I’ve watched people lose money on altcoins like it’s a seasonal trend. They tell themselves it’s just a dip, but it isn’t, it’s actually sentiment unraveling.
Gary Gensler, the former chair of the US SEC recently pointed this out in a way by saying crypto lacks fundamentals, and I agree to an extent. Besides he’s not saying anything new, he’s saying what most people already know deep down but choose to ignore: the market isn’t built on anything solid it’s just vibes, hopes, and mostly social media noise. You get in because it’s buzzing, not because it’s built.
This word he used “Sentiment.”
I used to chase it back in 2021, I bought into a token because a celebrity tweeted it. I ignored everything, I ignored that the project had no roadmap, no purpose, just a logo and a catchy name. I sold at a 70% loss and trust me it didn’t feel like bad luck, it felt like I was stupid, because well, I was. Gensler’s right on this one, although he's not the guy I would take crypto advice from knowing how he persecuted crypto in his term.
Bitcoin is truly different, and I mean stands in its own class, not because it has a whitepaper or even because it’s the first and oldest, but because people actually care. Not some hype care, deep rooted interest. You can feel it in the way people talk about it, they don’t just speculate, they believe in it. Not all of them though, but enough for it to be at the center of America's 2024 presidential election campaign. That’s why I believe it keeps coming back when others vanish because it has the "weight and the presence."
Gensler then again compared Bitcoin to gold, and anyone who understands crypto also k know that's not entirely wrong. People want to believe in something rare, something they can hold onto and Bitcoin gives them that. The rest(not all of them though) mostly just try to copy the feeling and they fail because feelings fade fast.
I’ve seen bots pump coins in seconds. I’ve used a few of them with the hope of getting easy money. Facts is Bots don’t care what the token does, they just react. But anyways that’s the future, apparently: Machines reacting to machines.
I’m not sure if I should be impressed or disappointed, probably both.
