•Press Release Inequality Poverty United States
Washington — News of a crypto academy serving a Brooklyn public housing project prompted Algernon Austin, CEPR’s Director of Race and Economic Justice, to explain why Black and low-income households should not be invested in cryptocurrencies.
In Black People (And Everyone Else) Should Avoid Crypto, Austin cites a study showing that Black people are more likely than white people to be invested in cryptocurrencies. “At the end of the day, crypto is a get-rich-quick scheme, and those always fail most people,” he states.
The fatal flaws of cryptocurrency are easily understood. Crypto’s value depends on hype. The only way to make money is to get other people to buy the cryptocurrency, which Austin says explains why so many celebrities are being paid to market cryptocurrency. Values rise on a tide of hype and crash when it fades.
“Ultimately, it is better for people to invest in the slow and hard work of un-rigging the economy and enacting policies that make society more equitable,” explains Austin.
