Ghosting Is the New Go-To in Crypto

Welcome to Bloomberg Crypto, our twice-weekly look at Bitcoin, blockchain and more. If someone forwarded this to you, sign up here. In today’s edition,  goes ghost-hunting in crypto: 

Crypto crickets

If you’ve dated since the early 2000s, you’re probably familiar with the term “ghosting.” It describes when a date goes sour or a relationship loses its shine, and one party tries to end things by cutting off all contact with the other, often abruptly and without explanation (i.e., vanishing like a ghost). For those in crypto during the recent market meltdown, this may sound all too familiar.

Ghosting, it seems, is the go-to approach for crypto executives when trouble arises. Has the lender you’re in charge of suspended withdrawals? Go quiet on your depositors while requesting their “understanding and patience” as you wade through the mess. Is your hedge fund collapsing after you made risky bets with borrowed money? Commit to “working this out” in a cryptic tweet while otherwise maintaining a lengthy radio silence. Did you get a large tattoo in honor of a crypto token that’s now defunct? Ghost everyone for a week, then spin it as a timely reminder of the need for humility. 

For those who piled into crypto during the most recent bull market, this attitude toward fair investor disclosure may come as a shock. Buyers of traditional stocks like Apple or General Motors are more accustomed to seeing bosses come out with their hands up when things go wrong, allowing themselves to be admonished on lengthy analyst calls and writing shareholder letters on next steps. 

But crypto isn’t just finance in the 21st century — it’s also the finance of The Future, where CEOs often communicate solely in memes and reassure investors in 280 characters or fewer. In the good old days, Twitter would be abuzz with founders telling their detractors to “have fun staying poor.” Now, those same founders are firmly living a life under the radar.

Ghosting already appears to have become common practice in this crypto winter, at least for those unlucky enough to be on the losing side. The question is, do investors deserve better? And when the answer is almost undoubtedly yes, how can that attitude be resolved, particularly in a world where regulators can’t even decide which jurisdiction is responsible for the fallout?

Charting it out

Hearing them out

What we’re reading (and writing)

• Bitcoin Is More Likely to Hit $10,000 Than $30,000, Survey Finds
• Three Arrows Founders’ Whereabouts Unknown, Liquidators Say
• Can ‘Chief Vibes Officers’ and NFT Influencers Keep Things Positive Amid the Crypto Collapse? (The Guardian)
• Crypto Startup Funding Falls to a One-Year Low in Market Crisis
• For Crypto Survivors, There Are Deals to Be Had (Wall Street Journal)
• Bitcoin Miners Shut as Texas Power Grid Nears Brink

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— With assistance by Hannah Miller, and Olga Kharif