Crypto as the Nigerian Prince Scam of Radicalization

[@dielotosblum]

Thank you for pointing out the antisemitism at the heart of so many conspiracy theories. It gets ignored so often.

[@mbw0826]

I literally LOL at the Tate tangent. Bennett - I hope you keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve got such a sharp mind and we need more skeptics and journalists like you in the world.

[@no_road_map]

I definitely appreciated that. If I was 20 years younger, I'd be head over heels for Tate, and as it is, his predecessors when I was in college did me a lot of damage.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

The only way that could've been better would've been if Bennett had extended his name bit + pretended to have trouble pronouncing "Tate".

[@MrBadjohn69]

@@no_road_map So in college you wanyted to be a pimp like Andrew Tate?

[@no_road_map]

@@MrBadjohn69 A bit more complex, but I was an incel in college, desperately wanting-wanting-wanting something, and every time I hear Tate's pitch, I go "oh yeah, I would have fallen for that." I suppose the best explanation I have came from Barack Obama, who talked in an interview once about putting on different visions of masculinity like a jacket, trying them on ,and taking them off. That's where I was, and Tate's vision would have been one that fit me quite well.

[@bacool]

SPOT ON!!! Crypto industry employee here to now anti crypto, ex crypto bro. Left industry, it's beyond screwed up

[@alexhubble]

Great stuff, man. I asked a friend in finance about crypto and who would use it. He said the only commercial use was for "Villains". So the true believers are in with people who will eat them given a chance. But they aren't 'The Gubmint' who are always and necessarily the worst people in the room. That is just Not Fucking True. Keep up the good work!

[@charleskramer6189]

I love the explanation connecting crypto with historic scams. Interested parties will also love the beautifully written The Big Con by David Maurer

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

6:28 "...they're free to speculate..." Metaphorically as well as financially. Everything Bennett just set up is also the rough sketch of people prone to conspiratorial delusional or disordered thinking,

[@erikanderson1402]

Hell yes Bennett. This is definitely an aspect of crypto that doesn’t get talked about enough. This is the most based take on crypto / everything I have heard.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

I do what I can!

[@erikanderson1402]

@@CryptoCriticPod I do truly think crypto is a protest against a government that has stopped working for people… they think government moves so slowly so they ought to put their faith in tech, which moves fast and breaks things… without realizing it is actually enslaving them.

[@rickyemiguel]

Seriously Bennett, thank you for being a voice of reason and empathy in a space where so many people end up lost, broken, and often worse off than how they first came in.

[@hulkingmass]

Building on this, i'd argue that the scam further entrenches the mark in a position of "us against the world" by crypto marketing's inherent flattery of the investor. Crypto investors are made to feel sophisticated, and the more sophisticated they feel the more unlikely it is they see themselves as the fool that needs protection from con artists. Which is what they are.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Yep, exactly

[@silene9803]

In a way, it resembles a narcissist preying on a victim - love bombing them with the feeling of being sofisticated, smart, special, ahead of the ignorant suspicious doomers, future faking all the possible uses the crypto will later have, shaming them for FUD, then dumping them once the con is completed..

[@CryptoCriticPod]

That’s a good analogy

[@austin3853]

Thank you so much for pointing out that a return to the gold standard would be detrimental. I find that cryptocurrency is largely a populist movement and thus is almost entirely devoid of actual financial expertise and knowledge. Can't overstate how important a solid grasp of high finance is to understanding why crypto is largely not viable for adoption, thus making most of the speculation functionally the world's largest decentralized pump-and-dump scheme.

[@coonhound_pharoah]

Not to be rude but I see very little understanding of high finance in any of Bennett's videos. He has awareness of scammers but that has nothing to do with the economics of finance, banking, or money. Returning to the gold standard would be a good thing. Fiat currency, and the associated low interest rates, make confidence bubbles like the one in crypto possible. There would be short term pain from those in non-valuable work who would need to find new jobs in an economy with real instead of fictional interest rates, but that pain would be short term and long term healthy. Yes, the government would not be able to pay for things like a defense budget greater than most of the world combined, but that is not detrimental either. Indeed, cypto is nothing whatsoever like gold and the people who say it is have duped you.

