Crypto attracts enormous volumes of derision from both inside and outside of the industry. What I find the most interesting, however, is the criticisms of the people from inside crypto who have the best view of it. What are your unpopular opinions about our sector?

Token Gamer and NFT Insider have decided to combine forces to launch a weekly podcast, Mint One (formerly WAX Lyrical). John Nichols of NFT Insider and I will discuss a new topic every week, as well as feature special guests. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, make sure you let us know through the Token Gamer Discord or Twitter, or the NFT Insider Discord or Twitter.

In last week’s episode, John and I discussed the ethics of the Play-to-Earn corner of gaming, the challenges it must solve, and how to proceed. This week, we see how much we can irk both the listeners and each other.

Episode 22: Unpopular Opinions in Crypto

Thanks to both social media and Web2 as a whole, we are usually deep inside our own echo chambers. It can be all too easy to think you’re in the majority when you’re not, as well as thinking you’re correct when you might not be. To counter this, I follow people who I know disagree with me but I think are usually sensible, intelligent folk, and I try to think of counterarguments to every opinion I hold.

Crypto is one of the stranger beasts I’ve employed this tactic on. The confirmation bias and tribalism are fervent, and it’s all too easy to believe the hype. In fact, it’s this hype that forms the foundations of my most strongly held unpopular opinion and a drum I have banged regularly: cult-like language.

For this episode, I researched cult language and looked into what experts had to say on it, to see if I was perhaps misusing the term, but if anything — and I don’t think this is confirmation bias! — it solidified my position. One particularly similarity with a cult was found in Scientology where they choose to use a lot of initialisms and acronyms that few outside have a chance of understanding or deciphering. This works to both alienate the members and make the members feel they are a part of something bigger.

GM, FU FUDsters, WGMI! HODL TTM!

We’d like to ask that if you listen to us on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify that you rate us five stars and leave us a review if you enjoy Mint One. This helps both our podcast and the blockchain gaming ecosystem as a whole!

To listen to Mint One, you can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, and Google Podcasts.