Bitcoin and crypto receive significant mainstream coverage as markets are surging to new highs, or, by contrast, when there are catastrophes, collapses and sell-offs.
Currently, the big stories are overwhelmingly negative, but there are some puzzling aspects to recent media coverage, and a stark divide has opened between mainstream media outlets, and, alternative online analysis and citizen journalism.
The story currently at the center of (and generating) the storm is, of course, that of the now-bankrupt FTX and its sister operation, Alameda Research, which have been run into the ground by the Founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Besides managing his collapsed empire in a stunning fly-by-night manner, customer funds appear to have been misappropriated, and Bankman-Fried is fielding allegations of a client-fleecing, industry-wrecking multi-billion dollar fraud, incorporating significant political donations.
Bahamian Life and New York Events
FTX is under investigation by the SEC and the US Justice Department in the Bahamas (where it is headquartered), and yet Bankman-Fried still seems to be carrying on with his luxury life as usual.
Affairs are due to become even stranger this week, as the disgraced Founder of FTX is scheduled to speak at the New York Times’ DealBook summit, alongside the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Janet Yellen and Volodymyr Zelensky, although there are reports that Bankman-Fried may not appear in person.
For a sense of perspective on that, consider how it would have appeared if, a few weeks after his crimes had come to light, Bernie Madoff had (after spending the intermittent period living exactly as normal) been invited to a well-heeled metropolitan event to chat publicly about business.
And, by the way, if you want to attend the DealBook event, it will cost $2,499. Perhaps the organizers are hoping to get several million attendees, and then they’ll raise enough to pay back the money that FTX has lost.
Puff Pieces and Whitewashing
One might expect that financial and tech media, particularly in the US, would be highlighting Bankman-Fried’s alleged misdemeanors, and expressing some curiosity as to why and for how long he can continue to spend his time relaxing in the Caribbean.
However, supplementing the unsettling peculiarity of the…