[@austin3853]

@@coonhound_pharoah "Returning to the gold standard would be a good thing" aaaaaand you've shown you don't know what you're talking about. SMH

[@floxy20]

@@coonhound_pharoah No serious person in "finance, banking, or money" advocates for the return to the gold standard and your meandering gibberish is illuminating.

[@coonhound_pharoah]

@@floxy20 You call yourself Floxy. Lol

[@mateusz3162]

Great video, funny and also kinda sad thing that Mises was a Jew himself, fled from Austria because of nazis and was pro-smashing nazism to the bone

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

The real gold standard is CCC.

[@northerngirl4666]

Thanks so much for this unique viewpoint so intelligently offered. No matter how altruistic a plan is there will always be some wicked human close by ready to find a way to exploit the vulnerable and gullible. Money is money in any shape and the lust it provokes. Thanks again … I will be checking out your ideas more in the future. There are too many hysterical people making videos on the SBF/Ellison trial. You provide a quiet corner in a noisy room.

[@RWSCOTT]

13:32- absolutely right, thank you

[@emanggitulah4319]

Love the format... Thanks for making this great contest

[@austin3853]

The question I always come back to regarding crypto-bros' belief in future adoption is "What interest rate would you charge on a 30-yr mortgage denominated in any non-stablecoin?" If that question can't be answered, then the implications of that incompatibility mean that adoption is functionally impossible. Full stop.

[@bogdanlevi]

What's the catch, why can't people answer? If you believe your cryptocurrency to be a store of value, somewhere around 2-5% would probably do.

[@austin3853]

@@bogdanlevi Because there's no store of value. That's the point of the question. Especially given that the goal for most of the holders is for the price to rise to the realm of $100k+ in USD. That price movement itself means there is no store of value. Store of value means consistent value, not increasing value.

[@TomLisankie]

I somewhat agree with this. Strongly disagree with the Jordan Peterson take and the take on Bitcoin and anti-semitism. The first lacks so much nuance, the second comes off as a huge stretch.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

slate.com/technology/2018/08/the-lurking-threat-of-anti-semitism-in-cryptocurrency.html

[@luisoncpp]

Overall I the stuff that I have heard from Jordan Peterson seems pretty moderated, so I wouldn't put him as an example of radicalization. Also, I remember hearing him once talking about BTC in a crypto conference and he didn't have the best opinion about it. Unless he have radically changed his mind, I don't think it's justified to include him here.

[@jcauto31]

I could listen to you talk for hours. Thanks for the work you do.

[@zoop2174]

I hope the radicalization continues! Let's gooooo!

[@tradito]

As a person that has been living very close to crypto world in the last 3 years (not investing in it, just following it closely) i will honestly say you're blowing the antisemitism thing way out of proportion. Honestly this is the first time i hear talking about antisemitism problem in crypto, at least it's the first time i hear someone putting as a big problem that i honestly haven't been able to find and experience. To the rest i say you have pretty valid points although they sometimes lack better context and lack some balancing with some positives of the technology. Yeah, there's positives too as i'm sure you know it. (sorry for lousy english)

[@WoolfJ35]

Thank you for taking a moment to explain what the Matrix movies are about and who made them lol

[@Itsacrazyworldwelivein]

I’m new here and to cryptocurrency. I never was interested enough to learn how it functioned. I find your channel fascinating and informative. Thanks for the content.

[@a_8764]

I used crypto to buy drugs way back in the day, and I didn't turn into a braindead libertarian. Exception proves the rule?

[@ThatAfricanMan-ne5gi]

I wish I had seen this a year ago. Lots of expensive lessons learned.

