Cramer And The New Breed Of Wall Street/Crypto Influencers
This cycle is already different. Anyone who says it isn't is either oblivious or in denial. Fiat influencers and politicians are invading our territory and adopting Bitcoin at an alarming rate. In 2023, we saw Christine Legarde buy non kyc corn, the DNC mining with Ocean pool to censor Trump, and Bitcoin Magazine hiring Jim Cramer to do a full time Bitcoin show. Not only that, just this week, Luxor announced they would be partnering with Taylor Swift on Ordinals. We are hitting mainstream Bitcoin adoption and with it comes top tier influencers.
The days of sitting around listening to thinkboi laser eyed podcaster philosophers is over. The age of the fiat celebrity transitioning to the Bitcoin celebrity has dawned. Every four years, Bitcoin becomes significantly less cypherpunk. While the age of the Bitcoin influencer was short lived, it did wonders ushering in KYC exchanges and chain analysis. The dawn of fiat celebrities becoming Bitcoin celebrities will likely usher in more custodial solutions, shitcoins on Bitcoin, and Wall Street paper Bitcoin products. The psyops will be more intense, and subscribing to the cypherpunk narrative will just make you seem like a boomer for all the new folks stumbling in. The old breed of influencer is acting desperately trying to stay relevant in the world of fiat promoters.
Some notable stunts include Steve Barbour doing 100 pushups a day till 100k, Shinobi screaming about scaling solutions, and Udi leading a revolution backed by bots and people dressed as wizards. All are trying to cope with the reality that they will be replaced by fiat influencers who do not even know or care what Bitcoin is. There is slim chance these last ditch efforts to stay relevant will work, as the high rollers spill in. Boomers won't care about Quantum Cats, CTV, or environmentally unfriendly pushups. Boomers will care about Cramer's picks because he's been misleading them for decades. Swifties are completely unreasonable and won't be interested in anything requiring them to think. The future looks bleak even for Nic Carter, who's star may begin to set.
So where will all the previously relevant Bitcoin philosophers go? All of that likely hinges on Peter McCormack, Bitcoin's biggest podcasting juggernaut. Will he choose to produce content with the aging laser eyes and lose revenue as a result due to less listeners, or will he choose to embrace the new breed of Bitcoin influencer? The reality is that the future is currently in flux and it is entirely up to Peter what the next few years of Bitcoiner influencer culture will look like.
Bitcoin years are like dog years. The longer you are involved with the technology, the less social and grumpier you become. You lose patience for people struggling through ideas your figured out in 2017. Is a pizza really infinitely divisible? "Maybe it's time for me to step aside and let Cramer educate the masses," the elder Bitcoiner is thinking. Bitcoin is currently 15 years old, making Satoshi 105 in Bitcoin years. Early adopters are aging out fast.
Another harsh reality we face is asking ourselves whether our favorite conferences that we have spent too much money on will continue to stay relevant or will turn into retirement homes for those who cannot keep up with the times? Will your favorite conference circuit speakers hold their spots even though they cannot fill seats anymore, or will they be relegated to go on podcast tours of channels with sub 1000 subscribers?
Optimist Fields of the popular Bitcoin daily YouTube show Simply Bitcoin announced to the world that he would be going full Swifty in his new cybertruck. "I'm tired of waiting around for people to decide if they are going to adapt or not. The future of Bitcoin influencing is on TikTok. I'm going to be the next Mr. Beast and won't let him roll into my territory," He announced on his show Tuesday morning. Optimist's approach appears to be taking preemptive action trying to get a head start of Mr. Beast, Jake Paul, and the litany of other fiat influencers.
Writing this opinion piece, I can't help but feel like I'm turning into a gold bug. Will I be laughed at by the newer generations of Bitcoiners for being old and boring? Will I gravitate towards conservative AM radio to hear about topics like Bitcoin privacy, self custody, and scaling solutions? I can't help but feeling nostalgic thinking of the first time I ever read the Bitcoin standard and my eyes turned into lasers. How does Saifedean stand a chance against the tide which is fiat economists like Fred Krugman, who will inevitably adopt Bitcoin. We could be looking at a future where bugsteaks push out beefsteaks. Is the past gone?
The harsh reality is that Bitcoin may look very different than the cypherpunk Austrian economic utopia many had signed on for. A new breed of influencers is upon us, and they have full CIA backing. We all have a choice if we will fight progress in order to preserve what we have grown to love, or sell out and drive off into the sunset in a Cyber truck like Optimist Fields.
