Cambridge Analytica type tricks used to FUD crypto?

[NeuroticFish]

Could it be possible that the same kind of analytics and manipulations are called in by banks and/or governments to FUD cryptocurrencies?

100s of threads were made by newbie accounts on "omg Bitcoin will get to 100k USD in a year" all November.
100s of threads were made by newbie accounts on "omg Bitcoin will get to 4k USD" all January.
And this was here on bitcointalk.

But, nooo, there was no manipulation at all. Or maybe, a little...

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[jseverson]

-snip-

Yes, why bother indeed?

Why have there been a NSA program, a CFTC crypto committee, a SEC cyber task force, congressional hearings, CEOs of the biggest banks slamming crypto, G20 meetings focused on crypto, a EU roundtable, several presidencies of world superpowers banning cryptocurrencies...

There must be something about crypto for all of them to bother.

You seem to have taken my post out of context. I was questioning the rationale behind funding a massive manipulative conspiracy which is a completely roundabout way of doing things, considering the fact that they can pass laws and achieve the same, if not even greater effects. They obviously already do such a thing now, but the topic is about Cambridge Analytica type tricks used to FUD crypto, not crypto attacks in general. If you think such attacks are happening behind the scenes, well, let's just agree to disagree.

[TrumpD]

I don't think that the banks and government are using analytics data for cryptocurrencies just yet, as it is more of a virgin territory for them. They will need enough time to understand the space before creating a strategy. However, it is already clear that they are so far using at least two (Uncertainty & Doubt) since the beginning of 2018, and they have been doing so directly using mainstream media - hence one of the major reasons why the crypto space has not done well since the turn of the year.

[Riser7]

Every once in a while we can hear something about these scumbags that are twisting my brain with things that they are doing. However, spying on other people is a standard now and it will be as long as there are people in this world. Just techniques are changing. That Edward Snowden definitely knows something, right?

[Virtual miner]

The Facebook scandal opened people's eyes on how they're being manipulated.

The news is dominated currently by Cambridge Analytica, the data company that helped propel Donald Trump into the White House. It is in hot water this week, following reports that it harvested information from 50 million Facebook users without their consent.

You can see how they went about their business in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpbeOCKZFfQ

"The two fundamental human drivers when it comes to taking information onboard effectively are hopes and fears, and many of those are unspoken and even unconscious. You didn’t know that was a fear until you saw something that just evoked that reaction from you. And our job is to get, is to drop the bucket further down the well than anybody else, to understand what are those really deep-seated underlying fears, concerns. It’s no good fighting an election campaign on the facts, because actually it’s all about emotion."

Could it be possible that the same kind of analytics and manipulations are called in by banks and/or governments to FUD cryptocurrencies?

I don't think that you have to even go that further if governments or banks really wanted to spread FUD about cryptocurrencies in the social medias. Just a simple 1 article can really put a lot of pressure on the investors and the market as well. And it some other social media publisher or author will just spin the news around for clickbait, I'm sure that it will have a domino effect putting a dent on the market price. So we don't need analytics here, its not rocket science. Try to test it yourself, just post negative or fake news in your social media account and I'm sure that it will draw a lot of attention and can bring a lot of negative sentiments to emotional traders.

But my dear friend, audience these days is not as stupid as you think!! They use their own minds and brains, then come at some conclusion. If not all then I would say more than 50% of the people would try to analyze the situation then would come at a rational decision!!

It's not only about the social media that you've been emphasizing, there are hell lot of other methods to grab attention of people. But yes, nothing is as reliable n faster as social media is!! But manipulating people is not that easy these days. It requires a great deal of thought and effort to make people believe certain matter!

