The Trouble with "Don't Miss Out"

a.k.a. Despite the hype, crypto isn't ready for prime time.

Larry David was in a Super Bowl commercial. That in and of itself is strange enough, but what’s even stranger is that the ad was for a virtual cryptocurrency exchange called FTX. In fact, it was just one of several crypto-related ads that aired during Sunday’s big game, including this one from Coinbase (another cryptocurrency exchange) that apparently featured music from producer Com Truise, a staple of the Ghostly International roster. (The response to that particular commercial was so large that it temporarily crashed the Coinbase app.)

Even before Super Bowl Sunday, crypto had begun its fervent push into the mainstream, despite the fact that many consumers are still in the “what exactly is an NFT?” stage of understanding what the hell is going on. (It’s telling that the NY Times published a fresh Web3 primer just last week, and that so much of it addressed fears that the whole thing is a scam.)

In music circles, however, the crypto conversation has been furiously bubbling for more than a year now. NFTs went through a much-publicized boom-and-bust cycle in 2021, and despite the emerging market’s obvious volatility, a series of headline-grabbing sales figures has lured countless artists—many of them tired of grappling with platform algorithms while being paid little to nothing by the streaming giants—into the crypto space.

Elsewhere, Web3 has arguably become the primary focus of Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s influential Interdependence podcast, while Cherie Hu recently transformed her respected Water & Music platform—one of the industry’s go-to outlets for research and reporting, particularly about emerging trends and technologies—into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Another music-focused DAO, Friends with Benefits, which primarily functions a sort of virtual VIP social club, became so popular that for a while last year, membership required the holding of more than $10,000 of the organization’s tokens. (As the DAO’s token value has declined in recent months, that figure has since dropped below $4000.)

The crypto hype is real, and considering the decade-plus of financial precarity and rising wealth inequality that’s followed the global economic downturn of 2008, it’s more than understandable why Web3 would appeal to people—and especially artists existing on the margins. Aside from the financial aspect—which can’t be overlooked, especially when the pandemic has sidelined most artists’ primary source of income (i.e. touring and live shows)—crypto theoretically offers a chance to escape the clutches of giant tech platforms (and their algorithms) while connecting directly with fans and building something more sustainable.

It’s an enticing prospect, but Web3 hasn’t yet won everybody over. Far from it. Amidst all the hype and praise, the current crypto boom has triggered staggering levels of criticism and pushback, with detractors decrying everything from the technology’s environmental footprint to its supporters’ bro-y culture and seeming propensity for grift. (That last point was definitely bolstered by the recent HitPiece scandal.)

An ugly online debate has erupted, and it increasingly plays out as yet another culture war, with crypto enthusiasts and critics routinely savaging each other’s morals, character and intelligence. The former are often painted as greed-driven techies peddling utopia for a profit (and destroying the planet in the process), while the latter cohort tends to be dismissed as a collection of small-minded Chicken Littles who lack the vision to properly “get” what’s happening. Both viewpoints are oversimplifications—and in fairness, so is my binary breakdown of the conflict—but what matters is just how contentious things have become, and how the dynamic of the conversation (if you can call it that) only seems to be worsening with time.

So where do I fall on the spectrum? Friends and colleagues frequently ask me what I think about crypto and NFTs, especially since I’ve devoted a fair amount of attention to the topic here in the newsletter, and my answer is usually some form of “I don’t know.” Do I think crypto technology is interesting? Yes. Am I interested in the potential of Web3? Absolutely. Do I think there are some people in the crypto space who are genuinely trying to improve people’s lives and make things better (particularly for artists)? Yes, and I’m eagerly following what they’re up to.

At the same time, is there a lot of heinous shit happening in crypto, both aesthetically and ethically? For sure. Does what’s happening with Web3 echo the unfulfilled utopian promises of prior tech “revolutions”? Definitely. Most importantly though, have I actually invested any of my own money in cryptocurrency? No, I haven’t.

I’ve certainly thought about it, but in the end, I just can’t seem to pull the trigger. I’m a music journalist, not an investor, and as intriguing as the technology (and all of its emerging applications) may be, I’m still hard pressed to find any current application that seems absolutely essential, or even all that useful, at least for my life. Despite all the noise about crypto, its development is still the early stages, and the problems (both real and potential) with the technology are numerous; genuine legal, ethical, environmental, financial and creative concerns have been raised, and most of them are a long way off from being solved, or even thoroughly addressed.

Of course, none of that has stopped crypto enthusiasts from pushing messages like this:

That’s an actual screenshot from the Larry David commercial mentioned at the beginning of this piece, and it’s a perfect encapsulation of what’s driving the current boom. Blame capitalism if you like, but the idea that crypto and NFTs are a once-in-a-lifetime “opportunity” (primarily to make money) is far more enticing to the average person than the utopian possibilities of the blockchain, and uninformed consumers are currently rushing to line up before the train leaves the station. This is a dangerous situation, one that could potentially ruin many peoples’ lives, and yet it’s running unchecked—with heavy backing from the financial sector—before it’s even been established not only what crypto technology is, but what exactly it can do. (There’s also the looming question of what it will even be allowed to do after governments around the world have their say.)

I’m not an anti-crypto person by any means. In fact, I find much of the Web3 critique—which would often be better described as moralizing—to be some combination of disingenuous, mean-spirited, self-defeating and overly catastrophizing. (In other words, it fits right in with much of what passes for online discourse these days.) At the same time, I myself am not yet ready to jump into the crypto sphere, for one main reason: I don’t trust it.