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

I have one acquaintance who is a genine member of the (non-ruling) Nigerian royal family. He's married to a brilliant family doctor, and while she was doing her post-docs here in Canada he worked as a garbage collector -- rising rapidly to elected leader of their union local. Fine people. Not into running stupid scams, thank you very much.

[@statisticserinokripperino]

Your voice and they way you bring up information are so amazing, Mr Tomlin, I could listen to you eternally, I think

[@korallenkaiser]

to be honest meanwhile I'm getting frightened by the religous approach of our german bitcoin apolegets. this podcast has to grow to clear peoples minds.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

Thanks Bennet, I didn't need to sleep tonight anyway. This is a huge tragedy that is going to leave so much human wreckage in its wake.

[@px7460]

Bennett is our modern day Diogenes.

[@frvo]

While you we explaining the common aspects of the average crypto bro I was picturing in my mind the people I know that fits exactly this mold

[@chrisfunchess8227]

This is such a fantastic summary, Bennett!

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@flimflam2]

Choose something you don't like: Crypto. Choose people you don't like: Right wing. Find people in that intersection and invent a new boogeyman. You can say it's a "lurking threat of" capitalists, left wing terror, terrorism, human trafficking, sports! and whatever you want as long as you stick more than 2 people to something.

[@statisticserinokripperino]

Can anyone explain to the dumb me why gold standard would be devastating? I am so tired after exams today I can't read it up appropriately myself

[@coonhound_pharoah]

It wouldn't. The government budget would shrink dramatically and the economy would reallocate resources from high risk, low value-productive jobs and be reallocated to avenues of value production. Odds are the crypto market would cease to exist as it does today. The reallocation process would be painful but society would come out healthier on the other side. It's important to note something: Bennett is really smart about the history of scams but is not an economist and does not understand the nuances of monetary theory. But that's not why I watch his channel, either.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Surveys of top economists all agree that the gold standard would be a bad thing.

[@coonhound_pharoah]

@@CryptoCriticPod Who gets to decide who are the "top" economists? There are prominent economists in the Federal Reserve itself who think the gold standard would be a good idea. When you look for a group of apologists you will always find one.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

They regularly do surveys on the views of academic economists! You can look them up! Almost universally they are against the gold standard, but feel free to enjoy your shiny metal!

[@coonhound_pharoah]

@@CryptoCriticPod So when you say "all" you mean "most." Noted. That's not even remotely deceptive. Thankfully, truth is not democratic.

[@ragnarosthefirelord8662]

I demand a return to the CasCoin standard! Great work Bennett, really cogent breakdown of some of the nastier threads of crypto media

[@mrsnrub3712]

I would be interested to hear your take on why returning to the gold standard would not be a good idea. You have a good blend of story telling and dry humor.

[@collinwimbish4516]

this is really great. I love to see more content around systemic analysis & political economy like this.

[@brycebell6924]

This is so good. You are a national treasure. Thank you for this.

[@lorereporter]

"There are other chains" *pause, as Bennett tries to think up something they might be good at* "that do 'similar' things" lol

[@dalgray]

I think you nailed it with this take Bennett. Very well put together. I lean to the Austrian/gold standard side of things. But id concede that the science & technology progress of recent decades would've happened much more slowly if Central banks didn't print so much money. We've already made our bed though, no sense arguing about what could have been. Hopefully the tech will help dull the famines, etc I dunno what Bannon is doing, but the warrior monk is definitely a powerful, alluring trope. Of course, very few will ever actually apply the level of dedication required to manifest it (especially politically active figures) Id encourage listening to some of Peterson's extended interviews with guys like Penrose. He's got a tremendous capacity for composing and extending theory

[@mcspud]

This was going so well until the invective started on people you personally disagree with, yet with their credentials are, by your own imposition, authentic. Case in point - Jordan Peterson. Love him or loathe him, but having a 20+ year clinical career and a decade long professorship doesn't really align with your "disaffected" take. The cognitive biases are real Mr Bennet.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

You must not have listened to the part about Jordan Peterson, I said he ended up in Bitcoin because all his right wing friends were in Bitcoin

[@hairychris444]

@@CryptoCriticPod Plus Peterson is really fucking disaffected, qualifications or not. Example: basically the last 5 years or so.

