If they come at me with pitchforks I’ll know it was because of this post, but I’ve let it fester in drafts long enough : KOL traders selling out to become puppets for protocols and apps might be one of the greatest marketing plays in crypto history. It’s also completely bastardized the trading experience. Trading has always been a bit of a show. But the difference is that the KOLs, trading groups, and devs used to create the show themselves. They coordinated narratives, manufactured hype, and figured out how to rig the system in their favor. Now they don’t even have to rig the system because the system is rigged for them. And they’re all in bed with the people running it. Every viral coin feels like a three-act production. The massive wins, the public meltdowns, the dramatic losses. Even watching the main character get absolutely wrecked can be part of the entertainment. Except the main character might be getting paid behind closed doors regardless of whether they win or lose. The audience thinks they’re watching someone just like them take the same risks. In reality, they may be the only ones with actual skin in the game. The losses are content. The wins are marketing. The relatability is manufactured. The protocols and apps print money. The KOLs get paid. The chains celebrate record volume. And retail gets led to slaughter. I used to genuinely love trading. I loved the chaos, the discovery, and the feeling that anyone could find something early and win. I haven’t traded in months because I have no interest in being an unpaid extra in someone else’s scripted production. As a marketer, I’m torn between being impressed and disappointed. Because it’s sincerely a masterclass in marketing, distribution, and generating trading volume. But at what cost? We’ve become so fucking obsessed with celebrating the numbers that we’ve stopped zooming out to observe the ripple effect. If everyone on stage is getting paid and everyone in the audience is paying to participate, are we even building a market anymore? Or are we just selling tickets to a show?