On March 20, 2022, the New York Times published a 14,000-word puff piece on cryptocurrencies, both online and as an entire section of the Sunday print edition. Though its author, Kevin Roose, wrote that it aimed to be a “sober, dispassionate explanation of what crypto actually is“, it was a thinly-veiled advertisement for cryptocurrency that appeared to have received little in the way of fact-checking or critical editorial scrutiny. It uncritically repeated many questionable or entirely fallacious arguments from cryptocurrency advocates, and it appears that no experts on the topic were consulted, or even anyone with a less-than-rosy view on crypto. This is grossly irresponsible.
So begins The (Edited) Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto, a version of that article, annotated inline by fifteen crypto researchers and critics.
Led by (?) Molly White (of Web3 is Going Just Great and @web3isgreat), the article is not only required reading on the topic, it also showcases a great way to provide inline commentary on articles.
As it relates to NFTs, the above applies to Dan Olson’s Line Goes Up, too.