Well-known programmers and scientists have joined crypto antagonists in the USA
American crypto antagonists attempted to attract the attention of politicians and the public. An open letter from a team of 26 developers, scientists, and opinion leaders appeared on the web and was sent to the US Congress leaders and committee chairpersons. The authors urge them to be skeptical of web3 and resist the actions of crypto industry lobbyists.
According to the signatories, crypto assets are risky, misguided, and unproven digital financial instruments. Given this fact, the country’s leadership should not be led by supporters of the crypto industry who insist on the development of regulatory norms which facilitate the development of the market. The letter alleges that the only real solution for lawmakers is to “use an approach that protects the public interest and provides that technology deployment truly serves the needs of ordinary citizens.”
The authors draw the attention of Congress to the lack of reasons to consider digital assets as a positive financial innovation that can solve the problems of ordinary Americans. Moreover, they call blockchain-based financial products a “disaster for financial privacy.”
This attitude towards web3 is caused by the impossibility of undoing the transactions, the lack of mechanisms to mitigate the effects of fraud and use in the real economy. The authors of the letter also haven’t spared the facts of using crypto assets in unstable speculative investment schemes, money laundering, and harm to the environment.
Based on their many years of experience, technologists and developers say that these and other phenomena should be considered only as an inevitable consequence of technology and not isolated or temporary problems at the stage of its formation.
We need to act now to protect investors and the global financial market from the serious risks associated with crypto assets and should not be distracted by technical abilities that mask a glaring absence of technological utility,the authors say.
The letter’s signatories are IBM researcher Grady Booch, Netscape developer Jamie Zawinski, and cryptographer & computer security specialist Bruce Schneier. The authors call on scientists, technologists, and developers who share this position to join the signing of the letter until June 10, 2022, inclusively.
