Tech Industry Leaders Urge Politicians To Resist Crypto Influence

A group of well-known scientists have joined forces to urge US lawmakers to crack down on the burgeoning cryptocurrency business.

Some of the people in this group include Harvard lecturer, Bruce Schneier, Microsoft engineer, Miguel de Icaza , and the principal engineer at Google Cloud, Kelsey Hightower. All of these individuals are part of the 26-member group that has signed a letter that closely criticizes crypto investments and blockchain technology.

Schneier was quoted saying, “The claims that the blockchain advocates make are usually not true.” He added to this by remarking that blockchain was not safe nor decentralized. Schneier believes that any system wherein people lost their life savings by forgetting their password was not a safe system. 

Stephen Diehl, a software program developer, explained some of the reasons for signing the letter. “We’re counter-lobbying, that’s what this letter is about,” says Diehl. “The crypto business has its people, they say what they want to the politicians.”

Interestingly, according to an evaluation done by The Citizen of the US Congressional Lobbying Disclosure Database, the amount of lobbyists representing the crypto business has increased from 115 in 2018 to 320 in 2021.

The cash spent on lobbying for the crypto sector has also seen a huge increase. The amount has almost quadrupled from $2.2 mn to $9mn.

The signatories of the document also went as far as to say that crypto and blockchain tech served no actual objective. Furthermore, other members pointed out the people were wasting millions of dollars worth of equipment because they decided to stop trusting the banking system.