Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry's influence

From: https://twitter.com/smdiehl/status/1531920908696358912

Today the global community of technologists sent a letter to Congress urging them to resist the crypto industry’s lobbying influence. The letter was signed by some of the most respected scholars and technologists in our field. And now we need your help.

Crypto fraud is spiraling out of control. So-called "web3" is not going great. Regulators are paralyzed and people are getting hurt left and right. It's on us as citizens and responsible engineers to help fix the problem we created by our inaction.

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/

Crypto lobby is spending millions to tell leaders that crypto-assets are "innovation" and all fintech innovation is unqualifiedly good, no matter the human cost. Today we set the record straight on what computer scientists really think about blockchain.

https://twitter.com/JorgeStolfi/status/1522011168604409856

"The claims that the blockchain advocates make are not true," said Bruce Schneier. "It's not secure, it's not decentralised. Any system where you forget your password and you lose your life savings is not a safe system," he added.

"The computational power is equivalent to what you could do in a centralised way with a $100 computer," said Miguel de Icaza. "We’re essentially wasting millions of dollars’ worth of equipment because we’ve decided that we don’t trust the banking system."

The externalities related to crypto investments are neither isolated nor are they growing pains of a nascent tech. They are the inevitable outcomes of a technology that is not built for purpose and will remain forever unsuitable as a foundation for large-scale economic activity.

Our call to action is simple. If you are a computer scientist or developer concerned about this issue, we're opening the letter to the wider tech community to sign and tell our policymakers that enough is enough, the status quo has to change.