Bitcoin Forum

Just curious if anyone else caught A Late Show with Stephen Colbert a few days ago where he spoke about the twitter hack where the hacker requested payment in bitcoin. During the segment he calls bitcoin a scam.  A pretty uneducated statement that was unfortunate to see. Obviously it didn't have much of an impact on bitcoin, but still kinda noteworthy.

https://i.imgur.com/0MBgpbD.png?1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8DDvJkx07U
Jump forward to 3:24

Statements like that are obv from the people that don't know anything about Bitcoin.
What givesd Bitcoin this reputation is, that there is a lot of scam involving Bitcoin and these always make it to the press...
So people hear a scam that involves Bitcoin so Bitcoin must be Scam....
So I guess every FIAT is a Scam too? :D

::)

I believe everyone should move on, but if any celebrity wants to keep talking about the Twitter hack, and give more attention to Bitcoin, they are welcome.

The Honey Badger don't care.

The show is so lucky that not an entity own the Bitcoin Network else he will be sued with libel due to baseless accusation and possible harm to the Bitcoin market that will cause the Bitcoin market to suffer losses.  But instead, the Bitcoin community proved this person wrong by rallying to above $10k the following days.

It is just sad that people who should be the one who do their research deligently are the one who actually ignorant of things about Bitcoin.

Perhaps those who prepared the issue are illiterate. Or they understand everything perfectly and made such a statement on purpose to attract attention to themselves.

https://i.imgur.com/QPuNmS5.jpg

Bitcoin scam. Bitcoin scam. Bitcoin scam.

It is an absurd statement, which proves the fact that most media talking about Bitcoin technology are ignorant. They don't want to invest time to obtain understanding of such a complex ecosystem and keep publishing ridiculous news. That is the reason why I stopped reading news about Bitcoin long time ago, it is just waste of time. It gives you absolutely nothing in terms of figuring out what bitcoin actually is, what role it plays in scams and hacks, why it is being widely used by hackers and scamers of all sorts. Stop reading shit media unless you want to be ignorant like they are.

This is not a Bitcoin scam. >:(
If the hackers were demanding ethereum payments,the journalists would have called it Ethereum scam.
If the hackers were asking for Monero or Ripple or Dogecoin payments-it would be called a Monero scam or a Dogecoin scam.
What if the hackers were requesting Amazon gift cards?Would the clickbait pseudo-journalists call it
"Amazon gift card scam"?Probably not,because Amazon will sue them. ;D

I feel kind of annoyed that these people are still ignorant enough to generalize it as a bitcoin scam. They can just call it Scam happened on twitter that has something to with ... then you insert the rest of the story.  The whole of bitcoin is not a scam and they should not make it so. Unless of course something else is in play. We are talking about mainstream television so somebody is calling the shots to destroy the reputation of Bitcoin.

"A bitcoin scam is anything involving Bitcoin."

And he even said that line with a straight face lol. Yeap, that's either just pure ignorance, or they know what they're doing and he said that line mostly to spark discussions in crypto-communities(like what we're doing right now).

Its not always same but most of the time some over intelligent person try to get popular through giving their own prediction about bitcoin. I am so surprised after hearing that some people think bitcoin is a scam just for recent twitter hack incident. Due to twitter authorities own weakness some of their VIP accounts got hacked and its not a wise thing to blend bitcoin reputation with this hacking attempt.  

Spreading speed of negative news is faster than positive one. Its not a new thing for bitcoin which is actually working from the beginning.

LOL! He can't even backup his claim with supporting ideas how bitcoin turns out to be scam. I guess they're doing this to get a lot of viewers they don't even deserve.

This guy is high as a kite!!

For those who may not know Stephen, he used to do parody show, satirising everything, so including this Twitter scam and so called Bitcoin is a scam, so I wouldn't take his words seriously. And as @Wind_FURY has said, honey badger, doesn't care,  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

This statement really bring a huge impact towards bitcoin's reputation to those ignorant people.

Once they don't try to hold bitcoin, then they will just still see bitcoin as a scam.

