The Case of the "Apocalyptic Speech" That Never Existed
In the universe of cryptocurrencies and politics, we have perfected a modern craft: the smoke seller. This character does not trade in tangible products but in inflated expectations, manufactured fears, and empty promises. Their raw material is collective emotionality, their tool is FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), and their result is an artificial anxiety that is born and dies in the void.
Yesterday we witnessed a masterful chapter of this theater. A "message to the nation" from Donald Trump was announced as if it were a decree that would redefine the world's economic destiny. The prophets of chaos —on social media, forums, and in the media— sold the narrative that "the life of a nation depended on this speech". The crypto community, eager for signals in a sea of volatility, generated a collective anxiety. There was speculation about historic falls, regulatory interventions, or miraculous announcements.
And the speech arrived: words, many words; graphs, none. Nothing concrete, nothing quantifiable, nothing that justified the mountain of accumulated anxiety. It was, in essence, smoke packaged as substance. But the irony comes later: after the emptiness, Bitcoin started to rise. The market, tired of overinterpretation, reacted to the real (or the lack of it) and not to the illusion sold.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to the crypto sphere. We see parallels in political speeches like those of some Democrats who insist that "the United States is living its worst days," while economic data tells a different story: inflation dropped by 0.4%, employment remains solid, and macroeconomic graphs do not reflect that announced apocalypse. Again: smoke versus data.
Why does the smoke seller work?
1. Exploit uncertainty: In complex environments (crypto, politics, economy), clarity is scarce and smoke is sold as a beacon.
2. Feed the confirmation bias: Those who already feared a collapse found in the pre-speech the validation of their fears.
3. Create addiction to dramatization: The cycle "maximum alert -> relief -> new alert" hooks more than boring stability.
The lesson:
When someone sells smoke, don't buy the fan. In crypto and in economics, demand graphs, data, fundamentals. Emotion is fuel for smoke sellers; informed skepticism is the antidote.