Jim Cramer

It’s time for crypto fans to stop supporting cults of personality

From Sam Bankman-Fried to Bitboy, cryptocurrency fans have been too quick to support divas who gained notoriety on social media. It’s a phenomenon that needs to end.

Many of the centralized cryptocurrency platforms that collapsed this year had something in common: a young, outspoken and cocky leader. Each gained outsized influence not by virtue of outsized intellect or talent but because of their piles of money and large Twitter followings. And each time, misplaced trust in their abilities resulted in disastrous consequences. 

If crypto wants to avoid similar catastrophes in the future, it’s time for us to rearrange our leadership priorities. We need to ditch the cults of personality.

The theater of crypto on Twitter

Before FTX collapsed, founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had garnered a reputation as one of the loudest voices in the industry. He was active in the political world and frequently commented on what was happening in Web3.

Related: Disaster looms for Digital Currency Group thanks to regulators and whales

But perhaps most notable was his active involvement in a myriad of Twitter feuds and spectacles. SBF first stepped into the spotlight as the successor of SushiSwap after Chef Nomi abruptly abandoned the project — a drama that played out almost entirely on Twitter’s public stage. His ensuing Twitter antics, combined with the image of unstoppable success that FTX was broadcasting far and wide, gained him more than a million followers.

But even as SBF’s influence grew, it seemed he just couldn’t resist shitposting, regularly engaging with other Twitter users who threw stones.

Indeed, SBF’s penchant for Twitter drama played an important role in exposing FTX’s insolvency. It was his recent spat with CZ that ultimately led to the run on FTX’s deposits. His attention-grabbing antics carried on through the current ordeal, culminating in a bizarre series of cryptic tweets.

The loudest voices in the room

While SBF is the latest example of an industry figure whose highly public Twitter presence led to a highly public downfall, he certainly isn’t the first. Do Kwon and Su Zu, who were both at the center of monumental collapses earlier this year, were also notorious trolls. Do Kwon infamously sent an arrogant series of tweets just before Terra’s downfall, while Su Zhu’s infamously elusive comments during the 2021 bull run didn’t age well, either.

But, the leaders of failed platforms aren’t the only ones guilty of social media braggadocio. Binance’s CZ, after all, was just as guilty as SBF of engaging in their public Twitter feud earlier this month. Digital Currency Group’s Barry Silbert, who has been at the center of alarm related to the FTX fallout, has also garnered a reputation as a shitposter.

There are many, many more tweeters who have used online spectacle and trolling as a means of controlling the industry conversation. Think Ben Armstrong (aka “Bitboy”) and Jim Cramer, to name just a couple more. There’s a small army of them. And, even though many are purged in each bear market, their successors are increasingly turning into powerhouses too vocal and influential to ignore in the space.

We need to end the cults of personality

So what’s the solution? How can we better identify this personality type and use this recognition to avoid future pain?

Related: 5 reasons 2023 will be a tough year for global markets

Instead of focusing on building cults of personality, the crypto community needs to focus on platforms and leaders building products that use web3 primitives to solve problems in a manner that’s orders of magnitude better than anything we’ve experienced before. The crypto community needs to stop listening to the loudest voices in the room and start listening to the wiser, more experienced ones — even if they are sometimes quieter. And by the same token, we need builders with experience in creating real value for users to speak up more.

Ultimately, the answer lies with us and with the people that we, as an industry, choose to lionize. We need to learn how to identify and support builders building transparent, secure, high-quality applications and decentralized applications — regardless of how many followers they have.

Corey Wilton is the co-founder and CEO of Mirai Labs, the international gaming studio behind Pegaxy. A renowned speaker and play-to-earn thought leader, he began his first company within crypto in 2018, a customer support service designed to assist cryptocurrency companies with their customer service.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

It’s happened: Someone’s filed for Cramer ETFs with the SEC

Tuttle Capital Management hopes for a short ETF named Inverse Cramer ETF (SJIM) and a long ETF called Long Cramer ETF (LJIM).

Connecticut-based advisory firm Tuttle Capital Management has submitted a preliminary prospectus filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for two new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) centered around betting against investment tips from Jim Cramer.

Cramer is the host of CNBC’s Mad Money and has become a popular meme in the crypto and stock community, who believe he has an uncanny knack for giving investment tips that end up being way off the mark.

In relation to crypto, one of Cramer’s most notable tips was to buy Coinbase stock when it was “cheap” at $248 in August 2021. Since then, COIN has continued to collapse and sits at $72.97 at the time of writing.

