Digital assets manager Grayscale Investments has launched a new advert on US national television that promotes its various crypto trusts—but never explicitly mentions Bitcoin or other coins.
Judging by users’ reactions on Twitter, the ad totally missed its mark. Apart from obvious technical issues such as poor audio balancing, which causes the background rock music to overshadow the narrator, many commenters pointed out the overall vagueness of the ad’s message. Or rather the complete absence of one.
During over two-thirds of the 30-second clip, the narrator very briefly retells the history of money as a medium of exchange. He mentions barter, metal coins and “printing unlimited amounts of money” that occurs today, suddenly concluding “that’s why it’s time for digital currency.” And that’s as close as the clip comes to saying what it promotes.
Grayscale only mentioned actual cryptocurrencies in an image at the very end of its ad. Image: Twitter
The names of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and a few other cryptocurrencies were only briefly displayed for a couple of seconds at the very end of the ad—all in relation to the corresponding Grayscale’s digital trusts.
After watching the ad, many users also noted that it generally doesn’t say anything at all to a person who doesn’t already know what cryptocurrencies are and how they work. The clip also hasn’t explicitly stated how “printing unlimited amounts of money” correlates with adoption and the potential of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
And even at face value, the idea that printing money “is somehow always and automatically bad” is a controversial one, argued Paul Brody, global innovation leader in blockchain technology at Ernst & Young.
I really want to see blockchains succeed, but I don't want to see further amplification of the bad economic ideas that underpin bitcoin and the silly idea that somehow printing money is somehow always and automatically bad. https://t.co/zVuBcP2FgH
Brody added that while he lost a lot of faith in government institutions, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank “have proven to be remarkably well run, transparent and resilient.” He also noted that both paper and digital money are needed in today’s world, as well as “a little bit of inflation.”
Are you ready? @Grayscale's national ad campaign kicks off next week with a TV ad on CNBC, MSNBC, FOX, and FOX Business. We're going to brrring crypto to the masses
Media: if you want a sneak peek, get in touch with @nitWitty
“We're going to brrring crypto to the masses,” wrote Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of Grayscale’s parent company Digital Currency Group while announcing the clip last Friday.
Yet, according to most commenters, Grayscale’s recent ad probably won't.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
ECD Automotive Design, Inc. has secured $500 million to acquire and store massive amounts of Bitcoin in a corporate treasury, according to the firm’s statement on Monday—a business strategy that has gained traction among a number of public companies over the past few months.
The Florida-based car restoration company, which bills itself as the largest restorator of Land Rovers and Jaguars, signed a $500 million equity facility with ECDA Bitcoin Treasury LLC, according to its press release.
An...
Positive legislative and regulatory developments buoyed Coinbase’s stock last week, among other events boding well for the crypto exchange’s long-term growth prospects, investment bank Benchmark, wrote in a Monday note.
The company’s share price jumped more than 23% as Coinbase secured a Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, license and a bipartisan slate of U.S. lawmakers passed the GENIUS Act in the Senate, which seeks to establish federal rules for stablecoins, Equity Research Analyst Mark Palme...
Social media personality and crypto investor Anthony Pompliano unveiled a $1 billion merger on Monday to create ProCap Financial, a Bitcoin-native financial services firm that will soon join a growing list of companies stockpiling the asset on the Nasdaq.
Pompliano, who began promoting ProCap in April, said on X, formerly Twitter, that he had recently raised $750 million from “leading institutional investors on Wall Street” for the blank-check firm, alongside heavy hitters in the cryptosphere.
“...
