What happens when a relatively new phenomena meets another, long-standing phenomena? The answer is: crypto journalism. A category of publicity yet a separate realm; heeding economics yet defying the traditional definition of it; shaping the future yet referring to the past — the publicism in the crypto industry is full of controversies, a better part of which are seemingly oxymoronic and surprisingly walking the same path.
However, let’s cast aside the pretentious narration. Crypto journalism is indeed an enigmatic sphere until it is given deep scrutiny. As a part of this trade, I am daring enough to say that the fourth estate in crypto is one of the most ambiguous and complex interpretations of journalism. But why am I saying this?
Let’s begin with sticking to the pivotal rule of crypto journalism — look back at the past.
To be specific: put the period from 15 years ago till now in a nutshell. The world’s economy is healing its wounds after the global crisis; Bitcoin is created, giving rise to free digital money — cryptocurrency. The concept is taking up leaving the web pages, yet it is still surrounded by obscurity. For some, it is a groundbreaking technology, dividing the lines into before and after. For others, it is a “bubble”, a sort of Ponzi scheme, by and large — fraudulent digital assets. For the majority — something made a fuss about and was confusing. Then Ethereum is launched, Bitcoin is hitting skyrocketing digits, NFTs are emerging, and Elon Musk pumping and dumping digital assets — and now we are here. But what has changed? In fact, many.
Throughout the span, cryptocurrencies have always earned a tarnishing reputation. In fact, only a minority managed to realize their pivotal ideas — and this minority did not consist of conservative journalists and major bankers. This state of things was reflected in journalism.
Two Cornerstones of Crypto Journalism
There is a common misconception that crypto journalism is a freshly-emerged realm. That is, apparently, hopelessly wrong — CoinTelegraph and CoinDesk are based since 2013. However, this claim hints at two issues and specialties of crypto journalism — the demand and the shift of authority.
Crypto awareness is at its highest, reaching almost 60% of the global population, and half of it understands digital assets comprehensively. What is remarkable, is the demand for knowledge about crypto, taking part in educational projects, and being an integral part of the online crypto community. Hence, crypto journalism has indicated the emergence of not only influencers and microblogs but also cutting-edge and non-trivial resources. Case in point: Gagarin Show — a crypto hub launched by one of the largest European exchanges WhiteBIT. The media educates enthusiasts through the formats, typical of entertaining shows, and from the person of celebrities.
Still, the tendency of sticking to the crypto resources took up not so long ago. Before that, Forbes, The Economist, and other iconic publications were popular among the fans of digital assets. However, with the development of the separate and solid crypto community, the authority of its active participants has outweighed traditional journalism. That’s why Gagarin Show, BeInCrypto, and CoinTelegraph are now powerful and popular resources of information about the crypto world, especially compared to Forbes.
However, there is another social media resource that can be defined as the powerhouse of crypto journalism — Medium. The formatting of the blog clearly meets the crypto-oriented content, and along with this, every newcomer has a right to a voice.
The crypto-community is strong on the social network, hence I present to you 5 crypto-authors on Medium which are definitely worth reading and following.
Ziva Fajfar
Ziva Fajfar dedicates its writing to complex yet vivid crypto analytics — tokenomics, trading strategies analysis, etc. Still, she also focuses on Metaverse and blockchain technologies, which indicates a comprehensive approach to technology studies.
nft_nate
As the nickname of the writer states, nft_nate’s content heeds mostly the NFT realm, but he does not confine himself to the sphere and is also fond of writing about the crypto world.
Lou Kerner
Founder of the CryptoOracle Collective & CryptoMonday, Lou Kerner’s pieces of writing are insightful, and the material he heeds is pretty exclusive — namely, some of the material is dedicated to the key moments of top-notch crypto events and conferences.
Jayden Levitt
Jayden Levitt’s blog is a thick concentration of gripping writing and meticulous analysis, wrapped up in a simple narration. He gives decent looks at the latest tendencies, and this is definitely a must-read.
Pantera
6-year-experienced crypto author with his beliefs and insights on the key events and tendencies of the crypto realm. He’s the author of my highest recommendation.
Nevertheless, the solid community and channels of promotion are not the factors which make crypto journalism a distinct industry. In fact, the part and parcel about fourth estate is a massive bunch of industries, spheres and disciplines to be acquainted with, as studying the tendencies in cryptocurrency require awareness of the politics, traditional economics and tokenomics, as well as the skills of carrying out complex algebraic analyses.
Hence, a good crypto journalist is one who is not limited to crypto. And that really indicated, how cutting-edge and complicated this industry is.