[@mcspud]

​@@CryptoCriticPod mate thats the most spurious argument you've made and doesn't pass whatever the listening version of the "squint test" is. To wit: "...So you Jordan Peterson, a psychiatrist, psychologist... nutjob...". 16:58 There is said invective I was talk about. Its just meaningless ad hominem, which for comedic effect or as a rhetorical device would be great, except he is (by his position) "ordained" by society. We can say the same thing about Trump - love him or hate him what you said is just plain meaningless. He is multi-decades long successful and an ex-president. Even implying that these people somehow speak to the disaffected is just ludicrous. As a final note - I've been listening to your work for a long time and I love it. Keep up the good work sir!

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Someone having a long career, or even being successful, does not make them good or valuable; and still permits them to be a nutjob

[@louiseheavens3417]

Don't fall for the logical fallacy of the Appeal to Authority. Peterson is suffering from one of the biggest cases of 'audience capture' I've ever seen, among other afflictions.

[@rgbled4778]

Great video. I've even talked to people just like this that are anti-government and against solidarity and think that the stock market is as bad as crypto

[@expchrist]

It's amazing how truly useful Crypto Critics' Corner is to help you understand crypto even thou you still believe that it has a valid use case.

[@SUPERDUPERJIMBO]

That’s the biggest problem with crypto critics corner- the hosts actually are crypto enthusiasts

[@shauncreed1315]

Nailed that pronunciation. Algorithm.

[@FoxtrotYouniform]

this brings up an excellent question which im not sure if people really consider much... how do you approach/address the point with somebody you know who _has_ been successfully politically radicalized?

[@CryptoCriticPod]

It is very challenging

[@FoxtrotYouniform]

@@CryptoCriticPod Challenging is probably the best description, isnt it? I love the content you make and I am especially appreciative of your critical thinking and information interrogation abilities. Thanks for what you do!

[@hulkingmass]

That's the million tether question

[@Bananamaltastic]

Reminds me of Golumbia's The Politics of Bitcoin. Great read. I appreciate his subtler point that most users are oblivious to the ideology that permeates the tech.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Golumbia’s work is great

[@Savukala]

Very thought provoking thumbnail 😁 Great take on the issues though, thank you! ❤️

[@sdfasdfasdfasdf-f1u]

Great video! And a cool sweater!

[@loiscokeley9410]

Interesting

[@ComeOnPelican91]

A bit disjointed with a couple of good points, but this is my opinion because I'm honest about my involvement in crypto, as a speculator.

[@francisco4403]

Fantastic video. Great take. A must watch.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stage6fan475]

Outstanding essay and presentation.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you liked it!

[@mcclawrinaldi7451]

Great analysis. Explains a lot about how crypto Communities thrive despite logic being against them.

[@whatisheartscont2be645]

Based video. When I started learning about bitcoin I naively thought that it was a-political system. Oh boy was I wrong... It is not just political, it is very ideological. To the point that the community feels like a semi-cult. It is weird.

[@DJDiskmachine]

Fantastic video! More like this from Bennett please!

[@vietimports]

crypto was described as the key to unlocking your potential and freeing yourself from the matrix, but 99% of people who bought into it probably ended up being even more miserable lmao

[@ckronenwetter]

Well done

[@rjberry]

So true 👍

[@sunnohh]

This one time I was a crypto bro extremely early on but then it sucked at drug purchasing and was obviously turning into a ponzi scheme and I learned economics past a libertarian level. Long story short, I tried to fight goldbugs and no one seems to be silly enough.

