Hello again and happy belated Motherโs Day (and Bitcoin Pizza Day) from the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers! ๐๐
Per usual, weโll be starting off this newsletter with a little plug for membership. If youโre reading this, then youโre already the people that we want to see with us as members โ so feel free to apply right here. Expect to hear back about your ACJR application as soon as the bear market lets us, if Elon Musk would just stop tweeting.ย
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ACJR members get tons of exclusive benefits, including a free subscription to The Streetโs Crypto Investornewsletter and discounts on Consensus tickets (which is next week online!), so check out all the perks and reasons that you should become a member. For example,ย
ACJR members get to cast votes for our upcoming ACJR awards โ the categories are Reporter of the Year, Researcher of the Year, and Story of the Year. If youโre already a member, you can vote right here.
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In the meantime, the crypto media industry is still booming, right along with the broader bull (but sometimes bear) market. In May, Axios compared eight different types of content and how they have performed from April 2020-April 2021 and found crypto content had the most dramatic increase in demand. First place, up 475%! (Lifestyle takes a far second at 42%.)
Before we dive into the top stories of the month, we have some fantastic research that we want to highlight. First up is EXIT SCAM, an upcoming podcast series about Quadriga, the Canadian crypto exchange that went bottom-up after its founder passed away during his honeymoon in India. Next is Zack Voellโs post for Compass Mining about how hard it is to mine โcleanโ blocks, including all the nuanced contradictions in that phrase.
As for journalistic writing, hereโs what weโve been reading:ย
โHow Much Energy Does Bitcoin Actually Consume?โ by Nic Carter, Harvard Business Review
With Tesla recently backing out of accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment due to concerns over the cryptoโs ecological footprint, Carterโs piece on the difference between energy consumption and carbon emissions is perfectly timely.ย
โBitcoin Gets Wall Street's Attention. But Its Power Lies in Aiding Oppressed Peoplesโ by Aubrey Strobel, NBC News
Strobelโs piece reminds us of why Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin in the first place โ to make accessible tools that increase financial independence for those that canโt easily access traditional finance.
โSo Can We Make NFTs Work for Black Creators or Whatโ by Delia Cai, Deez Links
Delia Cai relates what she sees as a frustratingly common problem in the online content creation space โ Black creators make a meme, a dance, a song, and white creators use their work without crediting them. With these issues as the backdrop, Delia wonders aloud in this succinct piece: can NFTs bring online ownership back to Black content creators?
โDigital Horses Are the Talk of the Crypto Worldโ by Taylor Lorenz, The New York Times
Lorenz piece details how some Ethereum fans are using โbreathing NFTs,โ aka playable digital assets with their own โunique DNA.โ You can literally race them. But this isnโt your grandparentsโ Kentucky Derby.ย
โDogecoin Is Up Because Itโs Funnyโ by Matt Levine, Bloomberg Opinion
Levine takes a stab at explaining why Dogecoin has seen such a price boost. His conclusions regarding the โElon markets hypothesisโ? โ โDogecoinโs status as a joke is what makes it valuable.โ Much wow.
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Donโt overlook all of the other amazing things that the ACJR is doing (besides this newsletter, of course). Join our Telegram group, suggest ideas for future online meet-ups and follow us on Twitter!
If youโd like to get more involved in the ACJR, please message us on Twitter or through our website. Annnnd thatโs a wrap on May. Letโs stay in touch as summer begins and enjoy the sunshine!
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