Has Crypto Lost The Plot? WTF Are We Doing?

On today's episode of Bankless Takes we're exploring the current state of crypto's social layer. Are we in this for the right reasons, or has crypto lost the plot?
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Start
05:16 The Worst Memecoins
10:37 How We Got Here
x.com/reganbozman/status/1769...
13:56 Have We Lost The Plot?
polynya.mirror.xyz/ptscXuh3J3...
19:39 Celebrating Criminals
x.com/laurashin/status/177240...
x.com/TrustlessState/status/1...
x.com/TrustlessState/status/1...
26:55 Long Term Focus
RyanSAdams/status...
31:10 Don't Ignore The Bad, Pursue The Good
nic__carter/statu...
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

[@Bankless]

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[@mattdan5238]

Watching the crypto market's ups and downs shows how quickly things can change. In crypto, strategic, informed trading isn't a choice; it's a must. Remember, caution is as crucial as ambition here. This dedication to continuous learning is inspiring...managed to grow a nest egg of around 1.2Biitcoin to a decent 7.4Biitcoin... I'm especially grateful to Flora Elkin, whose deep expertise and traditional trading acumen have been invaluable in this challenging, ever-evolving financial landscape..

[@normandholland8374]

I've just looked up her full name on my browser and found her webpage without sweat, very much appreciate this

[@Wesley3kb2sv9l]

It's unexpected to come across her name here. She understands every beginner’s intention and fix you to a trading course that matches your capacity, she knows her stuff! Her advice has been invaluable to my trading journey. Definitely worth giving a shot!

[@jacnelson3423]

It is really refreshing to see a comment about Flora Elkin.I have worked with her also for months now, reached out after reading more about her on the internet. she simplifies matters, whether it's a market surge or drop; her approach consistently keeps you ahead of the trend, She's a guru i'll say

[@sandrinhopjl]

Investing has proven to be an incredibly beneficial decision. My cryptocurrency profits continue to play a substantial role in growing my overall wealth, reducing my reliance on my salary

[@chesteradams9764]

Nice to see this here, Flora Elkin's understanding of market indicators is impressive. She knows exactly when to enter and exit trades for maximum profit. her siignals are top notch

[@savinobodei4656]

Replace ‘crypto’ with ‘finance’ and you are a lot closer to answering the question of what happened to morals.

[@jamesbaker9342]

“Before we talk about if crypto lost the plot we’ll hear from our sponsors at NFTfi…😅” I’m sorry you were saying

[@PatrickAyelle]

Ahahaha😂

[@joelalexander928]

🙈🙈🙈

[@davycrockett8886]

What is so 'Evil' about advertising, if it's for non garbage products?

[@mopycbaby811]

The racist meme coins stem from how children are raised and what they are exposed to on a social level in their environment, at home, their neighborhood, social media, school and gaming platforms. If anyone has played an online game the racism is out of control in these spaces. In schools kids are going to say the craziest things to one up each other as to who could say the craziest thing. When I was a kid even though I came from parents that never exposed me to this type of behavior, when I went to school it was literally everywhere. Not all kids but enough to cause shock and then eventually you assimilate to it as if it is normal. These kids become adults. There is such a thing as mass psychosis that spreads like wild fire within psycho-social settings. These meme coins are a symptom of society and politicians like to play the moral high ground and come after tech and crypto when they themselves participate in the same type of degenerate behavior. Our own leaders are degens that just pass laws, bills and acts that benefit themselves, lobbyists and large donors but put a camera in front of them and they get on their high horse quick.

[@PaulBurke]

Thank you guys for making this video.

[@concrescent8]

I already know what this is about without watching it. Maybe it is you guys who dont realize what you're involved with. What did you think would happen when you build something that cannot be censored? People will use it accordingly, regardless of their true ideological inclinations are.

[@davycrockett8886]

Frontends can censor to minimize negative elements. If they have support they can build their own frontends. This helps stops those small minorities spreading negative messages.

[@SeptaShaenasSapphires]

My take: Ryan IS a true believer, has really searched his soul and not found it wanting, been tempered by the crashes tied to the scammers, and sleeps well at night. David: only rests when his yield gets yield or has found a new narrative to front run. 😊

[@meisterlymanu5214]

David was SO dismissive of anything other than ETH for years. He has been forced to mention other layer 1s because of SOLs rise, and even now sticks to the narrative. I mentioned ADA to him in a live feed yrs ago, and he just replied "no dapps on ADA", he is here for the here and now, ignorant of the wider future that may not include ETH.

[@davycrockett8886]

Why because David doesn't like garbage coins?

[@cryptoemcee]

Thanks. This isn't a problem of technology. Technology is neutral. This is the problem of people, their values, and morals. This is a philosophical topic, not crypto. Having ends, people use means, including technology, to achieve their ends. This is praxeology, Austrian Economics. So let them not blame blockchain technology innovation which is absolutely useful for people's thrive.

[@BentoBox]

Technology is not neutral when values are embedded in it.