According to the Oct. 5 preliminary prospectus SEC filing, if approved, Tuttle Capital Management would launch a short ETF named Inverse Cramer ETF (SJIM) and a long ETF called Long Cramer ETF (LJIM).

The company notes in the filing that the investment objective is to provide investment results “that are approximately the opposite of, before fees and expenses, the results of the investments recommended by television personality Jim Cramer.”

To select the weighting of each ETF, Tuttle Capital Management will essentially take the opposite position of whatever Cramer publicly picks on CNBC or Twitter. However, it will be purely stock-based and not include crypto assets.

“Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s investments is invested in the inverse of securities mentioned by Cramer,” the filing reads.

Despite the apparent novelty and absurdity of the filing, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas was unsurprised by the move, highlighting on Twitter that he had tipped such a thing to occur back in February:

“We actually wrote back in Feb about how an Inverse Cramer ETF would likely be filed at some point. Given some of the stuff that has been tried w ETFs this isn’t [a] big stretch. And ETFs tied to big personalities not unprecedented eg $SARK $TSLQ.”

Individual traders have already tried a similar method, with Cointelegraph reporting in August that Twitter-famous crypto trader AIgod doubled his “Inverse Cramer” portfolio in a month to more than $100,000 purely through trading against Cramer’s tips.

Tuttle Capital’s unique ETFs

This type of play is nothing new for Tuttle Capital Management. The firm previously caused a stir late last year by launching an inverse ETF on the Nasdaq stock exchange called the Turtle Capital Short Innovation ETF (SARK).

Related: The bottom is in: CNBC’s Jim Cramer says crypto has ‘no real value’

In what Tuttle Capital CEO Matt Tuttle described in November as something that has “has never been done before,” the purpose of SARK is to bet against the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest.

“So if ARKK is down a percent, we’ll be up somewhere around a percent, and if [ARKK] is up a percent, we’ll be down somewhere around a percent,” he said.

Notably, since its launch on Nov. 9, SARK is up 83.1%, according to Yahoo Finance data, which may be unsurprising considering the bearish investing climate in 2022.

Crypto trader doubles portfolio in a month betting against Jim Cramer

Cramer is known for giving his investment expertise as the host of CNBC’s Mad Money but has developed a reputation in the crypto community for missing the mark.

Twitter-famous crypto trader AIgod has brought a smile to the community after announcing he’s doubled his “Inverse Cramer” portfolio in just a month by “simply” inverse trading against CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer.

In his latest tweet on Monday, the trader, who became famous on Twitter for pre-empting the fall of Terra’s collapse earlier this year, said he has just flipped to a long position on his inverse Jim Cramer account following a bearish tweet from Cramer about the state of the Nasdaq.

Earlier the same day, Algod announced the inverse Cramer account had “officially doubled” for the first time, reaching a net value of $101,440.71, up from a starting amount of $51,470.56 on July 19 when he used 35 Ether (ETH) as collateral.

According to his latest Tweet, AIgod’s inverse account shows $97,007.62 in net value, representing a whopping 88.47% return on his initial investment. Algod reiterates, however, that none of this is “financial advice.”

Jim Cramer is a former hedge fund manager who hosts CNBC’s Mad Money. He is well-known in the finance world, but some in the crypto community believe it may be wiser to bet against his crypto and stock picks.

The “Inverse Cramer” has become something of a meme after a movement started on Reddit and Twitter, pushing a simple idea. If Cramer says to sell a stock — buy. If he recommends buying a stock — sell.

There is also an Inverse Cramer ETF Twitter account with over 84,900 followers, which is “tracking the stock recommendations of Jim Cramer so you can do the opposite.”

AIgod has become well-known within the crypto space following a $1 million bet between him and Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon, in which AIgod claimed that in one year the price of Luna Classic (LUNC) would fall below its current price of $88 starting from March 14, 2022.

Less than two months later, LUNC fell from its all-time high of over $120 to just $0.84.

The bottom is in: CNBC’s Jim Cramer says crypto has “no real value”

Mad Money host Jim Cramer has changed his sentiment on crypto again, predicting the total market cap will tank below $1 trillion as “there’s no real value there.”

Given his track record, some in the crypto community believe the market bottom may now be in after CNBC host Jim Cramer said there was “no real value in crypto” and predicted the market would tumble further.

Cramer is known for giving his investment expertise as the host of CNBC’s Mad Money, but has developed a reputation in the crypto community for giving stock and crypto tips that generally end up being wide of the mark, or the complete opposite of his prediction.

