From Sam Bankman-Fried to Bitboy, Cryptocurrencies fans have been too quick to support divas who gained attention on social media.
It needs to end.
Many of the centralized platforms that collapsed this year had something in common. A pioneer with a high assessment of himself.
Each gained outsized influence because of their money and large followings on social media. Mistrust in their abilities resulted in disastrous consequences.
It is time for us to rearrange our priorities if we want to avoid similar catastrophes in the future. We need to stop cults of personality.
Twitter’s crypto theater
Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the loudest voices in the industry before FTX collapsed. He commented on what was happening in Web3. He was involved in a lot of Twitter feuds.
After Chef Nomi abruptly abandoned the project, SBF stepped into the spotlight as the successor of SushiSwap. He gained more than a million followers because of his antics on the social networking site. Even as SBF’s influence grew, he continued to engage with other users who threw stones.
FTX’s insolvency was exposed due to SBF’s penchant for Twitter drama on social media.
The run on FTX’s deposits was caused by his recent spat with CZ.
His attention-grabbing antics carried on through the current situation.
The most intense voices in the room
While SBF is the latest example of an industry figure with a high public profile who ends up in a public downfall, he isn’t the first.
The two people who were at the center of monumental collapses earlier this year were also notorious troll.
Before Terra’s downfall, Do Kwon sent an arrogant series of twits, while Su Zhu’s comments during the bull run didn’t age well.
The leaders of failed platforms are not the only ones guilty of braggadocio.
SBF was just as guilty of engaging in their public feud with CZ.
Barry Silbert, the CEO of Digital Currency Group, has earned a reputation as a shitposter.
There are many more people who use online spectacle and troll as a means of controlling the industry conversation.
Think of Ben Armstrong and Jim Cramer, to name a few.
There is a small army of them. Even though many are dumped in each bear market, their successors are turning into powerhouses too vocal and influential to ignore.
The cults of personality need to end
How can we better identify this personality type to avoid future pain?
Instead of focusing on building cults of personality, the community needs to focus on platforms and leaders building products that use web3 primitives to solve problems in a way that is orders of magnitude better than anything we have experienced before.
The community necessities to quit paying attention to the most intense voices in the room and begin paying attention to the more experienced ones.
We need manufacturers with experience in making genuine incentive for clients to shout out more.
Regardless of how many followers they have, we need to learn how to identify and support transparent, secure, high-quality applications.
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