[@VitaSineLibertatenih]

Crypto is the internet of value. It's as democratic and raw on human action as the internet itself. All your takes that it is somehow an industry and there is "we" are just naive or arrogant.

[@69pepe420]

did u guys miss the early internet? sheesh lol sounding like DEI agents. its not great but mfs making it bigger than it is

[@tammygrim2488]

Thank you for this. There is more than enough hate in this country. Makes me sick.

[@MikeWoot65]

I hate not being the right skin color to get the job.

[@BentoBox]

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

[@mikemartin627]

Thanks guys, one of the most thought provoking episodes. Yep, crypto twitter has been a force for the stupid and evil for a while

[@Amazonelope]

The point of crypto is freedom. Obviously you don’t understand freedom if you don’t like other people to say things that you don’t agree with. Shame on you. And shame on Open sea. Let the market decide. Give us Barabbas.

[@patrickshanghai2064]

this is the Fourth Turning. 1. our institutions have degenerated (think Congress, education, the police, Wall Street, Big Pharma, food companies). 2. therefore, we have lost respect for our institutions (think of the same list). 3. therefore, we behave as we want, anything goes, we are in for ourselves. and yes it's more obvious in crypto. i have said for a long time that "devs need to grow some ethics".

[@mattyice225]

How are people surprised that people on the internet say bad words?

[@cryptoempowerer]

Ever wonder how crypto can still innovate without losing its core values? Take a look at how Tectum's Softnote and $TET are making a splash in the space with instant transactions and zero fees, might be the fresh perspective needed!

[@user-ih9bk9bd6j]

$TET is not just another cryptocurrency-it's a game-changer. Dive into the project 😊

[@alfrediyenegregory3316]

Investing in innovative blockchain projects like Tectum, powered by the $TET token, can indeed offer significant potential for growth and diversification in a crypto portfolio

[@Mubsalh]

Tectum's blockchain and $TET might just be what we are looking for!

[@CypherFigures]

Great episode! So true. As an antidote, we honour and affirm those in crypto who continually make the sacrifice to lift humanity and lift democracy by defending privacy and overreach by the state. Bankless is truly worthy of their honours here and particularly their inclusion in the NFT collection, "Cypher Figures". We honour you.

[@bobbysbits2575]

The problem discussed around 20:00 is compounded by tribalism, where a lot of active participants in promoting good values are attacked: either on them as a person or the project they are associated with. More generally, the average crypto person doesn't realise the value that positive and constructive ecosystems provide... Or their incentives are just shallow.

[@Gathronn]

Yooo, BONKLESS onAir!

[@Amazonelope]

Indexers versus letting the market decide. Proof of stake versus proof of work ( energy) … the talented team versus the god like individual… let nature happen

[@Amazonelope]

Oh Jesus, but most importantly, give us the choice and don’t take that away. That’s why the Civil War between UTXO and sats on the Bitcoin side is so important. It’s probably the most important issue of our lifetime.

[@davycrockett8886]

Censor the frontends and not the backends.

[@tokentrailblazer-wo3ot]

ess, have you seen what Long Dragon is up to with $LD? They're tackling some real DeFi challenges and it feels like they're on to something big. Worth a look for a video, maybe?

[@cwpv2477]

long term section was really good

[@th3joker212]

Thanks for vocalizing that about NFTs Ryan, I felt the same way. I was excited about the tech but it turned into a bunch of grifts and mania. Now I'm regretting skipping out on NFTs because that was a big winner last cycle and I haven't really made money in crypto while I've been in since 2017. It was just too much and I felt it was too time/energy consuming to follow what were the actual good projects. Hopefully this cycle we see some actual change and progress.

[@altcoinadvocate]

Ever considered diving into the Farcana blockchain game? Their $FAR tokenomics could be a real game-changer for crypto's rep in eSports. How about a deep dive?

[@Thesilverrat]

Solana, the bots favorite meme chain.

[@madisoncooling8010]

What do you think's going on with meme coins.... one person making money and someone who lost money.no different than the racist crypto just a different hook

[@bearwolffish]

Always love, but more than 2 min 30 sec of the first 5 minutes of a 40 min show is ad time. Easy enough to skip just seems a bit excessive and maybe less can be more, I might not skip if it was a 60 second ad or a even notice a 2 minute ad after 10 minutes. Guess it depends what advertisers are really paying for and what it's worth trying to sell them.

[@Futokuko]

Tulip mania 2.0 where “speculation” is relabelled as “adoption” 😂😂😂

[@davycrockett8886]

Meme coins make no sense to me for long-term investment.

[@Domanost]

Defi Degens do we embrace the idea or ....

[@thomasnoh5149]

There's more debt than wealth in existence now so all that matters is not owing anyone shit.

