Crypto FUD increases as mainstream media continues its attacks
As America’s war on crypto intensifies, the mainstream media is joining the fray as nasty headlines attacking crypto companies become the norm.
Blockchain analytics firm Santiment has measured one of its highest levels of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) over the weekend.
On March 5, the firm reported that Twitter was the source of much negative sentiment.
“Some bizarrely high levels of negative crypto sentiment have emerged this weekend, especially here on Twitter.”
Social emotion decline
Santiment’s Social Trends Indicator for Bullish vs. bearish showed a massive increase over the weekend.
Analysts said the increase in bearish sentiment and FUD was mainly from Twitter. This is not surprising since the microblogging platform has become the industry’s de facto home of social media.
Furthermore, notorious Twitter accounts such as “Mr. Whale” consistently spew crypto FUD to their 500,000 followers. Although this account usually targets crypto companies like Tether and Binance, Santiment noted that there was an “unusually high” amount of negative comments about the markets.
“It’s particularly interesting that #cryptocrash has been a key off-and-on trending hashtag on the platform, even though Bitcoin’s mild -5% pullback happened more than three days ago.”
Last week’s $60 billion selloff was likely caused by problems with crypto bank Silvergate. Lido and Binance have also been thrust into the crypto FUD spotlight recently. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been on the warpath against crypto companies, labeling most of its assets as securities.
Furthermore, the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index, which uses sentiment as a measurement, has slipped back below 50 into neutral territory.
Mainstream Media Crypto FUD Fest
Mainstream media laps up the negativity as it provides opportunities for salacious headlines.
The anti-crypto industry Wall Street Journal has attacked stablecoin issuer Tether again. The latest allegation is that the firm falsified bank documents. Tether responded to the “outdated claims” by saying that it has:
“World-class compliance programs and complying with applicable anti-money laundering, know-your-customer and counter-terrorism laws.”
The WSJ, owned by the traditional financial elite Dow Jones and Company, has repeatedly targeted Tether over the years. On March 5, the outlet launched another attack on Binance, accusing it of trying to evade US authorities.
Bloomberg has also produced some of its own headline gems. On March 3, the outlet quoted US politicians as alleging that Binance was a “hotbed of illegal activity”.
Industry leaders and experts pointed out that crypto-FUD is nothing new, especially during bear markets.
Disclaimer
BeInCrypto has reached out to the company or person involved in the story for an official statement on the latest development, but has yet to hear back.
