The Evolution of Information Sources in the Cryptocurrency Industry from Bitcointalk to Twitter

Author: Huang Shiliang

Recently (mid-October 2023), Reddit announced the closure of the moon token in specific subreddits, causing the moon price to plummet by 85%.

In 2020, the news of Reddit issuing community tokens was exciting for the industry. Just think about how much user growth Reddit's user base could bring to Ethereum. However, the token has ultimately failed to thrive.

I am not familiar with the operational status of the moon token; today, I just want to reminisce about the years I've spent in the crypto space and the main information platforms I used to read about it. Reflecting on it feels quite interesting.

Back in 2014, the blockchain industry was primarily centered around Bitcoin, and the main sources of information were forums.

At that time, almost all the big names in the industry were posting on bitcointalk.com, and all high-quality information sources in the industry came from this forum. Additionally, there were more private and technically sophisticated email groups.

In China, the main sources of industry information were also forums, with 8btc being the leader at that time.

In 2015 and 2016, I felt that with the rise of Ethereum and discussions about Bitcoin scaling, Reddit became the main platform for the crypto community.

I spent time every day on r/bitcoin, r/btc, r/ethereum, these specialized subreddits on Reddit.

Looking at the entire internet, by that time, social media had already become the main source of information. In China, popular platforms included Sina Blog, Weibo, WeChat, and Zhihu. I am not entirely sure about the situation abroad, but it was likely similar, with platforms like Facebook and Twitter. However, the crypto community chose to discuss on specialized forums.

I felt that after 2017 and 2018, the forum model began to decline in popularity within the crypto space, and media websites with strong professional editing and organization became mainstream. At that time, the highest quality information sources in China were ChainNews and 8btc, while abroad, there were professional sites like CoinDesk and the infamous rumor mill Cointelegraph.

Professional media websites adopted methods of collecting and filtering information from various platforms and commissioning articles, with editors modifying and translating content to provide information.

During that time, an increasing number of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) emerged in the industry, each with their own platforms, such as public accounts, Twitter, or their own websites.

For example, the most famous Vitalik Buterin, and perhaps now forgotten Gavin Andresen, all had their own websites.

Media platforms also organized various interviews and offline meetings to create more content.

These high-quality articles scattered across different locations would be collected and edited by professional media platforms, showcasing them to their audience.

Many similar media platforms emerged, often referred to as xx Finance.

This was akin to Web 1.0.

In 2019, Chinese media platforms suffered a fatal blow.

Meanwhile, no overseas media platform has emerged that is as professional and comprehensive as ChainNews or 8btc. Perhaps due to strict copyright laws in the U.S., platforms are deterred from indiscriminately reprinting and editing others' articles.

I felt that the main players in the gathering and dispersing of crypto information shifted for the first time to IM communication tools, specifically various social software groups, such as WeChat groups and Telegram groups.

Various groups have always been quite popular in the crypto space. Back in 2014, everyone was still using QQ groups, but it never felt like the mainstream, as conversations were often chaotic and information couldn't be consolidated.

However, after 2019, with reliable professional media platforms being shut down, the main source of crypto information for Chinese people became these groups. Everyone mingled in these groups.

In 2021, with the rise of NFTs, DAOs, and specific airdrop strategies, Discord became a daily tool for many in the crypto community.

Along with the booming DeFi mining, various tips for making money through mining were shared, leading to the establishment of many groups, including many paid groups, such as professional research reports and knowledge-sharing platforms.

It can be said that the information channels have completely decentralized.

It feels that decentralization is indeed inconvenient for the majority of users; everyone still longs for a centralized source of information. There seems to be an invisible force that drives information to converge on a centralized platform.

In 2022, as Elon Musk successfully promoted Dogecoin on Twitter, Twitter gradually became the main hub for blockchain information.

Now, almost all project teams and KOLs, both large and small, are speaking and gathering information on Twitter (X.com).

Even complex white papers and research papers are shared on Twitter.

From the historical changes in these information sources, can we draw any valuable conclusions?

I feel the following conclusions may be significant.

1. The main information fermentation sites for early things (like Bitcoin before 2014) are often niche forums or other niche platforms.

They certainly won't be on mainstream social platforms.

If you want to deeply explore the historical roots of Bitcoin and blockchain, you need to delve into the posts on forums like bitcointalk.

If you want to catch a glimpse of another industry that has yet to take shape in the future, don't forget to pay attention to various niche information discussion platforms.

2. The gathering and dispersing of blockchain information has undergone a typical process of centralization, decentralization, and then re-centralization.

I estimate that this historical process between decentralization and centralization will not stop; x.com will not be the final destination for blockchain information gathering, and the crypto content on x.com will be disrupted again.

It feels like this is the fate of cryptocurrency: to develop cautiously, then grow, become increasingly centralized, face crackdowns, be forced to decentralize, successfully decentralize, then grow again, giving rise to various major centralized points, only to be targeted for removal by mysterious forces or for those central points to self-destruct in homage to Satoshi Nakamoto, leading to another round of decentralization, and then another cycle…