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The financial establishment has embarked on a relentless smear campaign against cryptocurrency. Although expressed in an egalitarian manner designed to illustrate that bankers and their friends are looking out for our interests, the truth is that Bitcoin and its kin pose a clear and present danger to the system that keeps them in Lear jets, insulated from reality and essentially immune from prosecution.

Jamie Dimon’s “fraud” comments have been widely-mocked, given JPMorgan Chase’s unfortunate history of settling billions in claims. Ron Insana, senior analyst at CNBC, says “The episode, for some, will end badly while others reap the rewards of getting in on the action early and, more importantly, getting out before the bust.”

Bloomberg publishes ‘news’ reports on cryptocurrencies like Monaco, which could have been lifted straight from the comments section of Reddit – with little or no intent to present a disinterested viewpoint. (You’ll note that this piece is filed under ‘Opinion’.) These reports seem intended to stoke fear of the market and to prevent casual investors from exploring its potential.

Bloomberg published an article on September 28th 2017 entitled ‘ICO Market Is Probably Full of Fraud, U.S.’s Top Financial Cop Warns’. SEC Chief Jay Clayton’s actual words? “This is an area where I’m concerned about what’s going to happen to retail investors.”

Under absolutely no circumstances whatsoever can Clayton’s words be construed by any professional journalist to mean “ICO Market Is Probably Full Of Fraud”. He simply didn’t say that. And his previous comments have been cautious and guarded – as you would expect – without summarily dismissing the ICO model.

““[T]he SEC is studying the effects of distributed ledger and other innovative technologies and encourages market participants to engage with us. We seek to foster innovative and beneficial ways to raise capital, while ensuring – first and foremost – that investors and our markets are protected.” – Jay Clayton, SEC

For example, “I recognize that from a philosophical and policy point of view, if we’re not doing a decent job on educating people … it’s going to be a lot harder for us to get the benefits of this kind of technological advancement [blockchain technology].”

The attacks have come from across the financial establishment: central banks, retail banks, investment banks. (Even while most of them are investigating how they can cut themselves a piece of the pie.)

They’ve come from sovereign governments, from billionaires, and from investors.

They don’t seem to be coming from the people who benefit most from decentralized currencies however – you and I probably know them best as ‘regular folks’. I’m not personally hearing the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, all slaving for freedom from the Immutable Ledger.

These cries of outrage, endless tiresome allusions to tulips, and dire warnings of financial scammery, almost all seem to be coming from those whose wealth, power, and control depend on the status quo.

So why is the financial establishment – the bankers and business publications – panning the cryptocurrency industry?

No, really, I’m curious.*

*Untrue. This is simply Bloomberg-headline-speak for “I’m not curious at all.”