[@clubgrist]

28:08 if all we are doing here is PVP….. -ummmmm. let’s expand the gaming metaphor to parse this life is PVP. life is people in a constant battle of wills, of competition and no matter what we feel this is as it should be. the alternative? PVE. life doesn’t have a self selected difficulty slider. you can’t pause at a checkpoint and go to the menu and slide it down to Story Mode life is PVP why would we want a free market to be PVE? how would that work? you want a central authority? oh, you want a Direct Democracy?? cool. there’s real PVP tyranny of the majority and all

[@mikerinaldi7170]

"Crypto" This is why a portfolio holds Btc, Eth and a few layer 2's

[@stephanperkmann7913]

Morals died way before this happend you fools

[@telotawa]

29:34 you missed the point, huh? i'll come back when we have sybil resistance and better public goods funding infrastructure as a result funding good things, in the current state of crypto, is incidental, it's basically an accident that good things keep getting funded right now

[@telotawa]

the ends don't justify the means if we don't ever get to the ends tornado cash became basically unusable around a year and a half ago. we need full transaction privacy on the L1 like yesterday. who's building it? there's so many important public goods being left behind because other things help people pump their bags more

[@telotawa]

oh, btw, another thing that's scummy: building public goods that could exist without a token but you put a token there anyway (and sometimes require it for use of the protocol!) just so you can dump

[@nayef2004]

A loan on your NFT... oh no

[@JoseGarcia-rl1iw]

Could you imagine believing crypto had a moral compass? Lmfao

[@Amazonelope]

And by the way, the Chicago Bulls beat the Lakers in 😮their prime, they beat the Celtics in their prime, they beat the suns in their prime, and they beat the trailblazers in their prime.. and the US versus the world is three and 0,

[@JKweez]

Welcome to the free market. Sorry your wittle feelings are hurt by dirty words.

[@gamesswell2024]

It’s not cryptos fault people are trash

[@frank_lg]

Why are you begging for censorship? Whats happening is a direct consequence of decentralization.

[@TommyBull2]

Basically euro decendance making race coins

[@cryptoknife25]

It’s called free speech

[@ws2771]

I'm so sick of memes

[@scruvvy]

Guys, no one is getting hurt here chill lol.

[@jeanbureau9999]

false

[@meisterlymanu5214]

unless theres a hack or phishing scam or exchange collapse, or law change about private wallets, or tax change, or on/off ramp changes, staking changes.... And theyre every week. Its exhausting following crypto, even with your bags safe in cold storage.

[@ManzanoTechnologies]

Do you care about "banking the unbanked" if the "unbanked" individual is racist?

[@madisoncooling8010]

Crypro in itself is no different than the racist crypro...just about even one in crtypo is greedy,and make money off someone's misfortune..

[@PearseNation]

Crypto is mostly a financial tool so it really shouldn't be a surprise that the incentives have led us here. Call me a socialist, but morality almost always loses in the money game.

[@KrawnKam]

What do you expect from somebody who goes by “they”? I was sick of HIS self righteousness anyway, good riddance.

[@travishaines7410]

I don't condone this sort of stuff but all I can say is welcome to the future of free markets, it's beautiful, not everyone has your views Edit: I'm not having a go at use either, I genuinely mean that 👍

[@ivantokic6173]

Wow first 15 mins sponsors dislike dodge

[@grildcheez1504]

Dumb take from polynya. Why does'nt he quit the internet, religion, X, facebook too.

[@rexhygate8316]

When you look at crypto morals, permissionless does not work. Many others are working, but permissionless hurts more than it helps.

[@scruvvy]

Nah... stay out of crypto.

[@jimmim3000]

OK Boomer

[@swylie2010]

Never big on Twitter u til crypto but my impression a couple years back was how horrible crypto folks are. That’s what Lizzie Warren sees too. I just happen to believe in the potential so I searched for good. But even a good portion of our “heroes” or people you interview are terrible humans. We just happen to agree on this one thing .

[@jimmim3000]

I think you two have "lost the plot." You've become more of a click-bait grifting channel than a solid source of information. I saw a video you guys did last week that was all about promoting sh*t-coins and scam "restaking," so I don't know what you're talking about anymore. Also, "degen" isn't an accurate description for someone "involved in high-risk, speculative trading." Look up the definition of "degenerate."

[@JezebelIsHongry]

the fact that they don’t see the grift train future sinkhole underneath an orphanage shit show that is re-staking is all anyone needs to know…about where their heads are at.

[@TalesFromTheBooth]

Makes sense…Capitalism and racism go hand in hand 🧐

[@JayWeb3]

"cApiTaLiSm iS rAciSt" 😂☠️

[@JKweez]

Communism is better, right? Everyone is the same in communism... Equally insignificant and worthless.

[@TalesFromTheBooth]

@@JayWeb3 no…. “RaCiSm iS cApItAliSt” 😅

[@reedrichards614]

This is the best episode ever 😄 Come for the faux-concern and virtue signaling. Stay for the righteous indignation and pearl clutching. Spare us, please. If you don't like a coin's name, don't buy or call attention to it. Otherwise you just come off as self serving. JFC

[@JezebelIsHongry]

nah eth maxis have lost the plot

[@turnbeutelbernd]

If you read the Bible with an open heart , you'll understand where this comes from and what the solution is