Bonum Certa Men Certa

There is No Such Thing as 'Cryptocurrency' and Please Stop Referring to It as Cryptocurrency

Cryptography



Summary: A lot of reckless media, including the "journal of record" New York Times, helps a bunch of spammers and scammers hijack and distort words in order to promote theft

THE scam that is "cryptocurrency" has cost my friend his life savings. He's in his 60s, a university professor. For nearly a year he was too shy to tell his friends what had happened. It was embarrassing. He fell for it. He should have asked friends. Earlier today a friend told me that "crypto" is cryptography, whereas cryptocurrency is a "scam + waste of electricity" (a sentiment with which I agree).



Say what you will about the international/global banking system (yes, it is corrupt), but the alternative to it isn't some charlatans or frauds, boosted online by "bros" in social control media. "Get rich fast" schemes have long relied on misinformation, more so or especially relying on much-deserved distrust (alluding to "traditional" banks and governments). Having an alternative to something does not mean the alternative is better or safer. My above-mentioned friend was scammed by "cryptocurrency" charlatans through Microsoft's LinkeIn, which is social control media where corruption flourishes. No wonder, it's controlled by a company where scams are "business as usual" (Microsoft).

"Binance should be shredded to pieces and these pieces then be scattered into the deepest ocean."Earlier today we saw that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to let Binance be [1]. We're not happy about this. Binance should be shredded to pieces and these pieces then be scattered into the deepest ocean. Banks in the US are collapsing and certainly more American banks will collapse by the end of the year. Binance might also collapse, just like FTX and the scam of Jim Zemlin's wife [1, 2, Jim 'FTX' Zemlin: “My Wife Who is a Successful Technology Executive and Harvard MBA [and Fraudster Facing Class Action Lawsuit for Securities Fraud] Really Had an Obvious Look of Disappointment... When I Told Her I Worked at a Non-Profit” [sic]].

When you allude to those "exchanges" as "crypto" you help perpetuate the lie that they are secure, even "safe". When you use the term "currency" you borrow credibility by insinuating that they're like physical coins, bartering etc. They're speculations at best. They're worse than lottery. So never refer to these as "cryptocurrency"; just call them... scams. You would not be wrong; it's only a matter of time before you're proven right.

"In many people's minds, the term "crypto" is hijacked to the point where cryptography is viewed as something risky, dangerous, illegal, even sinister/evil."Spam sites that take bribes in exchange for puff pieces continue to call these "crypto firms" [2], the "journal of record" called it "cryptocurrency" this past Friday [3] (even in the summary), and this same "journal of record" even said "Crypto Companies" in the headline earlier today [4]. We urge readers to contact these so-called 'newspapers' and ask them to quit doing this. Stop using the fake descriptions of Ponzi schemes. Charlatans and liars gain credibility each time the press uses their fictional vocabulary, which moreover misuses real words (here's a new example of "Cryptominers" [5]).

There are still examples of correct uses of terms, e.g. "cryptographer" yesterday [6], but those are becoming rarer over time. In many people's minds, the term "crypto" is hijacked to the point where cryptography is viewed as something risky, dangerous, illegal, even sinister/evil.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Binance Reaches Deal With Government to Avert U.S. Shutdown
    The Securities and Exchange Commission agreed on a compromise with Binance that will keep the exchange open as it battles a fraud lawsuit.


  2. House testimony by crypto firm Prometheum CEO€ raises questions about regulation
    Recent testimony in front of the U.S. House by cryptocurrency firm Prometheum€ Inc. Chief Executive Aaron Kaplan has created a stir regarding regulatory clarity for digital assets.


  3. Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor, Is Running for President: What to Know
    Mr. Suarez, who is entering the Republican presidential race, is a cryptocurrency enthusiast who holds a largely ceremonial job as mayor of Miami.


  4. He Went After Crypto Companies. Then Someone Came After Him.
    Kyle Roche was a rising star in the field of cryptocurrency law — until his career imploded. Who orchestrated his downfall?


  5. 2023-06-12 [Older] Geoserver Attack Details: More Cryptominers against Unconfigured WebApps, (Mon, Jun 12th)
  6. Ouroboros LLMs and their impending entropy problem

    More to the point though, as any cryptographer will tell you, this reduction entropy is a disaster if your model requires original thought.



Recent Techrights' Posts

The Importance of a Resilient Partner
Rianne's mental strength is something I both admire and sometimes envy
Dakota Chambers says “the year of Linux on the desktop” is next year (6 weeks from now)
Six weeks from now it is 2026 already
 
