Wen Deplatform: How cancel culture fuels Bitcoin
Antifragility of crypto
Instead of “wen airdrop”, we should be asking “wen deplatform”.
For each de-platforming that happens in the world, crypto grows stronger.
Let me start with the punchline: Crypto is antifragile to de-platforming. It thrives and grows from shocks of censorship and attacks on sovereignty.
Every time someone is de-platformed or there is such an attempt, the crypto ecosystem gains strength. De-platforming falls within the umbrella of censorship. The nuance is that people on the side of a de-platforming effort believe their cause to be altruistic.
In the last month, a series of events have shown the world the role of crypto - especially Bitcoin - in the future. This is neither political commentary nor investment advice but rather a display of curated words that paint a crypto picture.
The first de-platforming event in the last month was a movement to remove the comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan from Spotify. It originated from claims that some of his podcast episodes were spreading misinformation about COVID-19. It was further fueled by a video with old clips containing racial slurs.
This was just a warm-up though. Just another day in cancel culture.
Episode 2 features The Canadian Truckers. To protest against COVID measures in the country, a convoy of truckers went to the Canadian city of Ottawa. I’m not here to debate the merits of any of these events but to highlight the actions taken that feed into the crypto narrative.
The Canadian government shocked the world when they activated a measure to freeze the financial accounts of any party - directly or indirectly - involved in the protest. With a push of a button and without being convicted of a crime (i.e. no due process), people’s livelihood were haulted. @punk6529 has the most insightful thread on the topic (must read):
In essence, to act out our fundamental freedoms, the ability to transact is critical. No ability to transact, no rights. In today’s financial world, a government has the ability to deplaform people financially without even convicting them of a crime.
This event was a watershed moment showing the need for self custody of money. The global need for everyone to own something like Bitcoin. Even mild-mannered, democratic governments in places like Canada are willing to push the financial nuclear button. Imagine how ugly it could get in other places.
Episode 3 is the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. A humanitarian crisis causing enormous pain to millions of people. In response to the Russian invasion, NATO chose no military intervention in favor of de-platforming.
In lieu of physical action, NATO went instead for the financial nuke: largely block Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT money transfer system.
You don’t have to be a military strategist to know that other large nations are watching. No one wants to be vulnerable to such actions by a third party. We can be sure that alternative payment rails just ramped higher among many agendas. Bitcoin shines a tad brighter.
Some people still don’t get the use case for Bitcoin and decentralized applications. Rule of thumb: the higher the rate of de-platforming in the world, the higher the need for these tools.
You could be thinking: “well, I’m just a regular person and I’m usually on the right side of equation. No worrying for me to do.” Here’s a message from the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine:
His ask is to also sabotage ordinary users. Create maximum pain on everyone so a political figure takes action. We forget that sometimes people will take a “by any means necessary approach”.
What if you are the collateral damage of some action taken by some political actor you don’t event support and your assets are frozen for 6 months while a conflict plays itself out?
If we see new all time highs in Bitcoin soon, we can’t be surprised.
All opinions are my own. This is not investment advice nor political commentary.
Note: In crypto chats, "wen" is a meme replacement for "when". It's typically used for highly repetitive and common questions asked by users such as "wen airdrop".