A Brief Discussion on the Evolution of Information Sources in the Crypto Space: The Interwoven Development of Communities, Media, and Social Networks
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
A Brief Discussion on the Evolution of Information Sources in the Crypto Space: The Interwoven Development of Communities, Media, and Social Networks
Everyone still craves a centralized source of information, and an invisible force drives all information toward a single, centralized platform.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthors: Huang Shiliang, Flash
Recently (mid-October 2023), Reddit announced the shutdown of Moon tokens—community-specific cryptocurrencies issued within certain subreddits—causing the price of Moon to instantly drop by 85%.
Back in 2020, the news that Reddit was launching community tokens excited the industry. Just imagine how many new users Reddit's massive user base could bring to Ethereum. Yet, years later, this initiative has ultimately failed.
I don't know the specifics of Moon’s operations. Today, I just want to reflect on the main platforms I've used over the years to access crypto-related information. Looking back, it feels quite interesting.
As early as 2014, the blockchain space revolved solely around Bitcoin, and industry information was primarily shared on forums.
At that time, nearly all major figures in the industry posted on bitcointalk.com, which served as the primary source of high-quality information. Even more private and technically advanced discussions happened via mailing lists.
In China, the main sources of industry information were also forums, with 8btc being the leading platform at the time.
From 2015 to 2016, I felt that with Ethereum's rise and the debates around Bitcoin scaling, Reddit became the dominant platform for the crypto community.
Back then, I spent time every day on subreddits like r/bitcoin, r/btc, and r/ethereum.
Looking at the broader internet landscape, mainstream information consumption had already shifted toward social media—platforms like Sina Blog, Weibo, WeChat, and Zhihu in China. I'm less certain about the West, but likely similar trends occurred with Facebook and Twitter. Yet, the crypto community stuck with specialized forums.
By 2017–2018, forum-style platforms began losing popularity in crypto. Instead, professionally edited and curated media websites rose to prominence. In China, ChainNews and 8btc offered the highest quality content, while internationally, outlets like CoinDesk led the way—alongside the now-infamous rumor-spreader CoinTelegraph.
These professional media sites aggregated and filtered content from various platforms, commissioned articles, and employed editors to revise, translate, and polish materials.
Meanwhile, more and more KOLs (key opinion leaders) emerged, each building their own platforms—WeChat official accounts, Twitter profiles, or personal blogs.
For example, Vitalik Buterin—the most famous today—and Gavin Andresen, whom people may have forgotten, both maintained personal websites.
Media platforms also organized interviews and offline events to generate additional content.
High-quality articles scattered across the web were collected, edited, and presented to readers through these centralized media channels.
A wave of "XX Finance" websites emerged, all following this model.
This was essentially Web 1.0.
In 2019, Chinese media platforms suffered a fatal blow.
Overseas, there never emerged a comprehensive, professional media outlet comparable to ChainNews or 8btc. Perhaps due to strict U.S. copyright laws, platforms hesitated to freely republish or edit others’ content.
I noticed that IM communication tools—group chats on WeChat and Telegram—became the primary hubs for crypto information.
Crypto groups have always been popular—back in 2014, people used QQ groups—but they weren’t mainstream. Too many voices, chaotic discussions, and poor information retention.
But after 2019, as reliable media platforms shut down, Chinese users increasingly turned to group chats as their main source of crypto news. Everyone ended up joining multiple groups.
In 2021, with the rise of NFTs, DAOs, and specific airdrop farming strategies, Discord became part of daily life for many in crypto.
Coupled with the DeFi yield farming boom, countless groups sprang up to share profit-making tips. Many even charged fees—offering premium research reports or exclusive knowledge communities.
Information distribution had become fully decentralized.
Yet decentralization proved inconvenient for most users. People still longed for a centralized source of information—an invisible force naturally drives content toward concentrated platforms.
By 2022, after Elon Musk successfully promoted Dogecoin on Twitter, the platform gradually became the central hub for blockchain information.
Today, virtually every project team, large holder, retail trader, and KOL shares and gathers information on Twitter (X.com).
Even complex materials like whitepapers and academic papers are now routinely shared on Twitter.
What valuable insights can we draw from this evolution of information sources?
Here are a few conclusions I find meaningful:
1. Early-stage technologies (like Bitcoin before 2014) typically incubate in niche forums or obscure platforms—not mainstream social media.
If you want to deeply understand the origins of Bitcoin and blockchain, you must dive into old threads on bitcointalk.org.
Likewise, if you're looking to spot the next emerging industry early, don't ignore obscure discussion platforms.
2. The flow of blockchain information has undergone a classic cycle: centralization → decentralization → re-centralization.
I suspect this oscillation between centralization and decentralization will continue. X.com is not the final destination. The crypto community on X will be disrupted again.
It feels like the fate of cryptocurrency: start small and under the radar, grow strong, become increasingly centralized, get hit hard, forced into decentralization, succeed in rebuilding, grow again with new power centers, then get wiped out—either by external forces or internal collapse—returning to decentralization, and starting the cycle anew...
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
