Why Has Such A Culture War Broken Out In The Crypto World?
Crypto has floated along in its own bubble for years, replete with risque anime characters, profane observations, and lots of provocative opinions about politics and society.
I mean, concerns about offending others are the last thing you have to worry about, and definitely no worry about crypto leaders being jettisoned from projects because of something they said.
But that was all in the past, crypto now is a trillion-dollar industry. And it changes rapidly after it gets a lot of attention.
And now, two people in the worlds of Web3 and crypto lost their jobs this week after controversial tweets from their past emerged.
Coindesk is one of the outlets that reported this incident:
On Feb. 6, True Names Limited (TNL), the non-profit behind Ethereum Name Service (ENS), terminated Brantly Millegan, the project’s director of operations, after a 2016 tweet surfaced in which he said “homosexual acts are evil” and “contraception is a perversion.”
Millegan — also known as brantly.eth — suffered a fierce backlash when a tweet he wrote in 2016 resurfaced. In it, he declared:“Homosexual acts are evil. Transgenderism doesn’t exist. Abortion is murder. Contraception is a perversion. So is masturbation and porn.”
Within days,Christensen’s past musings were also doing the rounds. At first, she was under scrutiny for tweeting rap lyrics that contained the N-word. It didn’t take long for more of her damaging missives to emerge — including one where she said: “I do hate Mexicans.”
With this, countless Twitter users were further infuriated, describing his remarks as “unacceptable” — including his own colleagues at Ethereum Name Service (ENS).
Millegan served as Director of Operations of ENS since 2019. The blockchain protocol allows cryptocurrency users to find each other by converting their wallet addresses into easily recognizable custom domain names.
Nick Johnson, lead developer of ENS took to Twitter to explain his reasons for parting ways with Brantly.
“True Names Limited (TNL), the nonprofit that funds and organizes development on @ensdomains, has terminated the contract of Brantly Millegan effective today,” Johnson wrote.
“Brantly has been a valued team member of TNL for the past three years. However, as a team we felt that his position with TNL is no longer tenable.”
“Many of you were hurt by Brantly’s comments over the past 24 hours, and we strongly believe that ENS should be an inclusive community. Going forward we’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure that remains the case,” Johnson tweeted.
Many of you were hurt by Brantly’s comments over the past 24 hours, and we strongly believe that ENS should be an inclusive community. Going forward we’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure that remains the case.
— nick.eth (@nicksdjohnson) February 7, 2022
Connor Sephton of CoinMarketCap commented:
First and foremost, there’s no denying that Millegan and Christensen had written these tweets. One question concerns why these old tweets emerged now — and whether their past posts were being weaponized against them.
But the real debate among crypto enthusiasts is whether their punishments fit their crimes.
Some in the space believe this is a sign that “cancel culture” is beginning to make its presence felt in the industry — where people are shamed for their past behavior, and effectively made unemployable. People in this camp argue that there should almost be a statute of limitations when it comes to protecting an always-online generation from losing their jobs for things written many years ago.
Others argue that the consequences are wholly justified. Millegan and Christensen both worked for rapidly growing businesses that aim to be at the forefront as crypto goes mainstream. Achieving this would be much harder if their figureheads end up alienating a portion of their users. The organization behind Ethereum Name Service, True Names Limited, alluded to this when it described Millegan’s role as its director of operations as “untenable.”
The crypto industry is fast-moving and always changing. And over recent years, its astronomical growth has meant the sector is far less white and far less male than it once was. But one thing that’s been slower to change is the macho culture that has been a signature of Crypto Twitter from the very beginning.
Souces: Coinmarketcap, Coindesk