His predictions, along with his on-again off-again love-hate relationship with crypto have become a popular meme among the community over the past few years.

Appearing on a segment of CNBC’s Squawk Box on July 5, Cramer was commenting on the bearish performance of various asset classes in 2022. He stated that the current sector he is currently “most interested in” is crypto as he slammed it as essentially being worthless while predicting more carnage ahead.

“Crypto really does seem to be imploding. Went from $3 trillion to $1 trillion. Why should it stop at $1 trillion? There’s no real value there.”

“How many companies can Sam Bankman-Fried save?” he added.

The comments are in stark contrast to just two months earlier when Cramer enthusiastically stated that he was a “believer” in Ethereum, and “you could easily get 35-40%” return on investment in the near future.

This prediction occurred when Ether (ETH) was priced at roughly $3,000, and the price has since dropped 62% since then.

During the segment, Cramer also went after NFTs, as he questioned the amount of money that is being thrown around on such an “awful” asset class:

“NFTs, I mean, you look at these companies that you’ve never heard of and they blew up over the weekend, and you say to yourself, holy cow, there’s $600 million just going down the drain. […] What an awful asset. NFTs sold to you. Made up.”

In response to Cramer’s tips, user accounts such as the “Inverse Cramer ETF” have sprouted up on Twitter which tracks “the stock recommendations of Jim Cramer so you can do the opposite.”

The profile has obtained 62,800 followers so far and has recently observed the stock prices of Ford and Nike dropping 25% and 7% apiece since Cramer recommended buying them.

Cramer first bought Bitcoin (BTC) back in December 2020. During the bear market in June last year, Cramer stated he sold all of his BTC saying the price is “not going up because of structural reasons.” Four months later the price of BTC surged to its ATH of roughly $69,000.

Related: Bitcoin price swings 7.5% during intraday trading as US recession concerns mount

Another notable tip occurred in August 2021, when Cramer suggested buying Coinbase stock COIN as it was “cheap” at roughly $248. At time of writing, COIN is priced at $55.41 according to Yahoo Finance.


The bottom is in: CNBC’s Jim Cramer says crypto has ‘no real value’

“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer has changed his sentiment on crypto again, predicting the total market cap will tank below $1 trillion, as “There’s no real value there.”

Some in the crypto community believe the market bottom may now be in after CNBC host Jim Cramer, given his track record, said there was “no real value in crypto” and predicted the market would tumble further.

Cramer is known for giving his investment expertise as the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” but has developed a reputation in the crypto community for giving stock and crypto tips that generally end up being widely off the mark or the complete opposite of his prediction.

His predictions, along with his on-again-off-again love-hate relationship with crypto, have become a popular meme among the community over the past few years.

Appearing on a segment of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday, Cramer commented on the bearish performance of various asset classes in 2022. He stated that the sector he is currently “most interested in” is crypto as he slammed it as essentially being worthless while predicting more carnage ahead:

“Crypto really does seem to be imploding. Went from $3 trillion to $1 trillion. Why should it stop at $1 trillion? There’s no real value there.”

“How many companies can Sam Bankman-Fried save?” he added.

The comments are in stark contrast to just two months earlier when Cramer enthusiastically stated that he was a “believer” in Ether (ETH) and that “You could easily get 35–40%” return on investment in the near future.

This prediction occurred when ETH was priced at roughly $3,000, and the price has since dropped 62% since then.

During the segment, Cramer also went after nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as he questioned the amount of money that is being thrown around on such an “awful” asset class:

“NFTs. I mean, you look at these companies that you’ve never heard of, and they blew up over the weekend. And you say to yourself, ‘Holy cow, there’s $600 million just going down the drain.’ […] What an awful asset. NFTs sold to you. Made up.”

In response to Cramer’s tips, Twitter accounts such as Inverse Cramer ETF, which tracks “the stock recommendations of Jim Cramer so you can do the opposite,” have sprouted up.

The profile has obtained 62,800 followers so far and recently observed the stock prices of Ford and Nike dropping 25% and 7% apiece, respectively, since Cramer recommended buying them.

Cramer first bought Bitcoin (BTC) back in December 2020. During the bear market in June 2021, Cramer stated he sold all of his BTC, saying the price was “not going up because of structural reasons.” Four months later, the price of BTC surged to its all-time high of roughly $69,000.

Related: Bitcoin price swings 7.5% during intraday trading as US recession concerns mount

Another notable tip occurred in August 2021 when Cramer suggested buying Coinbase stock, as it was “cheap” at roughly $248. At the time of writing, COIN is priced at $55.41, according to Yahoo Finance.