A recent poll on YouTube by a popular account (Charles Peralo) asked the question "Is bitcoin a scam?". The results are perhaps unsurprising:
Of 60 thousand respondents, 62% said yes, which is the majority. However, 14% were unsure, and 25% said no. The comments beneath the poll were quite polarised. Those who thought it was a scam were mainly spouting the same old disproven criticisms that we are used to. There were plenty of defenders of Bitcoin, but on YouTube their arguments are not as eloquent or persuasive as I've seen elsewhere. Plenty are still arguing for "crypto" or "Blockchain technology", while only a few were actually arguing for Bitcoin.
To me, this shows just how early we are. A majority of people still think Bitcoin is a scam, or are unsure about it. Of those who don't think it's a scam, many still don't distinguish between Bitcoin and crypto. There was no mention of the lightning network or the recent halving anywhere. Very little discussion of monetary policy. I would imagine this sample is not representative either, with the general public being more prone to thinking it's a scam, and being less educated on the matter.
That tracks. Log out of YouTube, pop open tor and search Bitcoin. Most of the good podcasts are in echo chambers reaching out to people already on their path to learning Bitcoin but not even What Bitcoin Did is something a completely new person who's never heard of Bitcoin will encounter when learning about it on YouTube. The algorithm simply isn't going to surface the video to them because it's not the most popular form of content.
The only videos people see are absurd price speculation because that gets the most clicks. Fueled by Bitcoiners hopeful that today is the day for a moonshot. There are even price speculation videos involving Mallers. How can anyone expect people to conclude otherwise?
They are absolutely right to assume it is a scam. I would too if I saw shit like that in my feed.
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This.
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I’ve had a couple people tell me it’s a scam, some friends, some new faces. I’d say most in my social circle do not believe in it and believe the government will be able to shut it down one day or that large holders (“the rich/ elite”) will sell it all causing the price to dump at some point to never recover. One friend has recently reached out to legitimately try to learn more about it. I’m doing my best to educate him.
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Most videos on YouTube are made by scammers so this tracks.
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Especially if you remind people of SBF by putting his mug on the poll.
Anyway, we're still early.
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A poll in 1990 about the Internet would have been identical.
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It's YouTube FFS.
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It’s hilarious. I Fomo’d into bitcoin in 2019 thinking the masses would be on my heels……5 years later and I still get responses like
“Oh yeah, but what if *they black out the sun?”
Or statements like
“Bitcoin is for pedophiles”
Or one of my personal favorites
“but Its not physical, I can’t touch it”…….
Had a recent convo, where the other party was advocating for giving more money to the state while holding our leaders more accountable…..
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I like the dynamic on ZeroHedge, where for nearly ten years now it's been consistently open to the merits of Bitcoin as an investment thesis if nothing else, and its readership no less consistently cites all the 'arguments' you mention and sticks to gold.
Yet they haven't changed their editorial line to please their readers or advertisers, and the readers haven't stopped reading. Agreement to disagree, not respectfully in the least, but consistently on all sides.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 25 Apr
Not surprised from all the scamming that goes on YouTube. I started learning in YouTube too. I think its only Andreas with quality education there
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Watching Andreas' lectures and talks on YouTube was probably the biggest influence on me when I was first learning.
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