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BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

theguardian.com

11–20 of 195 posts

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#11

It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story that involves crypto and NFTs. People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars, don't question why there are hundreds of altcoins on the market and some "cryptocurrency experts" are supposedly "offering free tips" on investment. The whole space is rife with scams and embellishments and yet there are so ma…

Every person I've spoken to who's told me they're interested in crypto literally only care about it to make money, and have no interest in learning how it works. They all treat every last crypto-based use as investment like stocks, and not as a normal economic choice (e.g. "I want $3000 worth of bitcoin to buy a car" is not something people are doing, instead it's all "I want $3000 worth of bitcoin because the internet told me it'll be 3 million in a year").

NFTs also annoy me because it's literally the worst part of art industry - "buying" the "rights" to a piece of art so you can turn it for more cash later on, and not as an appreciation of the work. Bored Apes might be one of the few exceptions where people are doing it for "bragging rights", which is infinitely better because you're buying it to say you own it, much closer to normal art purchases.

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#12
From the now-deleted BBC article[0] he allegedly turned $50 into $10,000 in 5 days, but doesn't say with which coin(s) and/or token(s):

"Fifty dollars turned into $500 (£369) three days later," Mr Hassan said of his financial journey that began at the age of 19. "Two more days later, it was $5,000 (£3,690)."

He said he called his parents to discuss what he should do, but during that half-hour conversation, his investment had more than doubled in value again."

[0] https://archive.is/6taZ8 and https://web.archive.org/web/20220209102657/https://www.bbc.c...

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#13

It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story that involves crypto and NFTs. People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars, don't question why there are hundreds of altcoins on the market and some "cryptocurrency experts" are supposedly "offering free tips" on investment. The whole space is rife with scams and embellishments and yet there are so ma…

>People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars

I'm also mystified by the prices that modern 'art' can command.

>It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story

'get rich quick like him' is as old as the hills.

I'm not being snarky i'm just pointing out that the underlying principles behind your complaints have always existed to some extent. I think it's just a symptom of 'post truth' and and cynicsm at the system that allows the illusion to be even more blatant.

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#14
post #4
post #3

> The Guardian asked the BBC if it was confident in his claimed financial returns and questioned why the programme’s promotional material did not mention that Hassan’s cryptocurrency Orfano was abruptly shut down in October, with many unhappy investors claiming they were left out of pocket as a result. I feel like this is the key thing. He probably made the money with a scamcoin and the BBC nearly aired something tha…

> it was one of the channel’s headline commissions for its new regional television news show We Are England. This new show replaced the long-running Inside Out regional current affairs series, which was cancelled as part of BBC funding cuts in a decision that resulted in many investigative journalists based outside London losing their jobs. > Continuing cuts to BBC budgets and deep job cuts, caused by successive lice…

Right - BBC is the victim.

> Lack of funding lead to budget cuts which lead to worse quality journalism

Nonsense.

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#16

It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story that involves crypto and NFTs. People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars, don't question why there are hundreds of altcoins on the market and some "cryptocurrency experts" are supposedly "offering free tips" on investment. The whole space is rife with scams and embellishments and yet there are so ma…

It could also have been more of a "hit piece" by the BBC on crypto/NFTs, and perhaps the controllers are financially incentivized/aligned with Bitcoin et al's success - so they pulled it? A possibility exists in the direction opposite to what you suggest.

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#17
post #5

It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story that involves crypto and NFTs. People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars, don't question why there are hundreds of altcoins on the market and some "cryptocurrency experts" are supposedly "offering free tips" on investment. The whole space is rife with scams and embellishments and yet there are so ma…

Many people dream of getting rich quickly, by windfall. Buying index funds is a great and easy way to enhance your personal financial situation – over time. But you will not get rich quickly. So people still seek out alternatives that are incredibly risky and unsound.

Many people are teased and abused, for year after year after year, working hard with obvious threat of termination, while a different system of money that they have no access to, grows and grows (investments) every day in the newspaper headlines for everyone to see.

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#18
post #3

> The Guardian asked the BBC if it was confident in his claimed financial returns and questioned why the programme’s promotional material did not mention that Hassan’s cryptocurrency Orfano was abruptly shut down in October, with many unhappy investors claiming they were left out of pocket as a result. I feel like this is the key thing. He probably made the money with a scamcoin and the BBC nearly aired something tha…

Well. So, they were just about to glorify a scam coin less than a week after publishing a crypto-critical piece which sounded as if they had employed Alex Jones[1]. That's worse results than a broken clock lol. If they had went with a retarded blind crypto-good/crypto-bad approach, they would have scored 1/2, not 0/2.

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60281129

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#19

It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story that involves crypto and NFTs. People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars, don't question why there are hundreds of altcoins on the market and some "cryptocurrency experts" are supposedly "offering free tips" on investment. The whole space is rife with scams and embellishments and yet there are so ma…

While I generally agree with your sentiment, some of the most iconic art in the world seems to me to be poorly made and I have no idea why they are valued or admired. I don’t just mean the usual go-to controversial examples in modern art like Serrano’s “Piss Christ”[0] or Emin’s “My Bed”[1], as even some older stuff like Klimt’s “Der Kuss”[2] give me this confusion (the woman has always looked to me like she has a broken neck).

(If it was just “I don’t like it” I would also list Cubism, but I can get that there are well-made examples of Cubism without liking the style).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bed

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kiss_(Klimt)

Re: BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute

#20

It's astonishing to me that people will just buy into any success story that involves crypto and NFTs. People don't question why poorly drawn pictures are being bought for thousands of dollars, don't question why there are hundreds of altcoins on the market and some "cryptocurrency experts" are supposedly "offering free tips" on investment. The whole space is rife with scams and embellishments and yet there are so ma…

Why limit it to crypto? People don't question why the value of houses seems to magically rise globally despite no tangible value being added to the assets in most cases. People don't question why Wall Street traders get rich by trading second derivatives of mortgage backed securities with each other all day. What makes a mortgage any more "real" than an NFT?
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