Where Are Delusions Concerning Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology Originated from?

09.02.2016

The great role of print-media in forming a public opinion shouldn’t be doubted; however, sometimes incompetence of journalists is disastrous. Generally speaking, they are ready to go the whole hog to raise their rating and increase circulation. As a result, a reader is rather often under the influence of incompetent “contributors”. How to believe cock-an-bull stories of reporters who discuss cryptocurrencies without even basic knowledge in this field?
The key value of any information is its informativeness. All that is left to do is following with indignation the “art” of some “expert writers” imagined themselves as gurus of economics and thinking over Bitcoin. An amateur approach to spreading information distorts real values. Disinformation (intentional or unintentional) deceives ordinary people and borders on a theft.
A typical example
Guardian is not considered as mass-media source specialized in economy or finances. The surprising is incompetence of a journalist quoting Taavi Roivas, the Prime Minister of Estonia, who disclosed the results of experiments with blockchain technology.
The information is only partially consistent with reality. In the article there is no one word about the very important project BitNation. One might question whether this negligence is intended or represents a result of author’s incompetence. A dogmatic statement that Bitcoin is widely used for money laundering and online drug sale shocks the ear.
Continuous discussions on illegal cryptocurrency circulation provoke laughter among experts but mislead ordinary people undermining the base of financial power of the cryptocurrency. Of course, one can buy drugs with Bitcoin (as well as with any other currency) but no need to consider it as an instrument designed by criminals for money laundering.
Strange, the author of the article, John Naughton, hasn’t succeeded to call Bitcoin as a main currency of terrorists and porno-barons. Such insinuations are indicative of lack of respectability of a journalist and a publication.
Authors’ pearls
An author put forward an original idea of using blockchain technology for cadastral registration of land resources of Honduras. Meanwhile, the project Factom was suspended in December.
Print-media address to the topic of cryptocurrencies ascribing to the blockchain technology unheard-of advantages and disadvantages with no any specific details.
Naughton’s statement about difficulties of Bitcoin formation caused by sluggishness of bureaucratic apparatus, has solid ground. However, the author has forgotten to mention that in the nearest time the cryptocurrency might make government dependant on it.
Woe from Wit
The topic of Bitcoin is so manifold that having stopped to get true information during at least a week, some significant details might be missed. Anyway, it is difficult to take seriously statements of a layman like Naughton. Today an information quality problem is a thorny issue, so a reader should not be misled by disinformation spread by some mass-media resources.
More trustworthy information can be found on the Internet or some specialized publications (CoinDesk, BraveNewCoin, BitcoinMagazine). One can get valuable information after registration on forums Reddit and Bitcointalk. And do not forget about Russian resource BitNovosti.
 
The subject of blockchain technology is quite interesting, and the amount of people intending to learn more about Bitcoin increases each year. If you want to hunt down the details, look for cryptocurrency experts’ blogs.