[@fallous]

I'd suggest creating a second channel for pieces like this simply to avoid the potential of diluting the hard-data and investigative work that attracted people like myself to the channel. Partisan opinions, hyperbolic outrage, and outright shills are overwhelmingly represented in the media landscape but the value I've always found here with your content was fact-driven and fair-minded investigations and critiques of the crypto landscape. I may have disagreed with some conclusions in certain episodes but I have never entertained the notion that those conclusions were the result of bad faith on the part of Cas or Bennett. That well-earned level of respect and trust is rare and valuable, and my hope is that you continue to maintain a clear separation between the personal and the professional.

[@JohnSmith-pn1vv]

yeah right trumper😆

[@GaaikeEuwema]

Yeah.. couldn't agree more ..

[@Sound_.-Safari]

Love the video essay style

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@graceofasloth]

Jordan Peterson: nutjob, whatever lol This video is so well constructed and very well argued. Great mix of humor and sobering facts.

[@arielstulberg]

This is excellent

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@motionthings]

Is ETH really decentralized? Don't they have a council to settle disputes and "amend" transactions?

[@CryptoCriticPod]

No, there is no council. Decentralization is a spectrum and the exact position is debatable

[@cuttygrass]

Great video. Peterson is a great example of the sad truth that having a PhD does not make you immune to being either an idiot or a horrible grifter pseudo philosopher.

[@seanhudgins4333]

This is Bennett’s Magnum Opus 20:47

[@peterbrian3911]

This video is excellent

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@kwisatzhaderach1458]

We went from funny fiat money to even funnier digital "money" 😐

[@Simonjose7258]

This is video is excellent. Bravo 👏

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@louiseheavens3417]

This should be required watching in schools, Bennett. Keep up the good work, I found your channel around the Celsius implosion and have binged every episode.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@badcampa2641]

Have you seen Mt Masada in Israel and heard the story what happened there? The folks who 'lost' cannot possibly be 'running the world' its completely preposterous but we can learn a great deal by viewing the scene. So yes i totally agree with your premise about gullible people being into crypto and anti-Semitism, i had no idea such a link existed before watching this EXCELLENT video

[@JosephLeasure]

This video is fucking based

[@sylvia1950]

Bennett is NOT playing around today.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

I am not!

[@joeschmoe3665]

Remember Homer Simpson's telemarketing scam with the auto-dialer I just realized that's basically crypto

[@ysabellecaitlin]

Great video!

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you liked it!

[@EntreePotato]

Bennett please give us some book suggestions from grifters besides the two mentioned

[@Simonjose7258]

On point.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TralfamadorianAgent]

It's unfortunate not a lot of people defend fiat. There's too many people that benefit from voters believing in cliches about fiscal and monetary policy.

[@cmalmo]

Wake up babe, new CCC just dropped 🔥

[@cmalmo]

Have you guys had David Golumbia on the show? He wrote this up into a book!

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Not yet!

[@vishalthatsme]

Waiting for the gold standard video

[@__Dave__]

If you never let Fed funds fall below 5% you sidestep all this nonsense. Volatility cannot be destroyed, only transmuted through time and form

[@gertrudlehmann4869]

Thank you for your thoughtful elaborations, especially about the Antisemitism of the cryptoscene

[@jackiechan8840]

The Matrix bros need help. Excellent video.

[@CryptoCriticPod]

Thank you!

[@jackiechan8840]

@@CryptoCriticPod I rejected crypto way back in 2011. Man I feel dumb, people actually bought into it in a big way.

[@RonaldoLuizPedroso]

Great video as usual, Good thing Cascoin has a no Nazi allowed algorithm built-in :P

[@Kawiboy]

It's Crazy that Sam's on such illustrious list of "GREATS" 😅🤣😅🤣.. Kudos Bennett 👍

[@Chasebald]

You guys need to get David Golumbia on the show. It'd be great.

[@Simonjose7258]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@superjfbm]

... i love you already...

