Financial Times ‘apologizes’ to Bitcoin supporters after years of criticism

The Financial Times (FT) has issued a controversial “apology” after Bitcoin broke the $100,000 mark on December 5, 2024.

The apology, published on FT Alphaville, the publication’s daily news commentary service, was seen by many as a backhanded admission of its failure to foresee Bitcoin’s rise.

FT’s “Apology”.

The article, written by FT Alphaville city editor Bryce Elder, was framed as an apology to those who, for more than a decade, had taken the publication’s critical stance on Bitcoin at face value and s ‘they had refrained from investing in the asset.

“We’re sorry if at any point in the last 14 years you chose, based on our coverage, not to buy something whose number went up. It’s nice when your number goes up,” Elder wrote as he added a jab at traditional finance .

“We’re sorry if you misunderstood our cryptocynicism as a statement of support for tradfi, because we hate that too.”

While the statement was meant to sound like an apology, the tone and wording left many in the crypto community skeptical. The article, published on the same day that the price of Bitcoin rose above $100,000, seemed more like a sarcastic comment than a genuine apology.

The news outlet has long been critical of Bitcoin, dating back to its first article on the cryptocurrency, published on June 6, 2011, when the asset was priced at just $15.90.

The latest apology article detailed how previous FT Alphaville posts had portrayed Bitcoin as a “negative sum game”, criticizing its inefficiency as a store of value or medium of exchange.

The author added that Bitcoin’s value had become disconnected from utility, and its price was described as an “arbitrary hype indicator”. The publication also concluded by maintaining its original position, writing: “We stand by every single one of these posts.”

Community reaction

The so-called apology did not sit well with Bitcoin enthusiasts. Many took X to criticize the Financial Times for issuing a sarcastic “Cope-Pology” rather than a genuine admission of error.

One user described it as the “saltiest, most insignificant apology” they’d ever seen, while another commented that it was hard to imagine being so wrong and without humility.

The Financial Times has consistently maintained its anti-Bitcoin stance. In 2014, the site published a critique of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, comparing them to a “reckless” doctor.

The article, written by Mark Williams, a former Federal Reserve risk examiner, argued that the fixed supply of Bitcoin failed to account for economic fluctuations. He compared the creator’s approach to giving all patients penicillin without first checking whether they are suffering from infection, depression or mania.

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