As the U.S. war on crypto ramps up, mainstream media is joining the fray as salacious headlines attacking crypto companies become the norm.
Blockchain analytics firm Santiment has measured one of its highest levels of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) over the weekend.
On March 5, the firm reported that Twitter was the source of a lot of negative sentiment.
“Some bizarrely high levels of negative crypto sentiment has appeared this weekend, particularly here on Twitter.”
Social Sentiment Slump
Santiment’s bullish vs. bearish word comparison social trends indicator showed a massive spike over the weekend.
Analysts said that the surge in bearish sentiment and FUD was predominantly from Twitter. This is unsurprising since the micro-blogging platform has become the industry’s de facto social media home.
Furthermore, notorious Twitter accounts such as “Mr. Whale” consistently spew crypto FUD to its 500,000 followers. Although this account usually targets crypto companies such as Tether and Binance, Santiment noted that there was an “unusually high” amount of negative commentary about the markets.
“It’s particularly interesting that #cryptocrash has been a key of-and-on trending hashtag on the platform, even though Bitcoin’s mild -5% pullback occurred more than three days ago.”
Last week’s $60 billion selloff was likely caused by issues facing crypto bank Silvergate. Lido and Binance have also been thrown into the crypto FUD spotlight recently. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been on the warpath targeting crypto companies and labeling the majority of assets as securities.
Furthermore, the Bitcoin fear and greed index, which uses sentiment as a measurement, has slipped back below 50 into neutral territory.
Mainstream Media Crypto FUD Fest
Mainstream media is lapping up the negativity as it provides opportunities for salacious headlines.
The anti-crypto industry Wall Street Journal has been attacking stablecoin issuer Tether again. Its latest claim is that the firm faked banking documents. Tether responded to the “stale allegations” by stating that it has:
“World-class compliance programs and adhere to applicable Anti-Money Laundering, Know Your Customer, and Counter-Terrorist Financing legal requirements.”
The WSJ, owned by the traditional financial elite Dow Jones and Company, has repeatedly targeted Tether over the years. On March 5, the outlet unleashed another attack on Binance, accusing it of trying to evade U.S. authorities.
Bloomberg has also produced some of its own headline gems. On March 3, the outlet cited U.S. politicians alleging that Binance was a “hotbed of illegal activity.”
Industry executives and experts pointed out that crypto FUD is nothing new, especially during bear markets.
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