There has been an ongoing frenzy on social media in the past days as the stock market is experiencing an outburst in the valuation of certain stocks including video game retailer GameStop, and AMC Entertainment Holdings amongst others. The shares of these firms have been giving the institutional short-sellers a bit of a headache as the Reddit chatroom r/wallstreetbets (r/WSB) with over 2 million subscribers formed a unifying front to pump the shares of these companies onto profitability, at the expense of the big money Wall Street firms.
The rally has yielded more dividends than can be imagined as GameStop shares have risen by over 1,600% this year, dwarfing the volatility seen in any cryptocurrency including Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH) in the same time frame. The retail rally being spurred by the r/WSB chatroom has also garnered the backing of Bitcoin proponents including billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya, and Gemini Exchange founder, Tyler Winklevoss.
Wall Street is Enraged
Prominent hedge fund managers who are renowned short sellers of the GameStop shares are already at loss amid the growing retail buyup of the shares. The development has spurred an outcry amongst this set of investors who are calling for government intervention into the activities of the r/WSB chatters.
As Justin Amash rightly described it, the big money guys are intolerant to the average man being in control, which is exactly what is ongoing with the GameStop and AMC shares pump. He tweeted;
“The elites don’t want a free market; they want a controlled market that protects their profiteering and keeps you subdued.”
One of the ways the elite are aiming to frustrate the efforts of the r/WSB retail army is first, to shut down the chatroom which is already being attempted, and secondly, by a halt in the trading of these stocks on major Wall Street brokerage firms such as TD Ameritrade. These two moves are such that are backed by the federal regulators who work tirelessly to keep the rich afloat.
The Bitcoin and Crypto Revolution
The GameStop situation gives huge credence to the inherent potential of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, in general, to usher in financial and investment equality. The latest bullish rally in the market that saw the market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency industry shoot above $1 trillion was triggered by an upsurge in the activities of both institutional investors and retailers with little or no government interference.
The design of the Bitcoin blockchain to self function has even garnered the praise of Peter McCormack who recently debunked some misconceptions about the cryptocurrency by Bank of England Chief, Andrew Bailey. With what is ongoing on Wall Street today, better advocacy is needed to make more investors see the censorship-free nature of digital currencies and decentralized markets.