Spam emails sent per day worldwide

Billions of unsolicited emails about crypto opportunities have been growing in almost perfect lockstep with the American secondhand clothing market. The 0.9717 correlation suggests a world in which both spam and thrift are expressions of the same impulse: someone hoping that what they're sending you is worth something.

Global spam volume has trended upward with the expansion of internet users. The U.S. secondhand and thrift market grew substantially over the same period, driven by sustainability consciousness and platforms like ThredUp and Depop.

The secondhand economy and the spam economy are both built on the same foundation: the idea that something unwanted by one person might be desired by another. The difference is that one of them is true.