> FTX was the antithesis of cryptocurrency
Not really.
The narrative around crypto sells the idea of decentralization but doesn't deliver.
(1) Put money into anything and people will show up to try to get as much as they can. That is: money is a centralizing force.
(2) Crypto, the technology, doesn't have a mechanism in place to resist centralization -- one person or entity can own as much as they can get their hands on.
Just (1) and (2) means centralization is built-in to crypto.
There are some accelerants too, though:
(3) Crypto resists regulation. What people think of as the decentralized nature of crypto is actually about resisting intervention by external parties. Obviously, that can be good, but also lets people buy, sell, trade, borrow, accumulate crypto without limits.
(4) Crypto is confusing. I think this lets people believe the things about crypto they want to believe, leading the the wildly optimistic narratives around it.
As long as there is money in crypto, you will see the same thing keep happening: money goes in, crypto moves around, for a while everything seems to be following the narrative, then, suddenly, the money is gone, the crypto is gone or worthless and we have some more threads about it on HN.