Thread by @PnictogenHorses

I'd like to talk more about the #cryptocurrency / #blockchain phenomenon, starting again with the way that the #crypto crowd once leaned very heavily into the pretence that their cryptographic thingummies had "intrinsic value" and that they were "mined" like #gold.

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/PnictogenHorses/status/1619606159819935745

the big names in #cryptocurrency especially, like @Bitcoin / $BITC and @ethereum / $ETH, fuelled this nonsense by asserting that ordinary currencies, government-backed #money, was mere "fiat money" whereas the #cryptocurrencies had some nebulous "intrinsic value".

(2/x)

you'll still find a *lot* of #cryptocurrency gamblers and grifters who cling to the "fiat money" canard. search for "fiat money" on @Twitter and you'll find some amusing examples. this was part of a general #sales pitch for #cryptocurrencies as somehow being _independent_.

(3/x)

but #cryptocurrency is about as "independent" as @elonmusk / @GOP lackey @mtaibbi—and his imitation of rebellion is very much part of the same culture of faux-independence that flourishes in the lower reaches of #capitalism, especially among the fly-by-night hustlers.

(4/x)

#cryptocurrencies are a *product* of #capitalism, not a rebellion from it. the same culture of top-speed buying and selling, the same culture of #sales and #marketing deceit, the same culture of *avarice* and trying to exit the game with the largest pile, pervades #crypto.

(5/x)

and the mere fact that massive corporations all moved to capitalize on #cryptocurrency and #NFTs shows the extent to which the whole phenomenon is completely captive by #capitalism. the usual elitists are hoping to make bank on it—as they do with every #investment bubble.

(6/x)

so where's the *rebellion*? why do all the #cryptocurrency grifters who chase after @elonmusk and @saylor and other high-profile capitalists think they're rebelling against the system, when they're clearly integral to its workings? (why does @mtaibbi think he's a rebel?)

(7/x)

it's easy to write off #crypto / Matt Taibbi-style "rebellion" as a mere pose, the habitual public posture of a #business and #marketing culture that's learned to subsume all human behaviors into itself, including human #rebellion. "rebellion" is simply another *brand*.

(8/x)

but clearly the @mtaibbi / @Timcast / @DavidSacks crowd must actually *believe* that they're #rebel outsiders, at least a little bit—it's very difficult to keep up a social pose, especially in the face of nonstop jeering, unless you really do believe that you're a rebel.

(9/x)

the answer to the riddle is the *extreme* degree of social inequality and stratification that's fostered by #capitalism, which only gets worse the further up the ladder of #success you climb. it's like an exponential slope: the further up you go, the *steeper* it gets.

(10/x)

individual differences begin to seem much larger. let's say for the sake of example that @elonmusk is the 10th most powerful person in the world now (I have no idea if that's true, it's just a hypothetical). that means the 11th most powerful person is feeling very miffed.

(11/x)

we people on the pavement, who tend to have approximately zero dollars (in comparison with @elonmusk or even @mtaibbi / @lhfang #money), might look at the 11th most powerful person and say: isn't that enough? isn't that still *more* than almost anyone alive on Earth?

(12/x)

the answer to that question is "no it's never enough." to the 11th most powerful person in the world, the 10th most powerful (@elonmusk in this hypothetical example) might as well be in another galaxy—and the 11th person would willingly do lots of crimes to beat the 10th.

(13/x)

similarly, 10th place holder @elonmusk looks upwards, resentfully, at whoever the 9th most powerful person in the world is. they have the same problem that No. 11 has with him: #ElonMusk has *so much money and power* but it's still LESS than someone who seems unreachable.

(14/x)

this is the essence of the toxic culture of constant #competition that's nurtured by #capitalism and the world of #business and #finance and #investment and #realestate and #cryptocurrency and every other way of making #money fast.

#success only *worsens* the conflicts.

(15/x)

hence to @mtaibbi and @ShellenbergerMD and the rest of @elonmusk's tame press corps, who are still far wealthier than most Americans but also incomparably *poorer* than #ElonMusk, their relatively mean and lowly position is sufficient to justify feelings of "rebellion".

(16/x)

and because @elonmusk is himself a relative lightweight in terms of #capitalism and #money—all the *real* money in the world lies with corporations and families that go back centuries—@mtaibbi can very easily see Musk as a rebel outsider, simply because he's small-time.

(17/x)

@mtaibbi's fulminations about #Davos2023 may seem hypocritical, for he's clinging to a corporate aristocrat to bolster his career—but Taibbi does have a point. Mr. @dick_nixon felt the same way about the "Bohemian Grove" gang, compared to whom he was a rube from nowhere.

(18/x)

European capitalists have been making and hoarding gigantic heaps of wealth since before "#capitalism" can even be said to have existed at all, and they've had plenty of time to entrench themselves deep. the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi crowd know this, and resent it greatly.

(19/x)

hence the allure of #cryptocurrency, which seemed to hold out the promise of *erasing the difference* overnight—because as with any speculative #investment during a bubble, it's possible to make a very large sum very fast, that started with a trivial amount of money.

(20/x)

again this is very much like the promise of casino #gambling: you *could* turn one poker chip into a huge pile of wealth (like in _Lola Rennt_!) in almost no time at all—with the help of Lady Fortuna, of course. #cryptocurrency's promise was exactly the same.

(21/x)

it's a false promise. the #cryptocurrency crowd was *suckered*. what really happened (overall) was that #capitalism used #crypto to draw more victims in at the bottom of the pyramid—people too poor to do other sorts of #investments could now gamble with smaller stakes.

(22/x)

that's all #cryptocurrencies have amounted to: a way of hoovering up money from a large pool of punters who had less to gamble with (and therefore more to lose by gambling.)

#capitalism *duped* you all, $BITC / $ETH / #crypto fans. I'm really sorry.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

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