It may come as something of a surprise but, in certain circles, Bitcoin still has a somewhat poor reputation. Between high-profile hacks and assassins on the dark-web, many high-profile Bitcoin-evangelists are, to put it mildly, interesting characters. Now we can add conspiracy-theory propagation mouthpiece, Alex Jones, to Bitcoin’s illustrious list of champions.
Outspoken conspiracy-theorist and dietary-supplement peddler Alex Jones recently appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he called cryptocurrencies ‘the future.’
In typical anti-establishment fashion, Jones sowed mistrust about the government-controlled fiat-based economy, saying:
We have a private federal reserve that’s all fiat – I’m not judging anybody, I’m just saying: be careful.
Jones’ support for cryptocurrency is perhaps unsurprising, as last year he was de-platformed by the majority of social media and PayPal. This came as part of the wave of PayPal banning of purportedly right-wing outlets such as Gab and The Hacker News towards the end of 2018.
As a poster boy for Bitcoin, there’s a risk that his supporting message will drown in the background noise.
For example, he also told Rogan that eight years ago George Soros had offered him $5 million to pump Bitcoin. This, he claimed, was worth $38 million at the peak of 2017’s bull-run, but he refused it. This may just be a miscalculation of value or timing; the approximately 2,000 bitcoin which were worth $38 million at peak was actually worth $5 million just 21 months ago.
But true or not, this quite incredible claim pales into insignificance compared to some of the outlandish things Jones has said.
What if Stephen Hawking was Satoshi Nakamoto?
Bitcoin needs a champion with both credibility and popularity to truly become mainstream. If we found out that Stephen Hawking was Satoshi Nakamoto, it would do the trick. Hawking’s reputation as a clever person would convince many a person thus far untroubled by thoughts of Bitcoin that it was a good idea.
Heck, for the UK at least, even cut-price Hawking — TV physicist, and ex-pop star, Brian Cox — saying that Bitcoin is ‘kinda good’ would probably do the trick.
We had high hopes for Musk, but he seems intent on blowing both his credibility and his popularity of late.
There are plenty of credible sports and entertainment stars who have expressed their love of cryptocurrency. All we need is one or two of them to promote a sustained pump to get the world listening again.
Now, where’s George Soros with 5 million bucks when you need him?
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