This is a spoken interview (Davos, Jan 2018) with Mike Butcher, Editor at TechCrunch, about how media covers blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Butcher says mainstream media is "playing catch up" and often makes basic mistakes; he calls for more robust, independent journalism rather than press-release-style reporting. TechCrunch focuses on underlying technology and applications (not ICO hype). He discusses the Telegram (TON) ICO as a significant mainstream consumer app introducing its own currency, notes 2017 highlights like challenger banks (Revolut, Starling) and Coinbase as major consumer entry points, and describes crypto as becoming mainstream but also "bubblish"; he frames blockchain as an enduring authentication layer for the Internet. He observes Davos attendees are finance-focused and interested but often behind on technical details.
Chapters
Now we are here with my butter Editor in large of TechCrunch.
Editor in large TechCrunch. That's right.
Thank you very much for joining us. So we are here in Davos and the first subject that is discussed is digital economy. Blockchain is the word that is heard everywhere. How do you feel the media is handling now all that is related to blockchain and crypto?
Well, I think it's interesting because the mainstream media is very much having to try and play catch up in this subject. Most of the journalists, even in tech, aren't necessarily up to speed on it as well because the industry of blockchain and cryptocurrency has only really become a big issue in the last year. Prior to that, it was considered an interesting technology, but nobody, you know, people weren't quite as interested in as they are now. So the mainstream media is playing catch up and, you know, you see a lot of, you know, simple mistakes made about, you know, mixing up the differences between tokens and coins and what have you. So it's a tricky one. I think we will get there, but it's certainly a fascinating time.
How do you feel the influence of media toward the market volatility now in fintech?
I think that there's a bit of a problem because there needs to be much more robust journalism about this space. A lot of it is sort of fairly press release y and I think we need to, you know, do a better job and it would be good if everyone could do that. A little bit more like independent journalism would be better.
What is for you news that is worth of being published? I mean that now companies are using blockchain and Putin ICO and think that this is worth newsworthy. What is for you the thing that catches your attention?
Well, the thing about the TechCrunch is that we are fundamentally interested in the actual underlying technologies of all of this new world. And we, so we don't really go in for writing about ICOs and things like that. We prefer to talk about the underlying technology, the actual applications, what it's going to disrupt, those kinds of things. Sure, it's fine to mention the fact that they might be doing an ico, but that's not really for me what should lead the news. And also I think there's, you know, some ICOs are interesting, many are not. So it's the fundamental technology that counts.
You were one of the first that catch the launching of tone ico, Telegram, ico. So how would you evaluate the project and what did actually attract your attention.
Well, I wasn't just one of the first TechCruncher. My story I did with Josh Constein was the first deep dive into what the Telegram ICO will consist of how it will operate as an economy in its own right and what that means generally for the long term survivability of Telegram itself. And there's enormous implications actually as well of how it's going to affect other existing social networks like Facebook for instance, which of course is hugely valuable now at this point. So I mean, what interests us is that it would appear to be that they're going to move towards having their own currency similarly to the way, in a way that people were using WeChat in China to swap value with each other and to pay for goods and services. And I think it's fascinating because Telegram's ICO and therefore the ton currency that it's going to come up with, it means basically that, that this will be the first ever mainstream consumer application with a currency attached to it, which, you know, nobody's ever done that before. It's really a big deal. So for obvious reasons, that's a big news story for TechCrunch.
What about other highlights of the year of 2017? What actually caught up your attention the most? What influenced or inspired you in fintech and news about this?
Well, I think it was fascinating to see the rise of challenger banks like Revolut or Starling in Europe. So challenger banks suddenly starting, I think that's going to give consumers a taste for brand new banking systems and banking brands. And once they have a taste for that, then they might also be interested in what's going on in the crypto world. It's fascinating to see, you know, the rise of Coinbase as really the first really kind of major consumer application in this area. And, you know, who knows what 2018 will bring. I think many interesting things.
So what are your expectations?
I have no expectations. I just we just have to ride the ride the raging bull, as it were, for a while. I think there's a lot of people talking about a market correction. I think that probably will happen in the real world economy as well as the crypto world. And actually funnily enough, when there's market corrections, you actually get a lot more innovation. So the cycle continues.
What about the public attitude towards crypto and blockchain? How did it evaluate during all the time that you're working for tech related media? And what do you think will come in the years to come?
I think that 2017 was when we saw crypto go become a mainstream discussion. When you have taxi drivers talking to you about Bitcoin, that's when you know it's pretty mainstream. So that's a big deal. You know, for various reasons, that's not necessarily a fabulous thing because it does mean that it's very bubblish, It's a very bubble market at the moment. But I think that the fundamental underlying technology of what blockchain technologies are all about are not going away, they're here to stay. It is the authentication layer for the Internet that the Internet always needed. And from here, the sky's the limit.
What about Davos and crypto community here? Is it different from other crypto communities at different events that you met? Do you think that the level of discussion is different here or like the views towards blockchain and crypto?
Well, I think there's a lot of hype, and you've got to remember that most of the people attending Davos are really in the finance community and asset management. Now. That means in a way that actually they're quite naturally predisposed to understand many of the concepts around cryptocurrency, cryptographic assets. But in terms of the technology, they're often still behind. So, you know, you go to sort of CEO dinner and they talk, you know, talk about blockchain, blockchain, but they don't really know. A lot of the time, they don't really know what they're talking about. So it's really fascinating to watch. It's not as geeky, shall we say, as some of the events I've been to to cover the space, but it's also very interesting. And, yeah, it's worthwhile, I think. But as somebody said to me the other day, they said, why are we doing crypto in Davos when we should actually just be doing our own version of Davos for the crypto community? And that's probably what will happen. Great.
Well, enjoy your time on Davos and thank you very much for your time.