As long as they are not making transactions where they can earn money with their own manipulation, they will not know the true essence and value of bitcoin in our society. That's also the reason why governments are scared to engage with the use of cryptocurrency in their country, because they are afraid that scamming can really affect their community. If we don't make some changes towards this mindset then bitcoin will really have a bad image in their point of views.

That is normal thinking of a person who doesn't know things about bitcoin, that is why there are many people who do not use or explore cryptocurrency because they don't think that online money is legit. Just like my friend, he knows that there is a word online money but he doesn't want to try or even explore it because of thinking that it is fake. The only real-world is legit for them.

Nothing new here. Bitcoin's adoption is inevitable. Sooner or later, those ignorant people will most likely get educated ones a lot of people starts using Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. Though this might influence many people, it's still won't affect Bitcoin that much in the long run. Just let them be. They will eventually use Bitcoin ones they know how this technology works.

He should have shut his mouth when he doesn't have any idea what he is talking about. This is a serious matter man, especially when BTC is increasing its price in the market. Thankfully his statement is just some wind in the ear of his listener and it never takes any bad effect in the market. but still, they need to shut their mouth or someone will. They cannot speak badly about bitcoin in public without knowledge, they confusing their viewers out of ignorance on what they talking about.

People like that don't even know what bitcoin is. It is just like a 4 months old baby wanting to eat a pizza. How could he relate social media attack with a scam. Bitcoin is not a scheme which could be regarded as a scam if your money is stolen but scenario surrounding the hacks had given so many people audacity to speak bad about bitcoin just because they ain't know or successful holding bitcoin. If we could turn back the year and go back to 2011, I bet he will be among the people who will be ready to sell all he has to buy bitcoin

I don't think what he said is such a big deal since it was just a short statement about the Twitter hacking issue. Although based on what he said, we can say that he perhaps lacks knowledge about bitcoin since it was short yet misleading.

We know that bitcoin is usually involved in a lot of scamming or illegal activities. It's really difficult to change the mindset of the majority about bitcoin when all they hear and see on the news are those negative things.

All this really does is it shows how much you should ever rely on personalities' mindsets and how ignorant they are. I wouldn't say something's a scam if I never even done a quick research over the subject.

It obviously doesn't impact BTC price-wise - it would have been a shame if we still were at the stage where one person's thoughts influenced BTC's price.

Just do your own research and stop being so easily influenced. We all have brains, we don't need others to tell us whether BTC is or isn't a scam. The way celebrities are able to change the mindset of a significant amount of people through a few words is truly scary.

Media outlets like this wanted more publicities, they don't know
what they're talking but still insist to
proceed and continue attacking something that never been cleared
to them.
the reason why more people forget about reading news especially
those who are into this business.

---

Their ignorance to this technology isn't our fault, as followers we don't
give any value to this kind of statement
We are continuing and still enjoying all the benefits that we are getting
while to those who don't know anything
they are losing the luxuries that we are taking from time to time.

I guess we should expect that always coming from uneducated folks. They are free to say things that they want to say and describe bitcoin at the best of their definition. But, that doesn't mean they are intelligent which we obviously know what's the truth.

He should address more the Twitter hack rather than bitcoin. The twitters system not bitcoin. If he has a logic, he will understand why the hackers are asking for bitcoin because, it is money not a scam.

Yup, and to clarify, he starts off the segment by saying: "Now if you're not familiar, a Bitcoin scam is anything involving Bitcoin."

Maybe I'm wrong but that tone and look after he said that, and the rest of his show, is all tongue in cheek.

It's news, come on. Twitter scam, Bitcoin scam, bitcointalk scam. If that keeps people away from these things because they're not willing to find out more, well, then these things aren't for them =)

People on TV should be careful with what they are talking, they have a lot of viewers so it could influence the mind of his followers.
But actually it's not the first time, and in fact it only make bitcoin stronger because despite there's a lot of criticism from big names in the past, bitcoin still survives and we are even performing better compared to the stock market where people think the most legit investment.

Maybe we should educate this guy with a graph comparing the stock market which are performing at its worst.  :D

This signifies that these bitches doesnt know or doesnt even tend to make up a little bit of basic research and trying to show up that they do know about much more on what theyve been talking.

