Is Cryptocurrency the New Shiny Object Syndrome – My Opinion
I am sure there are many of you here at WA that have jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. I personally have not and do not intend to. But as I sit back and read all of the pros and cons, I am starting to see many signs of a shiny object syndrome appearing.
Another thing I have noticed is how similar certain things are to the whole Multi-Level Marketing, MLM, culture surrounding people in this new form of investment. And though there will be people who will swear that crypto is more than an investment opportunity, I still cannot see it.
SHINY OBJECT SYNDROME
In an article on Entrepreneur.com about shiny object syndrome or SOS, it is a “Disease of Distraction” and affects entrepreneurs specifically because of their unique qualities of being highly motivated, craving new technologies, new developments, and new money making opportunities.
There is nothing wrong with keeping abreast of new possibilities, but if you are already involved with another opportunity, an SOS can be a bad thing. It will distract you away from that which you have already started and could even make you jump ship before you see any meaningful results.
Then there is the over-spending of money to chase after and try this new opportunity. Though I do agree with those I have heard say, ‘do not risk more money than you are willing to lose in cryptocurrency’, my feeling is why risk flushing that money down the toilet, especially when it is not yet widely accepted?
WHY IT REMINDS ME OF THE MLM CULTURE
I have seen and read the debates of why cryptocurrency is and is not worth investing in. Even Kyle created such a great debate stir of the crypto hornets nest with his Facebook posts about the riskiness of such an endeavor. This is why I knew his recent post about Woot Coins was an April Fools joke.
In reading many of the comments from those involved with cryptocurrency and the arguments of why it is a good investment, it reminded me of people who are in an MLM defending its legitimacy. Even in the face of sound arguments to the contrary, they defended the benefits of cryptocurrency.
Many made claims of it being secure because of blockchain technology. But even though the blockchain concept does seem secure, cryptocurrency as a whole is not. There have been many scams popping up, taking advantage of this new wild west style of currency investment.
But with many online companies and social media networks starting to take action against crypto, has that shiny object syndrome affect started to slow down and give investors pause? With all of these scams and ability to get scammed, is yet another reason why it reminds me of an MLM culture.
GOOGLE BANS CRYPTOCURRENCY ADS
Following a similar ban by Facebook earlier this year, starting in June 2018, Google will ban all cryptocurrency-related advertising across all of its ad platforms. This means no more ads about cryptocurrency-related content, including Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), wallets, and trading advice.
This is not going to be a selective banning but rather an all-out across the board ban. Even companies with legitimate cryptocurrency offerings will not be allowed to serve ads through any of Google’s advertisement products. Google’s director of sustainable ads Scott Spencer recently said the following.
“We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm, that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution.”
Even though many who got into crypto in the early stages have made a lot of money, like those in an MLM at the top of the pyramid, because it is still largely an unregulated space and spawned many high profile scams, is cryptocurrency the new shiny object syndrome? Google and Facebook are proceeding with caution.
YOUR THOUGHTS ON CRYPTOCURRENCY?
I am sure there will be many people on both sides of this debate, so comment below what you know. If you have jumped on the crypto bandwagon, have you made any substantial gains? Do you have any advice? Or are you playing it safe like I am and relying on the proven ways to make money online?
Consider this last bit of information. Google’s parent company Alphabet makes roughly 84% of its total revenue from advertising, and keeping its advertising ecosystem safe is critically important. Banning all cryptocurrency-related advertising is a step they see as necessary to preserve that safe environment.
You can read the news of this upcoming ban here.
Recent Comments
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You hit the nail on the head there Robert.
I was always hesitant to join the crypto space. I did the share/rev 'click ads' hype a few years back and made diddly squat.
It is easy money they claimed. Crypto just seems to be the new beefed up version of that.
One marketer I spoke to on Facebook said "well you can buy coffee with your bitcoin in Japan. Trying to convince me.
As we are both residing in UK, I told him well this ain't Japan.
I also told him his granny couldn't use a computer let alone mine some coins on crypto. Either way, no coffee for them.
Hi, thank you for all the information - it just made me think about the SOS. In one online marketplace where I am selling physical products, one crypto-currency is used as medium of exchange. In my opinion, although it is banned by google (ONLY the ADS) but not its circulation. I guess cryptocurrencies will soon replace paper bills and coins as we are now in the digital era. And one person could have as many different denominations and as many wallets he wishes to have. Just my opinion, though...
Good post, I don't believe Crypto currency is the new shny object at all. Its been around for at least 8 years, maybe longer.
Trouble is, its knowing which vehicle to choose as the currency provider of choice as nearly all of them, with a few exceptions are worthless.
Personally I have a couple of well established vehicles, but as stated they are years old, but no I'm not a millionaire
Crypto currency is here to stay, it gives control back to people, taking it away from the banks, which is a good thing in my mind, expecially bearing in mind we deal with FIAT currency anyway in the real world
Its seems every man jack and his dog is a so called expert of Bitcoin, etc, yet when you listen to them speak, they are regurgitating info they have heard, without any real substance.
Its not going away anytime soon thats for sure
Crypto guy since June last year... Involved with trading, investing and mining.
I'm well and truly profitable.. I have already made back my initial investment and then some... I hold a substantial amount of cryptocurrencies... I'll become even more profitable in the next quarter or so..
