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Crypto has a weird subculture

The crypto subculture is an example of a self-organizing high control group whose existence organically creates a market mania, bubble and narrative economics that entices the public to invest in the asset class or join the group and its subculture.

Since the asset class is non-productive and negative-sum the crypto scheme entirely depends on attracting new investor inflows based on narratives of "money for nothing" and "easy wealth" that clash with traditional readings of economics. These schemes may also depend on technosolutionism or libertarianism to justify bringing more greater fools into the scheme.

Crypto culture depends heavily on a distortion of language to signify belonging to an ingroup and leans heavily on thought terminating cliches to quell dissent and rational discourse. Within the crypto subculture there are several thought-terminating cliches.

  • "have fun staying poor" / "hfsp"
  • "If you don't believe it or don't get it, I don't have the time to try to convince you"
  • "we're all going to make" / "wagmi"
  • "hold on for dear life" / "hodl"
  • "the dollar is a ponzi scheme" / everything is a ponzi"
  • "now do the dollar"
  • "FUD"
  • "few understand"
  • "bullish"
  • "to the moon"
  • "diamond hands"

References

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  32. Faustino, S. (2019). How metaphors matter: An ethnography of blockchain-based re-descriptions of the world. Journal of Cultural Economy, 12(6), 478–490. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2019.1629330
  33. Penny, L. (2018). Four Days Trapped at Sea With Crypto’s Nouveau Riche. In BREAKERMAG. https://breakermag.com/trapped-at-sea-with-cryptos-nouveau-riche/
  34. Stephenson, W. (n.d.). Cryptonomicon. Harpers Review. Retrieved 2 March 2022, from https://harpers.org/archive/2022/03/cryptonomicon-bitcoin-maximalists-miami/

References

  • [@olson_line_2022]
  • [@golumbia_bitcoin_2015]