Thanks for the CNBC linkdrop. Interesting how much press Ethereum is getting in CNBC. It's actually better quality press than Bitcoin got, because Bitcoin's arc in the mainstream media was "bubble press": started with the huge leap >$1000, ended with the implosion of Mt. Gox.
On the other hand, Ethereum's press is linked to startups; no bubble talk. Ethereum actually has a good shot at becoming the metonymy for "blockchain."
Agree with this. And while the press constantly mention "criminals" and "money laundering" in connection with bitcoin, there is no mention of that when they talk about Ether. Perhaps Ether's PR dept is much better at promoting the coin!
Aaah...I'd say that Bitcoin was the victim of bad press, which is more common than you think for an alternate investment that bursts into the mainstream. Believe it or not, when gold burst into the mainstream in '74 or so it got pegged as the favourite asset of wild-eyed survivalists and so-called "Profits of Doom."
I really don't know if that slagging results from political bias or normalcy bias, but it is part of life's hard knocks. Bitcoin's arc through the mainstream press ended up giving Joe Average notions like "Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme," "imaginary money" [a phrase my brother used on me], "unregulated" in the sense of scam-ridden, etc. There were lotsa Joe Averages who really believed that Mark Karpeles was the "CEO" of Bitcoin!
That's how ordinary, low-information folks think. They go by exciting stores and buzz.
But, "the public memory is short" - and Joe Average does have a tendency to go with the flow. In the mid-1970s, gold was a running joke in the
Wall Street Journal's editorial page. In the mid-1980s, the
Journal matter-of-factly published the daily god price along with the stock averages.
Based upon the knowledge I soaked up while wasting my time and money in used book stores
, Ethereum has the luxury of the "we're not Bitcoin, we're clean" image. The professional cryptocurrency: that kind of thing. But I wouldn't count Bitcoin out. LIke gold, it can shake off its bad press.