[iram1011]

With $315 Billion mcap, cryptocurrencies aren't a concern yet that such a manipulation is required to drive the market. Market is mainly being manipulated by the exchanges who have all the detail about sell and buy order and the bots which manage the bulk trade for the big holders and traders. Those bots run on algorithms that are tough to crack and are quite fast. Right now, manipulation at the level of Cambridge Analytica is quite absurd.

snip

But my dear friend, audience these days is not as stupid as you think!! They use their own minds and brains, then come at some conclusion. If not all then I would say more than 50% of the people would try to analyze the situation then would come at a rational decision!!

It's not only about the social media that you've been emphasizing, there are hell lot of other methods to grab attention of people. But yes, nothing is as reliable n faster as social media is!! But manipulating people is not that easy these days. It requires a great deal of thought and effort to make people believe certain matter!

Crypto market is highly amateur at the moment. Manipulation is indeed easy and that domino effect can be created by just a single piece of rumor not even a news is required. There might be people who think or analyse the news. But when the majority traders are selling or buying, market suffers.

[Snarks]

-snip-

Yes, why bother indeed?

Why have there been a NSA program, a CFTC crypto committee, a SEC cyber task force, congressional hearings, CEOs of the biggest banks slamming crypto, G20 meetings focused on crypto, a EU roundtable, several presidencies of world superpowers banning cryptocurrencies...

There must be something about crypto for all of them to bother.

You seem to have taken my post out of context. I was questioning the rationale behind funding a massive manipulative conspiracy which is a completely roundabout way of doing things, considering the fact that they can pass laws and achieve the same, if not even greater effects. They obviously already do such a thing now, but the topic is about Cambridge Analytica type tricks used to FUD crypto, not crypto attacks in general. If you think such attacks are happening behind the scenes, well, let's just agree to disagree.

I get what you're saying, you think a blanket attack on crypto is effective enough. In response I say, since they already spent that many resources setting up special task forces, crypto must be a bigger threat to them than we are led to believe. Microtargeting is not rocket science. Hiring a marketing psychologist and data analyst to tap into people's fears and coordinate their FUD strategy won't blow their budget.

[BitHodler]

But manipulating people is not that easy these days. It requires a great deal of thought and effort to make people believe certain matter!

Manipulating the crypto market is the easiest thing to do as long as you do it correctly. One Tweet may be enough to trigger a sell-off, an article taken out of context could do that as well.

It's just a matter of correctly timing your actions. It shouldn't be a surprise anymore that all these fud and manipulation attempts happen during an ongoing correction. People at that point are vulnerable. 

That's why you also see fud clear up once the market is rushing up again. An increasing market also increases people's confidence, which means that spreading more fud is a pointless effort.

Manipulation in this market means playing with people mentally. If you know when to strike, you'll be largely controlling this market without much problems.

[jseverson]

I get what you're saying, you think a blanket attack on crypto is effective enough. In response I say, since they already spent that many resources setting up special task forces, crypto must be a bigger threat to them than we are led to believe. Microtargeting is not rocket science. Hiring a marketing psychologist and data analyst to tap into people's fears and coordinate their FUD strategy won't blow their budget.

And in response to that, I say, if crypto were large enough of a threat, why not just ban them? Some countries have already done it, and I would argue that it has been far more effective than any FUD attack they could launch. China has basically stopped just short of a complete ban and it completely crippled their trading volume, even proving to be effective enough to drive away traders to Hong Kong. I know they can afford it, but why spend millions when you can pass a bill and be done with it? In the end, even special task forces are a way to enforce rules; rules that they themselves have written and can easily rewrite.

As I have mentioned in my first post, I do believe it's within the realm of possibility, but I simply don't see a reason for them to jump through all these hoops.

[Snarks]

Here is a more recent article. Yes, the ban made trading in mainland China more difficult, but there's still a lot of demand.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/despite-crackdown-on-trading-crypto-and-blockchain-in-china-are-alive

Apparently, where there's a will, there's a way. Now they are trying a different approach, creating their own cryptocurrency.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/china-to-develop-centralized-crypto-protects-yuan-against-non-state-digital-currency