Yeah this one is another thing that do give out bad impression towards Bitcoin and also this isnt something new though and you are right that things like these wont really give out significant impact on
its image.

The one who knows the real thing will surely just ignore these words.

To be frank i am hearing this name for the first time, like all the media personalities there is another person who wants his walk of fame bashing bitcoin and cryptocurrency and there is no point in discussing all these negative whores who does not have any idea about the market and still have their opinion because it is a free country  :D.

I watched the video mate, I never heard Stephen Colbert called bitcoin a scam, what he said is a bitcoin scam, and he explains it that a bitcoin scam is anything involving bitcoin. So it my understanding, it does not mean bitcoin is a scam.

same

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I'm wondering if you guys watch the video. :D

I think the Man don't trust Bitcoin at all?because  before the show begins the Host already studied the  topic and surely he had  idea  what  bitcoin is all about?

Or  he had  researched in a wrong place thats why what he had is negatives about Bitcoin?

But you are correct this is very unprofessional because in Live TV you will speak as if you know what you are talking but the truth is all you know is shit.

He don't deserve to be a Host if  he only Looks in single side though it is His right to give own opinion.

One day He will realize what is wrong in His statement now.

Nothing to do with the anti-Bitcoin because they are blind enough to see the reality out from these scamming and hacking issues brought by these scammers.

Should we need to push Stephen Colbert to change his mind? probably he's not and probably we can't make it. But for those who know already about crypto/Bitcoin, they surely ignore him and his show.

 It was a dumb thing to see that people can't move on from this twitter account hacking event. It has been moving into a resolution and thinks we need to forget about it.

Have you heard about dollar scams, those ones involving dollar? I have, actually, but never heard of someone calling them that way - dollar scam. It would make us thinking that dollar is used for illicit purposes. As we all know, it is widely used for such purposes but no media will point on that fact. Why would media do that in case of bitcoin then? In fact, there is no significant difference between two currencies, because sometimes both are being used  by some bad guys to decieve good ones. Maybe someone trying to deliberately render bitcoin bad currency by calling some hacker attack bitcoin scam? And what does it mean, anyway? Bitcoin scam is anything involving bitcoin. Bitcoin mining is something involving bitcoin. Is it scam too?

I replayed it like 4 times trying to understand and asking myself. "Is he serious or just joking?"
Yeah, that was the script.
Hardcore statements without knowledge.
So if they ask for USD.
Anything involving United States of America?  ;D I'll go hardcore too!

Maybe Stephen Colbert has a little knowledge about bitcoin, but the way he explains it, he emphasize the meaning of bitcoin scam as anything involving bitcoin or in my understanding any scam that involves bitcoin.


No, because bitcoin mining is not a scam in general, but if there scammers out there will use bitcoin mining to scam people, Stephen might call it bitcoin mining scam, but it does address to the general bitcoin mining as a scam.

My conclusion is, BITCOIN SCAM is not BITCOIN IS SCAM. These two has different meaning.

It's irritating, but understandable that it happened. TV personalities are expected to give an opinion on whatever is the topic of the day. Of course they can't be experts in all (or really any) of these, the subjects are many and varied, so there is only the time to develop a superficial understanding. It's little different from the modern TV news phenomenon of vox pops. If you want an informed opinion on something, get an expert, or preferably experts from both sides, and a mediator, and then have an informed debate. On the other hand, if you want light entertainment with little substance, that's what you get.

Did he only want popularity by delivering such kind of words?
Well, I really want to ask him, if someone uses the money to do some criminal and scams, does it mean that the "money" is a scam?
I think not. Bitcoin, crypto, money, and other currencies may be media for that kind of criminal or fraud or scam systems. they use BTC because it is easy to be used for worldwide transaction moreover anonymously. however, we cannot call BTC is a scam because this is media, not the actor of the scammer. I don't think that their words will give big influence in the crypto world. Just lets it flow.

