Yesterday, I was researching one of my favourite MLM (cult) schemes in cryptocurrency. Unfortunately for them, their wheels seem to be falling off. One of their main salesmen, who has been around since the start and built the majority of their network, appears to have gone rogue. After falling out with the CEO, he has now been ejected from the company.
This led to a heated debate in their Telegram chat – a wondrous place of delusion. For this particular community, the reasons for the firing of this one salesman (who is himself pretty dodgy, it must be said) are still largely unknown. The problem for the admins of this chat is that they either don’t know the full reasons themselves, highlighting the disconnect between the top brass and the lower levels, or they don’t want to disclose what is happening for fear of further negative press and more questions from their own community.
Instead of having a debate, blanket bans were handed out to anyone discussing it, and it was as if the topic of conversation had never been brought up three hours later. The message was clear: do not question authority and do not criticise. Having a dictator in a cryptocurrency is never going to work out too well.
Censorship in cryptocurrency communities has been a hot topic for many. I am in favour of some form of moderation. Otherwise, forums and chat rooms can fall into conspiracy nonsense and the discussion becomes weak. However, there is a distinct difference in what’s happening here. Within this particular community, any questioning of the almighty leader is an absolute sin. They have become more akin to a cult. You must follow and must not ask too many difficult questions. Criticism is attributed to negativity.
Negativity is the bane of their existence. With it being such a terrible project and coin, it has failed consistently since inception. Therefore, there is a lot of criticism from outside of the community. Unable to argue with this criticism means that they have to resort to saying people are negative and just want to see them fail due to jealously.
Censorship isn’t ideal. Ideally, what you want to see is people being able to say what they want. Unfortunately, many people are not able to have smart and coherent discussions. However, censorship to the point where you ban members over and over again for asking difficult questions is a sign that you are in a cult and have invested in a coin that is never going to succeed.
Those involved within the particular cult I am discussing here may read this piece. I doubt that they will be self aware enough to realise I am discussing them though.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.