The Edited Latecomer's Guide to Crypto
On March 20, 2022, the New York Times published a 14,000-word puff piece on cryptocurrencies, both online and as an entire section of the Sunday print edition. Though its author, Kevin Roose, wrote that it aimed to be a “sober, dispassionate explanation of what crypto actually is”, it was a thinly-veiled advertisement for cryptocurrency that appeared to have received little in the way of fact-checking or critical editorial scrutiny. It uncritically repeated many questionable or entirely fallacious arguments from cryptocurrency advocates, and it appears that no experts on the topic were consulted, or even anyone with a less-than-rosy view on crypto. This is grossly irresponsible.
A group of around fifteen cryptocurrency researchers and critics have done what the New York Times apparently won’t: The Edited Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto.
Disclosures for my work and writing pertaining to cryptocurrencies and web3 can be found here.