Move Over Dubai
Views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.
The latest unofficial conference of crypto idols and influencers seems to be taking place in Sam Bankman-Fried’s parking lot.
It’s been weeks since FTX’s implosion, and the man at the helm of one of the largest financial crimes in history still roams free. SBF, who is scheduled to speak at a New York Times summit, has enjoyed arguably the softest media coverage of any fraud in modern history. Perhaps it has something to do with the sizeable donations he’s made to the outlets that now paint him as some kind of fallen angel.
Opportunistic as ever, a crack-team of CT’s finest pump & dumpers have flown to SBF’s penthouse in the Bahamas in a strange attempt to whitewash their records.
Reject pandering, embrace integrity
While it’s true that the space has an attention deficit issue, this is more applicable in terms of narrative than when considering bad actors. Bitboy’s latest crusade is, to put it lightly, patronizing. Almost as patronizing as Three Arrows Capital’s Kyle Davies waxing lyrical on risk management after blowing up a multi-billion dollar fund.
For the first time in my career, I’d describe prevailing sentiment as excessively vulnerable.
Like it or not, we trend towards leaders – even in a space built on trustless and leaderless principles. It’s nice to be able to trust someone. It affords retail a sense of safety in a zero-sum market where comfortable lies like “WAGMI” trump hard truths of large players extracting maximum value from the space, ad infinitum.
But if ever there was a time to embrace hard truths – it’s now.
We simply can’t afford for the demons of *checks notes* earlier this year to resurface as angels under the shadow of SBF’s mushroom cloud.
Forward focus
BTC’s PA is constraining like a gaboon viper waiting to strike. Following hard rejection at the previous range low, $16.8k now proves staunch resistance.
With the news cycle seemingly slowing as we await confirmation of current FUD doing the rounds, the market seems primed for a little mean reversion. However, that’s not to say upside is guaranteed.
As we’ve discussed before, liquidity is low, narrative is vaporous, and fresh news can whiplash sentiment on a dime.
It’s important to remember that trading based on influencers is detrimental in the long-term. Influencers have a vested interest in using the vast followings as exit liquidity, which has been exposed by CT sleuth @ZachXBT time and time again.
Further, blindly backing paid shills does not help your growth as a trader, or allow you to learn lessons the best way they can be learned in crypto – through direct experience.
It’s time for us to return to our cypherpunk roots.