Well I guess there's nothing wrong calling the late incident in twitter a 'bitcoin scam', I would react violently if he said' bitcoin is a scam' different meaning, different purpose but if what he really want to tell is that bitcoin is a scam, then we should consider him uneducated about bitcoin. Anyways who believes on a comedian about these certain technical things? He's a television host but who is he to call it a scam on his own? I guess this might also affect the bitcoin somehow since that was broadcasted on a national television, maybe some people didn't not continue investing on bitcoin after seeing it. Anyways seeing bitcoin on television makes me glad, even how hard they try to condemn it  :D

hahaha. I think it too, what a nonsense statement is that! I thing he has not any knowledge about Bitcoin or scam. Everything has some bad and good sides. we have to choose only the good side and use that thing only for our good. if we do bad thing with the help of decentralized Bitcoin, then it is definitely our fault. there are many good aspects of bitcoin, we should have to promote that.

Why doesn't a scam that involves US Dollar or Euro isn't a Dollar or Euro scam?

They usually write stupid things like that to scare people away from using something.

If someone found a way to hack into your iphone and they wrote "a recent attack on iphone users" it would be fair but if they wrote "a recent iphone scam" it's ambiguous and makes the company look bad.

Bitcoin is not a company and cannot defend itself so those hyenas know it's vulnerable and attack it. It's deliberate.

Its what been said to them and the guys who told that to them are somewhat to their eyes he is telling the truth every time. Many of those who have no knowledge of the technology behind BTC and the market will often see it to be a scam. Nonetheless, its there and BTC reached to TV program once again. Though not very good publicity but its there which can spark the interest of people.

Unfortunately, I don't even know about this person until I browsed on google and found him. Silly of me who don't know this very popular person  ;D
But, does his statement influence to the Bitcoin? Does he have any relationship with the crypto world? is he also a crypto expert? Does he know about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency?
If he knows, he will never say that kind of statement. LOL
Well, whoever he is, personally I believe that BTC is not a scam. The people who use it for criminal and scam are the scammers, but not the BTC. Just simple. Many people have been taking profits from this. Probably, he is not yet earning a single cent of BTC profits.  :D

I also had that thought at first because of the title which is really miseading a lot of people, I do think that OP should work on the title because the thread wasn't really connected with the title. Regarding the Twitter scam, it is very sad but at the same time infuriating because people fall for this scam knowing that it is too good to be true. The quote above is an example of misleading information, the host takes the blame for a improperly worded title, to be clear, the host calls out on the Twitter scams not the bitcoin itself, that two is entirely different.

If he said that the twitter hack is a bitcoin scam, then he is right but if he said in general that BITCOIN is indeed a scam then he is one of those people who doesn't have any knowledge about bitcoin or the whole cryptocurrency. Some of my friends think that way but i try to explain every single thing about Bitcoin so they could understand it.

Whenever such things happen and ransom amount is asked in bitcoin, people feel that bitcoin itself is a scam because they associate that all bad things is because if bitcoin. But once they know and understand how it works, how beneficial it has been to millions of people they would know the story from both side rather than knowing the half of it. We will have all types of people some will like it and some will dislike this so nothing to worry about it.

Some learn sooner, some learn later. He can found a club with Peter Schiff, Nouriel Roubini and some others that deny changes. Think of how all those old fashioned busienss where bashing BTC up to a few months ago, and look at the now, JP Morgan, Paypal, Mastercard, and many more. Even Goldman is working on some crypto products, in their case it´s more look what they are doing instead of listing to what they are saying.

The main problem with the definition of "bitcoin scam" he is using is that it requires further explanations in order to understand what is going on. It doesn't even matter whether you are a proponent of bitcoin or vice versa, hater, if you don't ask, you will end up with conclusion that bitcoin scam means bitcoin is scam, because even bitcoin network involves bitcoin, therefore meets the definition of bitcoin scam.

And again, why should we even mention the name of currency involved in illicit activity? I don't see reasons other than they make us to believe that bitcoin is a bad currency because it is used in scams.

