Bitcoin might have been embraced by Wall Street, but it is yet to win the hearts and minds of the general public.
Former Facebook executive Christopher Pan, the commencement speaker at the Ohio State University, was recently booed by the entire stadium after mentioning Bitcoin during his speech.
Ohio State’s commencement speaker was loudly booed after trying to shill bitcoin, which he said he just discovered over the past few months.
he says he took ayahuasca to write the speech
this fucking rules
(video via https://t.co/nJOzUoF62V) pic.twitter.com/oTjIXoD8Jf
— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) May 6, 2024
Pan was humiliated after claiming that the cryptocurrency was “a misunderstood asset class”. Despite the harsh reaction from the audience, Pan kept touting Bitcoin as a decentralized asset that is resistant to censorship while also mentioning the transformative potential of Bitcoin ETFs.
The video of the entire stadium booing Bitcoin ETFs was picked up by many prominent critics of the cryptocurrency industry, including researcher Molly White. The Bitcoin community seemingly took the negative reaction in jest. “This reminds me of my family reunions,” one user wrote on the X social media platform.
Pan, a Taiwanese native, moved to the U.S. at the age of seven.
In 2007, he ended up joining Facebook’s team when the platform had only 50 million users.
After leaving the social media giant in 2012, Pan felt “unfulfilled” despite reaching financial freedom.
The former Facebook executive then launched the MyIntent Project in 2012, a startup that is best known for allowing users to create custom bracelets.
In 2020, he also reinvented himself as a mental health advocate.
In his LinkedIn post, Pan clarified that ue used a hallucinogen called Ayahuasca for writing his speech.