As the Crypto craze sets its sights on the moon, there are hundreds of new “experts” on the scene, more than happy to share their thoughts and experience on Youtube. But who should you trust?
In part two of this article series, I’ll be assessing four more cryptocurrency Youtubers with a simple rating system to help you navigate your way through the newbies and towards the great sources of information and news.
Each Youtuber will be given a score based on 8 different areas.
News - (How topical is the content? Is it balanced and well researched?)
Altcoins - (How wide is their knowledge? Do they only focus on top cryptos? Do they shill for shitcoins?)
Technology - (Do they understand cryptography, coding and development?)
Fundamentals - (Do they understand the team, roadmap, business plan, game theory, and economics of a crypto?)
Technicals - (Do they understand the markets and technical analysis?)
Coherence - (Is the information easy to comprehend and conveyed clearly?)
Trustworthiness - (Are they honest, balanced and reputable? Are their motives dubious or compromised?)
Experience - (How long have they been involved in crypto and the surrounding fields?)
All of these areas will have a score ranging from 1 (Bad) to 10 (Excellent) based off my own experience and interpretation of their content.
Michael Gu
Subscribers: 190,000
Activity: Daily
News: 9
Altcoins: 4
Technology: 4
Fundamentals: 7
Technicals: 3
Coherence: 8
Trustworthiness: 9
Experience: 8
Total: 51
Boxmining is a fantastic source for industry news on YouTube, with a daily video schedule Michael is able to react quickly to changes in the market. His focus is on easily digestible analysis of popular news items, supported by occasional interviews with industry veterans.
Covering a wide variety of topics, Michael isn’t able to bring in-depth knowledge to every video, leading to the lower scores on Technology and Altcoins. Michael is often travelling to different events, and with such a frequent flow of content it is impossible for him to fully understand and investigate most altcoins. Instead, Michael appears to focus on cryptos within the top 20 or so by market cap, and entirely ignores the topic of trading.
Michael also maintains Boxmining.com, where written articles display the wealth of industry knowledge he has. Overall, he is a great introduction to the space with his “Nutshell” series, a personal favourite of mine.
Chris Coney
Subscribers: 44,000
Activity: Daily
News: 8
Altcoins: 5
Technology: 4
Fundamentals: 6
Technicals: 5
Coherence: 6
Trustworthiness: 9
Experience: 7
Total: 50
One of the smaller channels on my review list, The CryptoVerse is a channel that deserves your attention. Similar to Boxmining, Chris covers popular news topics relevant to the cryptocurrency space, giving his “moral, ethical and philosophical interpretation.”
Averaging between 5 and 15 minutes per video, it’s a great way to stay on top of everything that’s happening without becoming overwhelmed by FUD.
The Cryptoverse has only been running for a year now, and I have been watching his content since the start. Chris has a critical, logical mind, and where many others pander towards ICO’s and their project ideas Chris is most happy when he is being brutally honest. His technical information, while not in-depth, gives a good idea of how the markets are acting. Overall, his channel has a bit of everything, worth checking out if you’re looking for more regular videos.
David Hay
Subscribers: 120,000
Activity: High
News: 6
Altcoins: 6
Technology: 6
Fundamentals: 8
Technicals: 3
Coherence: 9
Trustworthiness: 10
Experience: 9
Total: 57
David Hay is a self-described cryptocurrency enthusiast with a long history within the community, stretching back to 2008. Creating his channel in 2011, it grew slowly before finally breaking the 1 million views mark last year. As crypto-mania hit the mainstream audience over the winter David’s channel hit 6 million views, making it one of the most watched channels in the space.
In my opinion, David is among the most trustworthy YouTubers out there, subscribing fully to the ethos of creating videos designed to help new people in the crypto space. He was early to call out Bitconnect, USITech and even fellow Youtuber Suppoman as being untrustworthy.
He’s rarely the first one with news, nor does he include any substantial trading information. David is one of the early breed of crypto enthusiasts, like myself he is driven by the potential for cryptocurrencies to change the world. Over the past few months he has began working with various cryptocurrencies on a plan to convert an entire city in South America to cryptocurrencies as a method of saving the population from hyperinflation. David is a big dreamer, but he is honest, trustworthy and probably the most passionate crypto youtuber there is. I make an effort to watch all of David’s videos, his score reflects my high opinion of the information he relays through his channel.
Ivan Liljeqvist
Subscribers: 158,000
Activity: Daily
News: 5
Altcoins: 5
Technology: 10
Fundamentals: 7
Technicals: 1
Coherence: 9
Trustworthiness: 10
Experience: 8
Total: 55
Ivan exists on the opposite end of the scale to everyone else I’ve reviewed today. His focus on explanations of cryptocurrency technology is second to none, managing to communicate complex topics in language even a newbie could follow, without ever dumbing down the topic.
His coverage of the markets is generally focussed on surface level, if you’re looking for investment advice there are better channels to watch, but when it comes to clear, concise, explanations of blockchain technology Ivan is one of my go-to people.
If you want to understand an exploit, the differences in consensus algorithms, how mining works or even encryption and cryptography, he has a video somewhere on his channel explaining it.
Recently, he’s upped the frequency of videos appearing on the channel, covering more news items in addition to his usual content. With a measured approach to news, Ivan has the ability to guide viewers through potential upcoming FUD with well thought through arguments for or against news.Although not a good place for research into Altcoins it is worth looking through to see if there are videos touching the industry you are looking at for a new cryptocurrency/ICO, he likely has a video explaining the potential implications a cryptocurrency could have on the industry, and should assist you in measuring how plausible any ICO in that field is to be successful.
I’m planning on doing these YouTuber reviews regularly. Feel free to join my Discord and let me know how you feel about those covered in this article, and who you want to see next time.