In a wider umbrella or shallow point of view of different person especially those who aren't really familiar with bitcoin, it is easy to say that bitcoin is scam. With the recent hack of twitter accounts, the way they conclude about it is unreasonable, there are many factors how accounts could be hacked. If these people knowing that they have a reputation conclude that fast, he/she might have a different intention which aims to divert the attention or somehow reduce bitcoin adoption.

I like watching Colbert. He used to sound way more funny with all the additional sound effects and crowd cheering noise etc before the pandemic. Post pandemic, it had been a bit dull and I had stopped watching. Amonst Seth Meyers, Trevor and him, i feel Trevor took to the unedited version the best. His joke delivery still seems to be natural. I think he intentionally used that pause and controversial statement, "A Bitcoin Scam is anything involving Bitcoin". He would have hoped for this to explode with all those crypto shills flooding his youtube comments explaining bitcoin or just bad-mouthing him.

Unfortunately, its a little late to do that. If he wanted shills, he should have named something like Tron, EOS or any of the 100,000 TPS, "insert a letter"oS shitcoins out there. The link would have spread to the telegram and shitty grammar comments would have poured in. Bitcoiners don't care anymore Stephen. If you really want their attention, Please educate yourself and cover it properly.

This is actually a great point.  I think that most of the show is written by the staffs writing team and likely very little is written by the actual host themselves as they surely have to get prepared for all others sorts of things.  Colbert is a smart dude too, I'd like to think he knows better.

What isn't normal is when we let them to have that kind of mindset for life. We should let them know, we should let them become enlightened about the good benefits and advantages of bitcoin towards person's financial status. Digital currency lacks promotion especially in those rural areas and even in urban areas that doesn't recognize digital money as a real money. If you tried to explore cryptocurrency, you will always go to a point where scam will be a topic and a warning for you to be knowledgeable about the damage and losses that it can make to your assets. Explore and explore before you make a conclusion and mindset toward something so that you will know how to determine between real and fake money, real and fake offers, real and fake giveaways.

Journalists will always look for a catchy headline to attract the most attention to their news headline. If the hacker is requesting for Bitcoin as settlement, it there means the hacker know the value of Bitcoin to have so demanded.

Also note that there is still a section of the media that still do not like Bitcoin and so will always report in the negative.

I've never favoured Colbert cause of him always shing his agenda. Now he's completely lost all my respect

I'm guessing you're referring to his political stance, which as an independent who dislikes both sides ( left and right ) I can agree that it gets to be over the top a bit.  This sure didn't help much with those sitting on the fence w/him whom are bitcoin advocates lol.

Or this maybe another scheme by the media to create FUD to the people in order for them to avoid buying it. It's really intriguing how they release such statements when the Cryptocurrency market is pumping while the stock and dollar is going down.

I'd expect in the following days that more media platforms will release negative feedback to Bitcoin calling it a scam. When really the biggest scam of them all is Fiat with unlimited money printing.

We've heard numerous negative statements already regarding Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is dead.
Bitcoin is a scam
Bitcoin will lose value in the future.
Bitcoin is a shitcoin.
Bitcoin doesn't have any value.

And many more. The only thing that we can do now is to move on since all of these negative comments doesn't have any effect on the price of it already unlike the last years where whenever a famous name says negative about it, the price instantly go down and vice versa.

Lots of people like Stephen Colbert don't really have knowledge of Bitcoin, so if there is a scams incident that involves
Bitcoin then automatically Bitcoin must be scams. But it is strange not to apply to Fiat, and therefore must be more and
more promotions regarding Bitcoin. So many people can be educated and no longer say Bitcoin is a scams.

Well, you should understand that we live in a world where people are entitled to their personal opinions. Whether Bitcoin is a scam or not, the entire Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem do not care what Stephen  Colbert thinks about Bitcoin.  Bitcoin has been around a decade now, and he is now seeing that Bitcoin is a scam? Why do people give a F**k what Stephen Colbert thinks about Bitcoin ? Bitcoin is beyond this scam issues.

Funny thing, but in the beginning of the part about Bitcoin (3:34) he says "bitcoin scam is anything involving Bitcoin".
So, folks, remember this one. Stephen knows what he's talking about and he's is telling you that if you buy Bitcoin, hold Bitcoin, trade Bitcoin, pay someone with Bitcoin, it's all a Bitcoin scam...

