Ah Millenials. I mean Millenials as I picture an old fellow spittling away with a brusque sneer: A pittance of morality; lazy, arrogant foolish.
I keep seeing viewpoints how different generations perceive one another - with one baby boomer generation ruining the world into purgatory, and the second millenial generation squandering wealth and its perceived nurgatory (subsequent generations are too stuck in their phone games to matter in this debate…until they’re able to infleunce votes).
History again, notes that throwing inter-generational shade is neither new, nor that different. Every generation becomes fruitier and strawberry-like than the past.
Neither am I a fan of general labelling literally millions (at least a billion surely?) of people into a single group, but journalists and academics need a unit of reference to write their articles - and I shall too use it as the focal of this article.
One “nonsenical” thing that has cropped up recently is the use (and more importantly, the narrative) around Cryptocurrencies and other alternative financial assets.
What is it? Why is it happening? etc Classical economists are probably still scratching their heads on why it is so - but as a passive (though curious) bystander watching this socio-economic epsiode unravel - I couldn’t help but to try and make sense of this too.
My Personal Journey with Crypto
I first came across crypto back in the summer of 2011, in a transitionary stage, as I started to serve my obligatory national service.
Somehow or other, being the avid redditor that I (still) am, I was browsing through R/bitcoin. It spoke a lot about the woes of fiat, of a broader philosophical implications around government control of the money and its impact on individuals. There was certainly a cloud of mystery on its origins, but even so - the community rallied around an aspect of social good, and looked to bitcoin as an experiment on how an alternate financial system could function. As a relatively young, and conservative individual - I had gone to the extent of making an account on Mt. Gox, one of the few, but larger exchanges at the time.
As it exploded around 2016/2017, I was curious enough to revisit R/bitcoin once more and…to my horror, but not to my surprise: it was a madhouse of speculation, and belief. Gone were the days of its experiment and socio-economic discourse; instead personified by a “get rich quick” cryptobros.
What did it stand for upon its inception and where is it now today?
Crypto has since exploded into the mainstream.
But critical questions remains unanswered and I wonder what that original experimentors think (aside from making bank). For whom does this currency act for, and for whom does it actually benefit? The narrative around it being used as a currency “for society, by society” has certainly fallen by the way side. Instead there are now derivatives being built upon speculative assts. Good stuff…
I suppose it validated a hypothesis that nothing fundamental has changed - where things can be financialised, they will; where things can be exploited to get richer, they will.
Since then, I have opted on the side of tolerating the FOMO, but being firm in my scepticism on the good it does to the broader world.
I have not yet bought into it - ABSOLUTELY irrational mind you, as it stems rom emotionally driven stubborness that underpins this. I am most certainly missing out on some form of wealth in the bigger picture from my first engagement with it. I am also cognisant that the best intellectual investigations involve some form of skin-in-the-game.
FOMO-ness aside, I have nothing against people who invest in it. As a way to make money in itself - by all means.I think if someone is using it to make money and play around with different risk profiles from a purely objective standpoint, then yes it is possible.
But if someone intends to use it as a middle-finger against the system; then I’m sorry - you have once again been played out by the massive global engine of finance, and I hope it doesn’t eat you up. For proponents of the currency who see it as the “future”, of “belief” due to the espoused the morality of its Social-goodness. I’ma struggle to be in the same room as someone like that.
A rather impressive video: particularly for the congressman and to the panel speaker, . Loved the articulation, but I remain sceptical of the messaging. The “ownership” narrative seems to fit precisely in the broader movement. It falls neatly into the audience: viewers online (who ironically are watching on youtube) who would take issue with the likes of Google controlling the entire Web 2.0 ; and congressmen who are looking to clamp down on Bigtech. There is a clear villain in this narrative