Lol @CNBC is showing people how to use the internet to buy Ripple. Literally click-by-click tutorial followed by “that’s how easy it is!” This is so insane. pic.twitter.com/8uzt0YP5Po — Pomp ? (@APompliano) 7 January 2018

Back in January, when crypto was flying high (XRP included), CNBC ran a live news piece on their finance show, Fast Money that was designed to help investors purchase XRP. The show, named

Crypto Class: How To Buy Ripple

involved CNBC host Brian Kelly present a step by step guide on how to invest in XRP, or Ripple as it was more commonly known prior to the rebrand.

The video shows users how to purchase Bitcoin, before using the Bitcoin to purchase XRP. The idea was simply to help inspire new investors and show them how easy it is to invest in cryptocurrency. It seems that XRP was used as an example as Kelly strongly believed that XRP would be the future and that the price of XRP at the time (around $2.50) was very cheap, presenting a perfect buy in opportunity.

Kelly is noted to have said:

“If you thought bitcoin was hot, maybe you should learn about XRP. It’s another cryptocurrency that’s been rocketing in popularity lately. It was created by a company named Ripple.”

At the time, this was inspiring and exciting. Cryptocurrency buying tutorials on international television, at a time when prices are flying high. CNBC could have made the entire world very rich with this.

At the time of writing, XRP is valued at $0.25. Investors who followed Kelly’s advice, according to Sludegfeed are now down over 90% on their investment:

“Since the segment ran, XRP has dropped to $0.257, leading any investors who took Kelly’s advice to lose more than 90% of their investment, if they held. While this hasn’t stopped CNBC from publishing similar segments, including some that shill of Bitcoin Cash, the crypto community now commonly uses any investment recommendation from the media group as a counter-trade signal.”

See more for yourself,

here

.

You’re probably kicking yourself if so. The problem here is that a mainstream news outlet has offered crypto investment advice to unknowing viewers, on the premise that they believed a currency would continue to fly.

Now of course, those who bought in at $2.50 may well see a return on their investment one day (if they are still holding) but, what has happened here can’t really give new investors much confidence. Moreover, its pretty damaging to XRP’s reputation.

No, because mainstream media discussing cryptocurrency gives the industry much needed PR and exposure, which is important. Perhaps though, this serves as an example as to why mainstream media should stay away from directly encouraging people to invest, instead, they should be focusing on education around crypto as a culture and blockchain as a technology. Investment will come with that of course, but hopefully by this point, new investors will have more control of what they are doing, as opposed to following a demonstration presented on an international and mainstream news channel.