Let’s face it, when you read about the Q1 2025 cryptocurrency market crash (and you will – trust me), what are you gonna read about? Likely plenty of discussion on Bitcoin’s dominance, Ethereum’s struggles, and perhaps a brief discussion on meme coins. A bunch of numbers, percentages, technical analysis – the typical gobbledygook. But what about the people? The real people whose lives were impacted?

Small media actors don’t enjoy the same luxuries Big media is addicted to the “big picture,” the institutional investors, the billion-dollar trades. They’ll frame it as the market cap falling 18.6% down to $2.8 trillion. They’ll be looking to understand Bitcoin’s 11.8% quarterly drop after reaching a record peak. They'll dissect the Solana DEX surge while burying Ethereum's struggles. Who is left holding the bag is a question they conveniently leave unasked.

When I sat down to talk with Sarah, a single mother. She plowed her life savings into AI tokens because she was seduced by claims of get rich quick schemes. She saw Render (RNDR) and Fetch.ai (FET) and SingularityNET (AGIX) flashing green and thought she'd finally found a way out of paycheck-to-paycheck living. Now? She's facing eviction. Where's her story on CNBC?

Then you have Mark, a veteran who had to put his disability payments into meme coins in order to make a nest egg. He fell for the propaganda, the nonstop dog wagging on social media. To him, Donald Trump crypto endorsements meant the signal was GO TIME. The loss from the “Libra incident” erased his investment, and he was left only with a tale of woe and deep feelings of betrayal. Did you see his face on Bloomberg?

To be blunt, the mainstream media has been fixated on the what – the market fluctuations, the regulatory actions, the creation of stablecoins. It’s great that they discuss the $24.5 billion increase in stablecoin market cap as if it were a theoretical discussion. But they utterly miscalculate the who and the why. Why are people fleeing to stablecoins? Because they are scared to death, and they are blindfolded bumbling idiots only trying to get right what’s left.

The crypto industry, powered by VC and an insatiable drive for growth at all costs, has proven to be a manipulative juggernaut. They prey on people's hopes and fears, using algorithmic marketing to target vulnerable individuals with promises of easy wealth. It's digital snake oil, plain and simple.

Remember the AI token craze? Or the meme coin mania? These weren't organic movements. They were promotional campaigns masquerading as carefully planned media events, meant to pump and dump assets and then leave the average retail investor holding the bag. The press posts about AI coins making up 35.7% of global attention, or meme coins making up 27.1% of investor focus. They purposefully misinterpret it as a national trend while glossing over the predatory practices that led to it.

The Hyperliquid/JELLY debacle showcases the back door, shady deals that are all too common in this industry. In this instance, the JELLY token was being delisted and futures contracts were settled at a predetermined price. It's a microcosm of the larger problem: a lack of transparency and accountability that allows insiders to profit at the expense of ordinary investors.

It’s the identical playbook leveraged by predatory lenders and MLMs. Deliver on the opposite side of their plan. Get elected — promise the world, deliver nothing but debt and despair. And the media? They’re enabling, complicit, riding the hype wave while failing to probe the ethics beneath the surface.

Everyone's talking about regulation. The growing regulatory emphasis on anti-money laundering (AML), consumer protection, and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT). The looming MiCA regulations in the EU. Regulation alone won't solve the problem. It’s really just a Band-Aid solution to a gaping wound.

What we need is accountability. We need to ensure that the REAL scheme odors are held accountable for the harm they’ve done with these pump-and-dump operations. And we have to expose the venture capitalists who funded these projects. They did this with full knowledge and intent to take advantage of regular investors.

It’s time for the media to stop writing about crypto as a weird, shiny abstract financial instrument and start covering the undeniable human cost. It’s time for regulators to raise up the voices of the victims, not the voices of the industry insiders.

It’s enough already with the hailing of the “innovation”—now it’s time to demand justice. It’s overdue to make the crypto industry answerable to Americans for their misdeeds and prevent more easily fooled investors from getting hurt. Because the next deadly crash is always just a few blocks away.

The Q1 carnage wasn’t limited to plummeting prices and decreasing trading volumes. It wasn’t just about the dreams that were shattered, the families that were broken by a system that still rewards greed over ethics. Don't let the big media fool you. The true narrative isn’t in the graphs – it’s in the faces of the people who lost everything. Until we begin crafting those narratives, all of this will remain the same.

The media needs to stop treating crypto as some abstract financial instrument and start reporting on the human cost. They need to amplify the voices of the victims, not the voices of the industry insiders.

It's time to stop glorifying the "innovation" and start demanding justice. It's time to hold the crypto industry accountable for its actions and protect vulnerable investors from further harm. Because the next crash is always just around the corner.

The Q1 carnage wasn't just about falling prices and declining trading volumes. It was about shattered dreams, broken families, and a system that continues to reward greed over ethics. Don't let the big media fool you. The real story isn't in the charts; it's in the faces of the people who lost everything. And until we start telling those stories, nothing will change.