<\/p>\n
The crypto journalists are in an industry publication polycule.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In case we\u2019ve forgotten what a polycule is: all of the people linked through their relationships, usually romantic and\/or sexual, to one or more members of a polyamorous group.<\/p>\n
I hate to say it \u2014 and some will side-eye me for being the one to say it, since I\u2019ve written for nearly all the crypto trade pubs (here\u2019s another one checked off) \u2014 but walking out of the court house where Sam Bankman-Fried was being tried, I couldn\u2019t help feeling it all a bit incestuous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The only day I went to the courthouse was yesterday, during the prosecutor\u2019s closing arguments<\/a>. It was also the only day I\u2019ve paid any attention to the trial. And the media aspect felt a bit too friendly \u2014 ex-colleagues, now competitors, giving each other hugs, asking each other when their respective pubs are going to go under and indulging in this weird spectacle that we\u2019re pretending is\u2026really that serious.\u00a0<\/p>\n Crypto media has taken a hit recently. Each bear market is harder than the last, because the previous bull enticed more people, including journalists, into the broader crypto \u2018cule. In the bull, there\u2019s nothing sweeter. You can\u2019t possibly imagine being jealous about your primary partner\u2019s secondary journalist, or your secondary partner\u2019s primary journalist, or even that weird freelancer who is way too earnest for the orgy.\u00a0<\/p>\n But then, the floor drops out from under you. This time around, there\u2019s more users getting completely rekt, more believers having to backtrack, more journalists laid off and, in turn, throwing themselves at any tragedy that will elicit the clicks we\u2019re all addicted to.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. Walking into a New York City government building where they take your phone away and you\u2019re having to frantically handwrite notes on hours of closing arguments, it certainly does make you feel important. And the comradery \u2014 I know it\u2019s real in some cases \u2014 I\u2019m not knocking that feel-good sensation, that need for a friendly outlet to vent. Plus, as New York Magazine wrote<\/a>, \u201cThe trial has an ungainly audience, and it\u2019s kind of great.\u201d No doubt I would have been even more annoyed about my presence in the overflow room had it not been for the gasps, laughs and old friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n But. But. It does kinda seem that we journalists are all here just to prove that we\u2019re all still here. From what I\u2019ve heard \u2014 the views on our trial articles, you could count on your hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more from our opinion section:<\/strong> I\u2019m a crypto journalist, just please don\u2019t tell anyone<\/a><\/p>\n The implosion of FTX is certainly important. People throughout the world collectively lost billions of dollars. Those dollars, as the prosecutor labeled them, were \u201cinvestments, savings, nest eggs for the future.\u201d True, but also, the people who lost money were largely not Americans. And yes, crypto media is global, but we all know where most of our readers are coming from. So who are we writing for? Why quick hits every time SBF twitches from Adderall withdrawal? And why such urgency?\u00a0<\/p>\n A friend called what I saw yesterday in the courthouse rubbernecking, like when people stare for too long at accidents (see here: scandal, misbehavior, criminality). There are journalists who have spent the last five weeks, Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, in that courtroom (or the overflow rooms) listening to the tedious minutiae of how SBF lost billions of dollars of FTX customer funds. Customers, who again, were largely not the readership of your publications. I know journalists that got to the courthouse at midnight, in the cold, in the rain, just to make sure they got a spot in the actual courtroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n I respect your initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m not saying there should be no journalists there. There are certainly reporters who cover law, regulation, court cases who surely are prime candidates for covering this shitshow. But crypto media\u2019s obsession with this trial is another example of the industry\u2019s love of scams, fraud and \u2014 LOL \u2014 those that perpetrate them. Someone there had on a fucking Alameda T-shirt like a badge of honor. \u201cYeah, I went to the Bahamas.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ooookay. Easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Look, I get it. I have been in rooms with the most notorious crypto frauds. I\u2019ve been groped by the kingpins of the industry. I was one of the first journalists to write about Bitcoin back in 2012. I have listened to the bullshit for a very long time. And it made me feel important. It made me feel like I was this close to being famous. It made me feel like a part of history, a history that not many people really grok.\u00a0<\/p>\n But don\u2019t kid yourself. Stay humble, my friends. No one outside this small group of people gives a shit.\u00a0<\/p>\n About thirty minutes into the prosecutor\u2019s closing statements, there was a problem with the screen share in the courtroom. The court devolved into chaos as people tried to figure out how to get exhibit whatever number to appear on all the screens.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two women behind me started chatting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m already sold.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, say less.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShould we just bounce?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, let\u2019s bounce.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At first, I judged them. Me, high and mighty, scribbling away in my notebook, scoffs, Isn\u2019t the problem that we\u2019re all so quick to judge? You all are certainly not invested in this.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The irony is not lost on me and my small grift as a journalist in the courtroom.<\/p>\n The two women\u2019s snap judgment isn\u2019t the problem. You don\u2019t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that Bankman-Fried is guilty. And especially for me, I needed to sit through no part of the trial at all to already know that someone the industry had elevated to god-like status was going to screw up the polyfidelity. History, repeating itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n I hope those women got a latte and a massage, had a nice chat about what fun dance class they\u2019re taking this week or the epiphany they had in yoga. I hope they laughed, and told each other, \u201cWe should do this more often.\u201d I hope they didn\u2019t think about this trial once after they left.\u00a0<\/p>\n I thought about staying. I thought about staying because, even though I had decided those women were to be honored because of their quick astuteness, there was going to be a whole \u2018nother round of closing arguments from the defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n And it hit me, one of these parties will have lied. Actually, both the parties have probably lied. Everyone is lying a little, and sometimes a lot. But we are certainly lying to pretend that crypto, thus far, has amounted to anything more than a distraction to the serious problems in society, anything more than a risky plaything, anything more than wishful thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n But I\u2019m staying because I think crypto could amount to something, someday, hopefully. For the other journalists out there, the ones who are also staying, who are back at the courthouse today, I have a question \u2014 could there be a way to manage this harem where the ups are inspiring and the downs are supportive and both don\u2019t feel quite so exploitative?<\/p>\n But also, let\u2019s not be so delusional to think that our hope for crypto\u2019s future isn\u2019t a bit self-indulgent \u2014 please, for the love of God, I just want to retire early.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bailey Reutzel is an OG crypto user and journalist (I hate that I said that). She started writing about Bitcoin in 2012 for American Banker. Since then her work \u2013 across cryptocurrency, technology, and politics \u2013 has appeared in CNBC, The Atlantic, The Economist, CoinDesk, Decrypt, and most every other crypto pub. She has worked with some of the biggest tech and crypto companies on content strategy and creation. Most recently, she\u2019s focused on building out stories for the stage for some of the largest conferences in crypto with her colleagues at Amplified Event Strategy. In her free time, she writes fiction, meditates, and mints NFTs.\n<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss the next big story \u2013 join our\u00a0free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\n