It wasn't the first when bitcoin was called a scam or a ponzi scheme. Did it affect the industry? No.

Most individuals that call bitcoin a scam has less to no knowledge about the true nature of bitcoin or crypto. Because even if he just needs one hit in google, he's lazy to do it considering that he is a well-known media personality. Of course, crypto users like us know better about such accusation because it stemmed from ignorance. I am betting once he educated himself about crypto, he will change his viewpoint on crypto and eat his words.

So there's no need to explain it's effect as it's close to none, lol..

Stephen Colbert is not a crypto man, so he has no influence here, what he did is just he give curiosity to the people, the way he deliver his statement looks bad but if one is not lazy to make a research, for sure he will get the right answer and would know that bitcoin is legit.

Headline that is misleading is catchy all the time, so I don't trust these kind of people and they are all paid.

I think I've seen some people who still call bitcoin a scam (knowing fully well that it isn't). These people don't want to say it because they don't want themselves believing in it. However, if you'd ask me; it's too late for anyone to stop bitcoin, so, we move!

Paid or not it doesnt matter because all of the words comes out into their mouth is BS. They should have at least some time even reading up the most basic information before tending to make or say up some words.

This isnt something new to bitcoin though yet its been like this when it comes to criticisms, misconception to those people who dont have much idea on what it is.

It doesnt really give out any effect and you are right, this would rather just make some curiosity and for people who would really tend to research about it, would really realize the other way around.

True that, sometimes I wonder what happens about responsible journalism.  It seems it is not applied there.



Well, sometimes anchor forgot that they are only human and does not know everything.  Once they hold the mic and the camera is rolling, they then pretend they knew everything and just utter things even though it is baseless.


Those the knew about Bitcoin, they will just laugh on that matter but those who are new and somehow skeptical to jump in, then those statements will justify their hesitants.

One thing that I didn’t like about media is that they’re using the term “Bitcoin scam” in their headlines, especially here in the Philippines. Calling BTC a scam means he was just misinformed.

Google, Wikipedia and Youtube are our best friends right now. He just didn’t researched Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by himself. I know that there’s some negative impact due to the execution of the largest Twitter hack where they’re asking for BTC deposits and ended up getting scammed.

People like Stephen Colbert should understand first about BTC’s real and positive use cases rather than getting fed up by the media and calling Bitcoin generally a scam.

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Great then we can use you to scam you another time!

People think that trading bitcoin and etc is a scam because they don't have any experience regarding to this and also they don't know how it works or how are we able to earn here in crypto world. Being judgmental is human nature admit it or not before we enter the crypto world we also have doubts and ifs but when we experience to earn here that is the time we realize that trading here in crypto world is not a scam.

It is true that most of these scammers and hackers are using bitcoin but they can't just say that a bitcoin scam is anything related to bitcoin. Anyway, a lot of people are against it because of how people portray it as a scam but it keeps moving forward even without them. So let them think what it is, they'll be left out.

Well, that sucks. I have only watched him a few times from Friday night live and I thought they were pretty reasonable and made sense. What he is saying about bitcoin surprises me. I thought he was an intelligent person who would support something like unregulated currency.

I still don't understand how people can call a form of payment a scam. That doesn't make sense.

I don't know much about the the whole twitter hacking situation as of what been going on lately but I'm pretty sure at least one of the hackers associated with the hack was caught https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/technology/twitter-hack-arrest.html

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, can't blame ignorant people whenever they speak their mind, the problem with such people is they are misinformed and they can't spare a few minutes to do a research on their own, they read all the bad things written by some media outlet who are against btc.

They have no further knowledge about how bitcoin works that is why they were able to conclude easily that bitcoin is scam even if it was being used only by hacker as a
way to get the payment from it's target.

This is one of disadvantages of bitcoin also as it can be use by anyone either you are a good person or a bad one. It is very unfortunate that bitcoin will be tagged as scam
even if it has nothing to do with the scammer or hacker.