Vanity Fair Photo Shoot Highlights Crypto Industry’s Image Problem

(SeaPRwire) –   The crypto community thrives on gossip, and last week it got an extra serving in the shape of a Vanity Fair article. The piece, titled “Crypto’s True Believers Demand to Be Taken Seriously,” showcased opulent photos of leading industry personalities posing around New York’s Nine Orchard hotel in outlandish attire that cost more than a typical mortgage payment. The article drew predictable mockery and disdain from those outside the crypto sphere. Those within the industry, however, criticized the malicious media while tweeting versions of “What on earth were they thinking agreeing to this?”

The “what were they thinking?” perspective is reasonable. When a high-gloss magazine with little prior coverage of the crypto industry assigns a staff reporter, did anyone truly anticipate a glowing tribute to blockchain? Yet, this is Vanity Fair, the domain of legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz, known for capturing images of presidents and A-list celebrities. Most people, even those who claim to dislike mainstream media, would jump at the chance to participate.

Despite the sarcastic headline, the article effectively recounts crypto’s 17-year history, from Satoshi’s white paper to today’s era of Big Crypto. The author also gains access to the right individuals to tell the story and accurately assesses their contributions to the industry. This includes Olaf Carlson-Wee, the eccentric early Bitcoin advocate who became Coinbase’s first employee before leaving to launch a crypto venture fund. Also in the group photo are iconoclastic ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, and Meltem Demirors, an early crypto supporter and expert self-promoter who arrived for the shoot “draped in diamond crosses and wearing a black sweatsuit with her firm’s slogan—’Believe in Something’—sparkled across the backside.”

Billionaire trader Mike Novogratz also made the cut. Perhaps because he provided his hotel for the shoot, Novo escaped the embarrassment of being photographed in short sleeves, which would have exposed the large Terra-Luna scamcoin tattoo on his bicep. Danny Ryan, a long-time contributor to the Ethereum Foundation, wasn’t as fortunate. The Vanity Fair photo director managed to convince Ryan to remove his shoes for the photos, presumably to portray him as a crypto holy fool. The harshest criticism, however, is directed at Devin Finzer, who secured hundreds of millions in venture capital for a mostly unsuccessful project and, as the article clarifies, is seen by long-time crypto developers as a greedy upstart.

On a larger scale, the article questions where these unconventional figures fit in now that the crypto industry is on friendly terms with the Oval Office and being embraced by Wall Street and Congress. As Vanity Fair suggests, one could argue that the individuals in these photos are merely a peculiar subset of America’s expanding elite, obsessed with image and lifestyle, and completely disconnected from ordinary people grappling with record credit card debt and an unaffordable housing market.

There is some truth to that. Simultaneously, the Vanity Fair gathering (excluding Finzer) also harkens back to a period when crypto was filled with larger-than-life personalities who believed in something no one else did. To borrow from early Apple, they are “the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes… because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” As they fade away, we may come to miss them.

Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@.com
@jeffjohnroberts