13th May 2022 > > Michael Owen and the press.

tl;dr

Michael Owen doesn’t understand cryptos, and nor do most news outlets, with at least one notable exception after talking to the CCC.

Market Snap (at time of writing)

Market Wrap

Well, well, well.

A BTC low of $26k yesterday morning is deeply unpleasant, though with LUNA’s market cap down to $300mm I think we have had all the contagion we can get from that source.

Be in no doubt, the events of the last few days are not good for the reputation of cryptos, allowing the naysayers easy yet uninformed criticism of blockchain technology. On the upside, no-one is going to fall for the idea of an algorithmic stablecoin ever again.

Occasional Series – Oregon

I am pleased to report that the state of Oregon is installing tampon machines in the boys’ toilets of all state run schools.

It has been a major source of concern of mine for a long time now that only girls have had direct access to tampon machines in Oregon, hardly an advert for a truly progressive approach that embraces inclusion for all.

That wrong has now been righted. We can all sleep easier at night.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Michael Owen’s non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

Michael Owen has apparently been promoting a range of NFTs that would be “the first ever that can’t lose their initial value”.

His previous foray into the world of NFTs was launched on Twitter thus:

“… we’re releasing an exclusive Manor House Stables NFT horse collection!

“I’ve configured and named these horses myself and some will be exact replicas of my champion horses.

“Don’t miss a chance to own a piece of history.”

Putting aside the hyperbole of his first NFT collection, Michael is talking nonsense about his second.

The claim that his NFTs cannot lose value is based upon code embedded into the NFT smart contract that the NFT cannot be transferred to a new wallet for less than the purchase price – so called “floor price protection”. It isn’t clear if this “protection” is just for primary sales or includes secondary too, but it matters not.

It doesn’t take a blockchain expert to immediately figure out that this restriction can be easily swerved using old school trust techniques or new school crypto trustless smart contracts outside of the NFT itself, but its whole premise is just so wrong on so many levels.

Michael can probably expect a call from the Financial Conduct Authority sometime soon.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Press reporting

Much of the larger press outlets are sometimes negligent in their knowledge and reporting of cryptos.

Here is a classic example from yesterday by Bloomberg:

“Terra … has dropped 99.95% from the 1:1 peg with the dollar in the last week.”

UST had a peg with the dollar not Terra (LUNA). At the time this article was published UST was trading around 40c, giving a 60% drop in value.

Meanwhile LUNA had dropped 99% in price at the time of publication, but LUNA was never pegged to the dollar, and that drop has been since April. In the last week the fall in price to the time of publication of the Bloomberg article was just over 90%.

In just 15 words, the journalist has made five mistakes proving beyond a doubt that he has not done his research, or that if he has done his research, he does not understand what he is commenting on.

This is essentially the normal standard I see in the reporting of cryptos across most news outlets.

Indeed, some of those news organisations appear to have an editorial policy of trashing cryptos, with zero recognition of any of their actual or potential benefits, which does raise questions about whether basic mistakes made in the reporting of cryptos arise from more than just simple carelessness.

…

But things are getting better. On Tuesday the Times ran what I thought was a balanced and informative article on some of the recent BTC price action:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bitcoin-growing-pains-or-a-busted-flush-55j3x23sd

It is good to see in the last paragraph that Times’ journalists are talking to the right people in the crypto world.