Cryptocurrency News Coverage Echoes 2021 Negativity Cycle

• Negativity surrounding the cryptocurrency sector from mainstream media outlets has reached 2021 levels
• Media outlets savaged cryptocurrency during its May-July 2021 slump
• The sentiment cycles are becoming clearer and clearer each time

It’s no secret that the cryptocurrency sector and mainstream media outlets are not great bedfellows. However, in May 2021 when the crypto bull run was at its peak there was actually positive reporting – Coinbase was listing on the Nasdaq, Tesla was buying bitcoin, DOGE was pulling up trees (and Elon Musk’s credibility)…life was, temporarily, good. Then China banned Bitcoin (again) and, once price turned, they went right back to Bitcoin bashing. We can see the same happening now, with cryptocurrency being castigated for everything from bankrupting innocents to ruining Australian rules football, illustrating that news cycles are just as predictable as crypto cycles.

Negative Cryptocurrency Reporting Comes in Cycles

It seems like a long time ago that we saw some positive headlines about cryptocurrencies. But there were some back in the heady days around this time last year when Bitcoin had broken its all time high and all the doom mongers from 2017 had been silenced. Once Bitcoin hit $65,000 in May and began to reverse however, so did the sentiment in the media – Tesla stopped accepting bitcoin because it used more energy than the entire Earth which was why China was banning it for the hundredth time and crypto has no use except for criminals…etc etc.

In November 2021 Bitcoin reached new heights of $69,000 on positive news over the Bitcoin Futures ETF, but this was to be short lived – the $25,000 drop it has since experienced has been met, once again, with a torrent of negativity. A simple Google search for ‘cryptocurrency’ in the search engine’s news section reveals the following headlines, in order:

• Gareth Southgate: England manager seeks legal advice after his name is used in cryptocurrency scam
• Bitcoin: Misleading cryptocurrency adverts to be banned amid spike in fraud
• AFL ‘corrupting the sport’ through deal with cryptocurrency trading company, says Tim Costello
• Spain will regulate influencers promoting cryptocurrency
• Cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin slides further as global crypto market dips

It isn’t until page three of Google’s news service that we get some positive news – a piece from dentistry.com of all places that features James Martin, the founder of the Dentists Who Invest Facebook group, explaining why crypto will change the world (for the better). And then it all goes to hell in a handcart again, with a piece in the Guardian stating that “the booming cryptocurrency market is open to exploitation” and a piece in the Guardian stating that “cryptocurrency dealing fuels addiction” and a piece in the Guardian stating…you get the picture.

When No News is Good News

If history is our guide then this is a sure sign that we are mid-slump, that prices and media sentiment will continue to decline until these same outlets can celebrate the death of the crypto space once again. Once the media has gone from negative reporting to no reporting whatsoever can we start to peek out from behind the sofa, open our wallets again, and start buying.