A group of tech experts and academics wrote to U.S. lawmakers criticizing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in the first concerted effort to counter crypto industry lobbying, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
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- The 26 signatories include Harvard lecturer Bruce Schneier, former Microsoft engineer Miguel de Icaza and senior engineer at Google Cloud, Kelsey Hightower, the FT said.
- "We urge you to resist pressure from financiers, lobbyists and promoters of digital assets to create a safe harbor for these risky, flawed and unproven digital financial instruments," the letter states, according to the report.
- The letter is addressed to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), as well as leading Senators Patrick Toomey (R-PA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), both of whom have supported the crypto industry.
- According to Schneier, "the claims made by blockchain proponents are not true ... It is not secure, it is not decentralized. Any system where you forget your password and lose your savings is not a secure system."
- "We're against the lobby, that's what this letter is about," said software developer Stephen Diehl. "The crypto industry has its people, they tell politicians what they want." Diehl is a consistent crypto critic who has published a number of crypto-skeptic blogs on his website in recent years.
- Crypto companies spent about $9 million on lobbying in 2021, more than triple the $2.8 million spent the previous year. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was the biggest spender of that sum, with $1.5 million.