Links 20/11/2025: Esperanto Music History and "Hacking the URL Schema"
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2025: Phone Distraction Causes Ferry's Crash, Lots of Negative Press for Slop (Consensus Shifting)
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2025: Python Risk From Rust Activists, "Climate Change is Biggest Security Threat"
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2025: Cloudflare Outage Post Mortem and Tesla Robotaxi "Safety"
Links for the day
More Layoffs, Shutdowns Connected to Microsoft's XBox and Gaming Failure
sales flounder
Geminispace/Gopher Links 20/11/2025: Nagless, VPS, and Java
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 19, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Some People Still Being RAd at IBM This Week, According to Unverified Claims Online
IBM is misleading shareholders
Gemini Links 19/11/2025: FlatCube, uBlock Origin, and More
Links for the day
Luis Berenguer Giménez Claims to Still be at the EPO (European Patent Office), Even After His Replacement Following Cocaine Bust
Look what sort of culture Campinos imported from the EU (EUIPO) to Bavaria
Censorship Doesn't Always Work
Somehow we've managed to attract the wrath of some large corporations and organisations
The Media Explains to Us Why It's Dangerous to Cover EPO's "Cocainegate"
Does the EPO command the European media?
Fake News Sites Made by LLMs Are Lying With Confidence (IBM and Red Hat Layoffs)
Slop just doesn't work
Microsoft Lunduke Publicly Attacking Linus Torvalds Says a Lot About 4Chan Cult(ure)
find some issues that sites like ours habitually explore/investigate/revisit, then add some lunatic spin on top of them
Europe Talks About "Digital Sovereignty" and Free Software in Europe is Where Things Should Start
Time will tell if anything concrete can emerge from the above, as media reports certainly have not, at least not in English
Links 19/11/2025: Lawfare Against Greenpeace, Major British Newspaper Caught Using LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 19/11/2025: "Corporate-Government Censorship" by App Stores (Says ACLU) and Invalidation of Patent Trolls' Patents Sought
Links for the day
Links 19/11/2025: Several Sites Admit Slop Bubble "About to Burst", US Government Tacitly Endorses Assassination of Journalists
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Up to 5% in analytics.usa.gov, Apple and Microsoft Only Sell Fantasies
As for Microsoft, it tries to rebrand Windows as "AI" something or "agentic" (AI) something because it's not selling well and Microsoft needs to engage in "creative" storytelling with shareholders
They Want to Take Humour Away
If society starts gravitating towards jokes being taboo and abuse/violence/online trolling being "jokes" (they're not), we're worse off and more like North Korea
The New Stack, Sponsored by Microsoft: Pay Us Money to Read Promotion of Slop Composed by Microsofters to Sell Their Proprietary Slopware
it's a self-promotional plug for someone who came from Microsoft
Claims That IBM Research Brazil is Shutting Down, Japan Impacted Also
As usual, the corporate media won't mention this
Links 19/11/2025: Google Nest Surveillance and Daily Telegraph Still Up for Sale
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/11/2025: "Slack is a Sauna" and ClaudeBot Nuisance
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 18, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 18, 2025
"GNU/Linux" No Longer a Pandora's Box
Cannot even make or crack a joke... when you have a target painted on your back
We Don't Keep Logs
Not for any considerable length of time
Wall Street Journal is Publishing Puff Pieces About Quantum
For IBM [...] a lot of articles about "AI" are basically a form of spam
Is the Lid Being Shut on Top of LLM Slop?
It sort of "feels" like slop is becoming passé
Celebrating Digital Sovereignty
Digital Sovereignty is connected very closely to the concept of Software Freedom
Your Web Site is Connected to the Net and the Server is Powered On, But Cloudflare Takes It All Down
Anything outsourced means that yet another party can get things wrong, resulting in problems for everyone else "in the chain"
The Register's Latest Slop Spam, Another Paid-for Article to Inflate the Bubble
Remember when celebrities advertised FTX?
Quite a Few Red Hat Layoffs These Days (or Departures)
Remember that if there are Red Hat Layoffs, they won't be called "Red Hat Layoffs" but instead be "IBM RAs" or some thing to that effect
Today is an Excellent Day To Remind People to Dump Clownflare (Cloudflare)
If people think that Clownflare (Cloudflare) will improve uptime and make access better (it sure makes accessibility far worse), remind them of all the times this clown show goes wrong, taking down with it a lot of the Web
Links 18/11/2025: Asbestos Fears, Delays for GAFAM Undersea Cable
Links for the day
Links 18/11/2025: "Bitcoin Showing Signs of Severe Collapse" and CEOs of GAFAM Finally Speak About a Slop Bubble
Links for the day
The "Nazi Bars"
We don't condone or condemn the label "Nazi Bar"
Apparent Red Hat Layoffs in "AI" (Supposedly a Strategic Area for IBM)
What is going on there?
TV Programmes in Geminispace
Sort of like teletext except more cross-platform
Gemini Protocol as a Growing Source of Audience (Mostly Technical People)
Clients for Gemini Protocol are available for almost every platform imaginable
Techrights' Assessment of Red Hat Layoffs in 2025 (Yes, They Happened!)
In short, Red Hat layoffs did occur this year, but even when they did the media did not mention these (and those would count as "IBM" regardless)
The GPU Bubble (GPUs Marketed by Useless Slop)
"they're selling GPUs for the sake of selling GPUs"
EPO Change May be Afoot, Keep Pushing and Hold Those Feet to the Fire
Backlash is brewing and societal trends reinforce backlash right now
Links 18/11/2025: CISA Advisories, Climate, "U.S. Layoffs Surge and Blaming AI is Part of the Smokescreen"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/11/2025: "Block Them All", Annex, Signed Commits, and "Cryptography of the Internet"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 17, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, November 17, 2025
Right Under the Nose of Mainstream Media
That the media fails to cover the matter mostly speaks volumes about the media
Formalities Officers at the EPO Face Uncertain Future, Administration Gets Asked About That
They're being too polite (perhaps) to people whose agenda is detrimental not just to the EPO but also the EPC