Weekly Media Recap #41
BTCP Staff
- 4 min read

Weekly Media Recap #41

Bitcoin, as covered in the mainstream media.

In this edition
Introduction

EOW closing BTC price: $64,029

Date range: April 29 - May 5, 2024

In this report:

  • Scrambling to Understand Volatility
  • Ross Ulbricht
  • More Institutional Engagement

Weekly Snapshot

The amount of mainstream media mentions last week. Source: https://bitcoinperception.com/data/
Sentiment analysis across all outlets. Source: https://bitcoinperception.com/data/
Leaderboard of the most published reporters/contributors last week. Source: https://bitcoinperception.com/data/

Main Topics of the Week

Scrambling to Understand Volatility

Bitcoin’s price took the mainstream media on a wild ride last week, going from $63,000 on Monday, down to $58,000 on Wednesday, only to close the week at $64,000.

Here's how the MSM covered it:

On Monday, Barron's Jack Denton predicted it was going to be a rough week, with CNBC suggesting $52,000 was the next stop for bitcoin on Wednesday, only for Bloomberg's Maria Paula Mijares Torres to proclaim that bitcoin’s swing back up point to the rising influence of ETF buyers.

It must be hard as a financial reporter to decipher these price fluctuations, I bet.

Ross Ulbricht

In a surprising move, Rolling Stone provided a balanced exploration of Ross Ulbricht's story, through reporter Alex Winter.

With only one other article referencing him since January 2023, according to Bitcoin Perception data, such nuanced coverage is rare and significant.

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At the time of writing, we're still processing data from 2018 that's still not available on our dashboard. Looking for Ross Ulbricht articles in this database, we found only 7 other articles.
Volume of Ross Ulbricht-related coverage in the MSM since 01/01/2023

I wonder if the the Rolling Stone article could symbolize a narrative adjustment, since seeing a MSM article providing deeper insight into the personal and philosophical journey of Ross instead of vilifying him has never happened before.

I'm working on an op-ed where I go deeper into this, dropping this week.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis.

More Institutional Engagement

Bloomberg's Olga Kharif and Tom Contillano covered how MicroStrategy's strategic investments in bitcoin continue to yield significant returns, reinforcing the growing confidence among the financial corporate media.

This sentiment was further supported by the successful debut of Asia's first Bitcoin ETF in Hong Kong, as highlighted by Reuter's Summer Zhen, yet another landmark event signalling Bitcoin's solid stride into mainstream finance.

And while CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos reported on how Coinbase revealed robust earnings, Forbes contributor Javier Bastardo covered the story on how Coinbase integrated the Lightning Network.

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Weekly Digest