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Scams + urban folk tales are eerily similar.

[@ivantopalov7839]

Clean your room.

[@WilsonLee123]

Down with crypto!

[@SlashZer0]

Just watched the whole thing (on 3x speed, it's not a you thing I do this regularly). It's an interesting thesis, and while I think relatively few people would disagree with the individual phenomena you describe being real, I think it's more a question of scale/prevalence, which is not going to be easy for academics to pin down in such decentralized communities. But this was an interesting morning watch for me nonetheless. Keep it up!

[@willyumlevenberg]

How do you get 3x speed on KZbin?

[@TheaCassidy713]

@@willyumlevenberg through chrome/browser extensions

[@SlashZer0]

@@willyumlevenberg There's various ways, opening the console and pasting some javascript in works fine for one-off cases. I use a "KZbin Advanced Speed Controller" TamperMonkey script with some modifications for more sane step sizes. If you go above 2x a lot it's better than the alternative, but if you don't having it reset every video to 1x on open is kinda counterproductive.

[@roc7880]

for once, I am immune to the seduction of the new fad, I am just not convinced it will ever work even with the best intentions, regulations, and implementation.

[@coonhound_pharoah]

Hi Bennett, Great video! I need to quibble about a certain part. You claim "society has decided it wants the ability to interrupt." Society has decided nothing. Society cannot decide. There are some individuals in society who have decided they wish for this. The government does not speak for "society." The government does not "represent" society. The government is a group of people with specific interests, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Only individuals choose and act. Society is merely the consequences of all individual actions, and has no ability to decide or believe anything whatsoever. Edit: HAHA I got to the good part...that's "MEESES" Bennett, not MYSES. On this we can agree on one thing at least: many people misunderstand Mises and his arguments and come to the wrong conclusions. Mises did not advocate for a money with a small supply. We can agree that going back to the gold standard would be devastating in the short term, because so many malinvestments which are not valuable would no longer exist, but in the long term we would all be better off. I know you are "convinced" without having read any of the source material about which you are talking, and that's fine. FWIW I do not and never have owned any crypto. The whole thing is a confidence game, as is fiat currency.

[@nathanthemoneyman9191]

Lol. It's pronounced Ehh-gine François Vee-doc ;)

[@GaaikeEuwema]

I find it unconvincing because you could say the same about for example social media. Yes, sure new technologies bring new risks and we should definitely ask the question: we can do it, but should we? However, nobody is helped by painting the users as gullible anti-semites, just like it's unfair to call Jordan Peterson a nutjob. What are main advantages of crypto imo? The fact it's trustless and that it grants the user real custody of assets. These are real advantages.

[@Antje-Pikantje]

No, you couldn't say the same about social media. Because crypto stuff is deeply entangled with this whole anti-government narrative, which is a double edged sword indeed. The bad side is that those narratives easily and in quite a natural manner connect to antisemite narratives and the whole thing more or less is very likely to perpetuate those narratives that weaken democracies. One can argue sm has the same problem, but all the big platforms actively fight those narratives, at least they are trying to because Governments are demanding this. Even if I am fully on board to say the whole matter has a lot of flaws and has to be way more legitimised through democratic mechanisms, at least they're doing something. They can do something. I don't see any leverage for democracies and society to fight against those narratives in the crypto space

[@FiRezfps]

There are many useful things that are inherently double edged: a hammer, a car, the Internet, etc... I don't think the premise of having decentralized money/assets is any different. I like your content because it's very objective and thorough but this honestly seemed overtly opinionated/partisan.

[@spenndoolie]

i think its just number go up

[@floxy20]

Now tell us how we (as in "we the people") can shut this down. I think Trump's take on crypto is more germane than his selling steaks or dodgy degrees.

[@johndoe1646]

You can't

[@muntedme203]

Tulip mania. People are exchanging money for ledger entries where no cobsumer rights or customer service exits...a greater fool at its best.