{"id":24029,"date":"2026-03-18T15:56:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/vanity-fair-dresses-down-cryptos-elites-and-exposes-a-deeper-identity-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:56:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:56:55","slug":"vanity-fair-dresses-down-cryptos-elites-and-exposes-a-deeper-identity-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/vanity-fair-dresses-down-cryptos-elites-and-exposes-a-deeper-identity-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanity Fair dresses down crypto\u2019s elites \u2014 and exposes a deeper identity crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Vanity Fair\u2019s \u201ccrypto true believers\u201d cover sparks backlash on X, reviving an old question: can an anti\u2011establishment movement win mainstream respect without losing its soul?<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_1f9ab8102d7e0f9436b54c25198fe023\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Vanity Fair\u2019s \u201cCrypto True Believers Demand to Be Taken Seriously\u201d profiles Cathie Wood, Olaf Carlson-Wee and Michael Novogratz in imagery many in the industry see as mocking.<\/li>\n<li>Crypto founders, photographers and market commentators argue the photos and prose are openly contemptuous, crystallizing how legacy media still frames the sector as spectacle.<\/li>\n<li>The X backlash taps into Dean Eigenmann\u2019s warning that crypto\u2019s hunt for institutional approval has hollowed out its original mission, leaving it mainstream enough to mock but not quite respected.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">A glossy magazine profile of crypto\u2019s power class has set the industry\u2019s social media circles ablaze, with reactions ranging from embarrassed laughter to outright fury.<\/p>\n<p>Vanity Fair\u2019s latest <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/story\/cryptos-true-believers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">cover story<\/a>, titled\u00a0<em>\u201cCrypto True Believers Demand to Be Taken Seriously,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0landed this week like a grenade in crypto Twitter \u2014 or rather, crypto X. The piece profiles a who\u2019s-who of digital asset royalty, including ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee, and Galaxy Digital\u2019s Michael Novogratz, all photographed in what many in the industry immediately described as deliberately unflattering, sarcastic imagery.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kucoin.com\/news\/flash\/vanity-fair-s-cover-story-sparks-backlash-in-crypto-community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n<p>The article\u2019s premise is sweeping: it chronicles how the cryptocurrency sector, after surviving multiple rounds of regulatory crackdowns and brutal market cycles, has attempted to reshape global power dynamics ahead of 2026 through massive political donations \u2014 the industry collectively poured $135 million into the 2024 elections, winning more than 90% of the races it funded \u2014 and a near-messianic sense of purpose. The piece also contextualizes crypto\u2019s current malaise: the total market cap has shed roughly $1.4 trillion since its December 2024 peak, with Bitcoin trading around $73,700 \u2014 approximately half its all-time high.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/markets\/prediction-markets\/26\/03\/51309207\/crypto-billionaires-play-dress-up-for-vanity-fair-as-industry-fights-for-relevance-after-trillion-dollar-wipeout\"><\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n<p>But it was the visuals and editorial framing that lit the fuse. A group photograph of the featured figures went viral almost immediately, spreading across X timelines with a wave of mockery and criticism. Vanity Fair, a publication intimately attuned to celebrity culture and cultural gatekeeping, appeared to many observers to be treating crypto\u2019s self-styled financial revolutionaries as a spectacle rather than a serious force \u2014 a distinction the community found painful, especially given how hard it has lobbied for mainstream legitimacy.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was a fashion photographer for over a decade before crypto. I worked for magazines like <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ELLEmagazine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@ELLEmagazine<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marieclaire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@marieclaire<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Cosmopolitan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@Cosmopolitan<\/a> and brands like <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LouisVuitton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@LouisVuitton<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gucci?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@gucci<\/a> and more. <\/p>\n<p>The Vanity Fair article was a setup to mock crypto and those it depicted. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vGOiKhwrVj\">pic.twitter.com\/vGOiKhwrVj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dennison (@DennisonBertram) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DennisonBertram\/status\/2034013980771877353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">March 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Dennison Bertram, co-founder of Tally and a former fashion photographer with over a decade of experience in the industry, was among the most vocal critics. He argued that the article was not merely skeptical but openly contemptuous, with both the writing and the photography engineered to diminish its subjects. Dissecting one image of Novogratz, Bertram noted that \u201chis eyes are squinting\u2026 his face is deliberately cast in shadow, appearing menacing\u2026 Is this a positive image? I don\u2019t think so at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Noelle Acheson of Triple Crown Digital offered a more reflective take: \u201cWe can laugh all we want \u2014 and we definitely want to \u2014 at Vanity Fair\u2019s photoset\u2026 but the deeper issue is: Is this how mainstream media sees the cryptocurrency industry? If so, we still have a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">if my partner refereed to me like this and it dropped in a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VanityFair?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@VanityFair<\/a> article I would instantly off myself <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tGqAAO5AVJ\">pic.twitter.com\/tGqAAO5AVJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dean Eigenmann (@DeanEigenmann) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeanEigenmann\/status\/2033998682362614111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">March 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The backlash quickly bled into broader, more philosophical territory. Dean Eigenmann, the Swiss-born MEV veteran and sharp-tongued commentator at @DeanEigenmann, had already laid the intellectual groundwork for exactly this kind of reckoning in his February essay\u00a0<em>\u201cA Return To Fundamentals\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 a widely-read X Article that accumulated over 121,000 views. <\/p>\n<p>In it, Eigenmann argued that crypto\u2019s desperate scramble for institutional validation and mainstream legitimacy had effectively gutted the industry of its original purpose. \u201cThe institutions did not come to crypto,\u201d he wrote. \u201cCrypto went to them and was reshaped in their image.\u201d The Vanity Fair episode, to many, felt like living proof of his thesis: an industry that spent years softening its edges to court Wall Street and Washington had finally landed on the cover of a celebrity magazine \u2014 and been laughed at anyway.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DeanEigenmann\/status\/2025678853281378412\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n<p>One X user, @jinelled\u2019Lima, captured the bitter irony succinctly: \u201cWe\u2019re on the cover now. Can it get any more ironic? This isn\u2019t us. We were never supposed to be like this.\u201d<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kucoin.com\/news\/flash\/vanity-fair-s-cover-story-sparks-backlash-in-crypto-community\"><\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n<p>The controversy cuts to a question the industry has never fully resolved: can a movement that began as a direct challenge to entrenched financial power ever truly be \u201ctaken seriously\u201d by the very culture it sought to disrupt \u2014 without losing itself in the process? For now, the X discourse suggests the answer remains as volatile as the market itself.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vanity Fair\u2019s \u201ccrypto true believers\u201d cover sparks backlash on X, reviving an old question: can an anti\u2011establishment movement win mainstream respect without losing its soul? Summary Vanity Fair\u2019s \u201cCrypto True&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24031,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029\/revisions\/24031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}