch of irrational overly emotional triggered nut cases.

Most of these tribal instincts are hard-wired into our psychology, and they can play out in a myriad of ways. They can cause you to become ensnared in something as dangerous as a fundamentalist religious cult, or as benign as an obsession with a football team. However, few crypto investors are aware that these instincts are affecting their crypto investment strategies.

When we pour money onto the fire of tribal instincts, sense and reason can be lost.

Let's look at another equation:

Money + tribal instincts = complete loss of common sense.

When you are infected with Coin Tribalism, and you have a large financial investment in that same coin, your ability to see reason can become clouded. In this case, there is a lot of emotions at play. Not only are you a member of the coin-cult, but your cash (emotions/ego) is also on the line.

Your desire to be right might overpower your desire to profit.

The Effect Coin Tribalism will Have on you

To understand what effect Coin Tribalism might have on you lets take a look at one of the most extreme examples to date: The ChainCoin Pump and Dump.

Some months ago, a small group of assholes came up with an ingenious pump and dump scheme. Basically, they took a useless coin that was being traded on one obscure exchange and turned it into a cult.

The ChainCoin cult had its own group beliefs. It wasn’t just a cryptocurrency, ChainCoin was a “movement”. The fellowship was what was important, the underlying technology of the coin was basically irrelevant. The religious beliefs of this cult centered around the philosophy of “buy and hodl”. If everyone just buys and never sells, everyone will become rich.

The Internet became awash with posts and YouTube videos outlining the virtues of the ChainCoin religion. The number of people that got swept up in the “movement” was amazing. And, just like every other cult, all nonbelievers were labeled as heretics spreading fear, uncertainty, and despair. ChainCoin was a spiritual belief to these people, it was a path to freedom.

Of course, the price rose and the scammers sold their useless coins for a huge profit leaving everyone else holding bags.

This example shows us how easy it is for people to get caught in the web of Coin Tribalism. Even though you may not be so foolish as to succumb to a ChainCoin like scam, the psychological effects of Coin Tribalism, if you are not careful, can still affect you and influence your trading/investment decisions.

How to tell if you are Infected  With Coin Tribalism

Think about your favorite cryptocurrency and ask yourself these questions:

• If a competing product came to market would you immediately denounce it as a useless altcoin scam?
• Do you find yourself searching for positive news of your cryptocurrency for confirmation bias that your investment choice was correct?
• Does negative news and opinions of your cryptocurrency cause a cognitive dissonance where you feel an urge to attack the source of that negativity?
• Do you often get into online arguments with people who don’t adhere to your opinions of your favored cryptocurrency?
• Do you think people who invest heavily in cryptocurrencies other than yours are a bunch of mainstream noobs?
• Do you spend time in online communities where the majority of people adhere to your views and will encourage and reinforce your beliefs?
• Is more than 80% of your crypto investment in one coin?
• Do you think that your coin is a technological messiah that will make you rich, make everyone in the third world fat, and end climate change?

If you answered yes to most of the above questions there is a high chance that you are infected with Coin Tribalism.

To be fair, In regards to Steemit, I would answer yes to most of the above questions. After all, if you are reading this then you are, like me, a big believer in Steemit.

We are all guilty of tribalism in one way or another. However, you can protect yourself from irrational investment decisions by simply being aware of the psychological effects of Coin Tribalism and doing something about them.

How to Protect Yourself from Coin Tribalism

Fortunately, protecting yourself from Coin Tribalism is easy, and will enable you to make better investment decisions, and open your mind up to more opportunity. 

To protect yourself from Coin Tribalism you just need to adhere to the following principles:

• Give your allegiance to no coin. Support the technology you believe in, however, if a better tech is developed, the dev team turns sour, or market conditions change - you switch sides like 1940’s Italy.
• Information is like food - eat a diverse diet. The more variety of your information sources, the more you will have your finger on the pulse of market conditions. Most people only consume content that reinforces their point of view. This is akin to being brainwashed. If you have an opinion consume all the information you can on the contrary point of view. This will enable you to make better investment decisions.
• Join groups, but never really join them. Online communities can be a great way to spend time, let off steam, share ideas, and obtain info. However, spending too much time on one community can cause the psychological effects of tribalism. Be the observer of the herd, never be the sheep in the middle of it.
• Learn to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Being empathetic to other’s opinions is not about being a pacifist hippie. Understanding another point of view open’s your own mind to all opportunities which will give you a competitive edge.

Conclusion

I want technology that creates a pathway to a free society, decentralized power, and diverse human expression.

Which coin do I want to achieve this? Whichever one/s can.

It’s not about one coin winning, one technology beating another, or one group being right and another wrong.

I don’t want “my” coin to win. I want crypto to win, because if crypto wins - we all win.