• Bitcoin has finally appeared in a South Park episode, predicting a future where cryptocurrencies are the only accepted currency.
• The episode has been met with mixed reactions by crypto enthusiasts following the dropping of a hint that Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme.
• Since the airing of the episode, the price of the asset has fallen by 2% to trade at $54K.

Bitcoin has made a cameo on South Park after over a decade and feelings are split over the episode. It predicts a future for Bitcoin but calls the asset class a Ponzi scheme in its typical satirical fashion.

The South Park Episode

In an episode in the 24th season of the show, Bitcoin and selected cryptos are the only acceptable means of transacting in the future. The episode titled “Post COVID” was set 40 years into the future as the world reaches the final stages of the pandemic and humans pay for goods with Bitcoin cards via QR codes.

In the episode, protagonist Stan Marsh enters a motel called Super 12 Motel Plus seeking accommodation for the night. In the new world, brand names have the word “super” and “plus” attached to them and a sign on the desk reads “bitcoin ONLY”.

“It’s the future – we’ve all decided centralized banking is rigged so we trust more in fly-by-night Ponzi schemes,” the motel receptionist tells Stan. 

The reference of Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme is taken has earned the show producers the ire of some Bitcoin maximalists. However, others see the humor in the episode that is in line with the satirical nature of South Park and take the silver lining that the asset will be widely adopted in the future.

In 2009, the show threw jibes at the traditional financial institutions in the wake of the global financial crisis. The episode titled “Margaritaville” follows Stan’s father taking him to the bank to learn about the importance of savings and asks him to deposit $100. Stan tentatively approaches the banker and hands him the money, while the banker tells him of investment opportunities.

“We can put that cheque in a money market mutual fund, then we’ll reinvest the earnings into foreign currency accounts with compounding interest aaaand it’s gone,” the banker tells a perplexed Stan. 

Other Bitcoin Cameos

While South Park has been slow in giving viewers a Bitcoin scene, other movies and shows have gone ahead to feature the largest cryptocurrency in the world. The first appearance the asset made was way back in January 2012 in The Good Wife. The asset played a major role in the plot of the 2015 film, Dope and in the series How To Sell Drugs Online and Billions.

In Blacklist, the character Raymond Reddington claimed to know the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, while popular animation The Simpsons aired an episode where Marge Simpson watches a show where the price of Bitcoin was priced at infinity.