Advice... Do your own research... spend only what you can afford to lose/risk... dont think you're gonna buy a coin for $100 and be mooning towards lambos in a years time... Find a legitimate mentor and learn how to trade/invest..
Cryptocurrency has become an SOS because marketers have taken notice and have pushed into this space... Marketers are the ones who push trends down our throats..
They are also part of the reason why any new platform.. new opportunity.. new business gets ruined/saturated.... Reminds me of the saying "marketers will always ruin it for others"...
When there is an opportunity to make financial gains there will always be a few that are doing so with malicious intent.
IMHO you wont find many opportunities to make huge amounts of money hand over fist, like what you can do with crypto right now... I believe this is one of those rare moments in time....
Naturally if you know what you are doing, and especially if you have been doing it from close to the beginning, you could be doing well.
But like you said with your advice, I think that many of the new investors are thinking that they can buy that $100 coin and be living large in a year or two.
There is no business or investment that I know of that can make the person super wealthy within a couple of years, and especially without a lot of hard work.
Though I am not against those who are into crypto and making money, for me personally, it is not for me. Though any opportunity is a risk of one's money, I prefer one that is simpler and is not as volatile.
I'm not a fan of any speculative currencies. However, I like Einsteinium but only because it promotes technological R&D – I am totally inspired by how far we've come since 1492, or even since Mannix's car phone. In my view, Cryptos are no different that what we see happening in Wail Street every single day and, from that perspective it would seem, most of the opposing marketing campaigns come from brother Bankster who's very upset because it is being bypassed and can't find the way to take its usual chunk - my opinion
That is a good viewpoint because I too feel that the majority of the big complainers are the big central banks.
I'm a heavy investor in cryptocurrency but from what I see most coins out there are shitcoins... Bitcoin is the biggest shitcoin of all. Its an absolute disaster and will never be usable as it is now. Its slow, consumes tons of electricity to keep the network running, and has no ability to scale, etc. Its true the devs behind it are making progress with how the network operates but at this point its still unusable for the most part.
However, there are plenty of good crypto projects going on that I think have bright futures. Bitcoin started off with so many problems and has come a long way but some of its issues are pretty much unfixable at this point with the scale its on now.
The only reason I own Bitcoin at all is because I trade cryptos and you pretty much need bitcoin as a base pair when trading cryptos back and forth. But other than that I don't really hold any for investment purposes because I think it will die off. There are much better cryptos that will take its place in time and many other cryptos that will take much better and unrelated places rather than acting just as a currency alone.
Anyway... that's just my 2 cents
Too bad that you think that Bitcoin is 'Shitcoin.'
You contradicted yourself.
You cannot deal in 'Shitcoins' unless you have BTC.
Kindest regards,
Friend here at WA.
Paul.
Perhaps because Bitcoin was the first, they basically went through the whole crypto experience as the guinea pig, going through a sort of trial and error process.
It is good to see social media icons having some sort of social conscience. We sometimes need to be protected from our own greed.
For those with the money to risk, and can afford to risk it, the choice is up to them, the trouble lies that often these folk are influencing others who cannot afford to lose their money.
Caveat Emptor
Well said. A person should never invest (in anything) based on emotions or you will lose your money for sure. It takes a lot of time and expertise to invest successfully, and even with all the research you can still get it wrong. I personally love investing in cryptocurrencies.
Yes. I have seen people online, especially on Facebook, trying to get others to jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, even when they know they have little to no money to invest. It is too big a gamble for anyone, unless they have money to burn.
Well if you know 100 percent what you are doing and you have the money to lose, then more power to you.
Man, a couple of months after joining WA, I was distracted by a friend into another SOS called forex trading. I practiced for 3 months and I lost a lot of money. I will still regret my precious time lost away from WA. These things are not akin to gambling but pure gambling. I hope people here won't get fooled.
Yes, Forex Trading is another, and though not as risky as crypto in my opinion, any kind of SOS that keeps you away from a proven system is a bad thing.
While the technology behind crypto may be secure, the idea that crypto markets can be self-regulating is proving to be false. The scams, pump-and-dump schemes to manipulate prices, etc reflect a need for regulation. Otherwise, there is no way to effectively assess reward and associated risk or evaluate product and service value in cryptocurrency.
This is true. The blockchain technology behind crypto seems secure but everything else in this self-regulated environment is ripe for scamming.
It's too easy to get people all hyped up over a new and convincing sounding ICO, only to scam the investors and walk away with their money. This was recently done I think in India.
A big problem is if someone gets scammed, they have no recourse without spending big money in legal fees.
Exactly. I seriously doubt that the FTC can do anything about it. They already have a huge backlog on dealing with real companies operating pyramid schemes.
The Securities Exchange Commission is going after Initial Coin Offerings as are several state securities boards on the grounds that ICOs are unregistered securities.
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Thanks for the insights Robert, it will be very interesting to see how and where these currencies develop. Like all investing only invest what you can afford to lose, never borrow money for that next sure thing, you may make money but it will take you over and when the taxi drivers are talking about it and promoting the next big thing it is time to liquidate your holdings if you can.
From observation folks have made good on their investments and others have lost money, in an unregulated market, it can be a lottery. I imagine there will be a number of boom and bust cycles,
The thing is that to be successful we need to invest time and do the due diligence work out strategies, a lot of folks like me just don't have the time at this stage so I will be watching from the sidelines.