There are hundreds of startups doing blockchain technology. I don’t know if she believes in it, but she’s making money. But the other professor might think that blockchain is useful.Ī. I don’t know how the internal politics of universities work, but it is common for professors not to speak in public about what other colleagues are doing, even when it is something really bad. In his department, there is another professor who has a blockchain company. For example, one of the signatories is a professor at Berkeley.

Yes, and that’s why people felt guilty enough to sign the letter. It might be garbage, but billions of dollars are invested in crypto. The usual attitude from my colleagues is: “Bitcoin and blockchain technology doesn’t interest me, technologically it’s garbage, I’m going to continue doing my own research.” The tweet woke these people up. Why have you decided to send the letter now?Īnswer. In a video call from Campinas with EL PAÍS, Stolfi explained why the computer science community feels that bitcoin works like a pyramid scheme and the reasons why it could crash. Would they please say that out loud?- Jorge Stolfi May 5, 2022 The tweet was the driving force behind a letter that 1,500 specialists signed and delivered to US Congress: “Today, we write to you urging you to take a critical, skeptical approach toward industry claims that crypto-assets (sometimes called cryptocurrencies, crypto tokens, or web3) are an innovative technology that is unreservedly good.” Among the signatories were Harvard lecturer Bruce Schneier and Kelsey Hightower, principal engineer at Google Cloud.Įvery computer scientist should be able to see that cryptocurrencies are totally disfunctional payment systems, and that 'blockchain technology' (including 'smart constracts') is a technological fraud. But in today’s so-called “crypto winter,” where the value of bitcoin has dropped from around €60,000 to €20,000 since November, gave his statement new relevance. In fact, he didn’t even see it as controversial. Stolfi was saying something that he had repeated before. In the discreet world of computer science, the 2,000 retweets and 7,000 likes his message received were the equivalent of going viral. Would they please say that out loud?” Stolfi now has 9,400 followers. In early May, Jorge Stolfi, a professor of computer science at the University of Campinas (Brazil), posted the following tweet in English: “Every computer scientist should be able to see that cryptocurrencies are totally dysfunctional payment systems and that “blockchain technology” (including “smart contracts”) is a technological fraud.

Bitcoin expert talk