Crypto Policy Symposium 2022 Day 1 bursts the “crypto” bubble

Whenever you think of a large group of people packed into a conference room to discuss digital currency, you probably can’t help but picture that clip of Max Keizer doing his best (one assumes) Jordan Belfort impression on BTC- conference in Miami in 2021, screams from the stage “WE DON’T SELL” and then rips up paper money on camera because “everything comes to zero”.

The Crypto Policy Symposium, which was held this week, is definitely not that (nor is it held in a conference hall). It’s the opposite: a digital currency conference for skeptics, or at least, the unconverted.

Instead of filling its speaking slots and panel discussions with people who are ready to get rich based on how many people they convince to press the buy button on digital currency, the symposium brought together a range of decision makers, academics, journalists and engineers sitting all along the spectrum of crypto-skepticism – from cautious but reserved optimists to never-coiners.

In the opening remarks, along with software engineer Stephen Diehl and technologist Darren Tseng, it was made clear that the conference was not about hating innovation, but presenting a critical perspective in an industry that will have you shouted down as a FUDer or plant.

“[The symposium]is dedicated to critical analysis of the crypto industry for individuals who are skeptical or concerned about the effects these technologies are having on our society,” said Tseng.

Diehl explained that the event has three goals: to inform the general public about the risks and externalities of digital currencies; to engage with and help present relevant information to decision makers by connecting them with experts; for other crypto-skeptics to network with each other.

Such an effort is especially important now because the only perspective getting any actual airtime is the bullish argument for why BTC is a winning ticket to riches for you and everyone you know. And the consequences of that narrative being allowed to dominate the conversation without any backlash are serious and already tangible.

“In the face of sclerotic public institutions, regulatory paralysis and multi-million dollar lobbying campaigns designed to slow down our institutions and render them unable to legislate, it is up to us to engage in the political process and help educate the public , protect them from harm – with or without government help,” said Tseng.

Fortunately, government help is available, or at least it was on day one. US Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA 30th District) delivered a keynote, with UK MP Alex Sobel also on the agenda.

It was rep. Sherman who gave the first remarks. He chairs the Subcommittee on Investment Protection and Capital Markets in the House Committee on Financial Services. Sherman’s words were sobering: he warned against the “crypto bros” who are sending billions of dollars into lobbying countries around the world, to ensure that the industry remains as lightly regulated as possible. The reason, says Sherman, is simple: they all stand to turn those billions into trillions as long as they can keep the crypto carousel going, in what he called “a scheme that would make Mr. Ponzi blush.”

“They have a lot behind this, and they are willing to spend billions to make trillions. These billionaire crypto brothers are trying to imagine themselves as Robinhood, trying to distribute wealth to the poor,” he said.

This is precisely why you get grotesque spectacles like the BTC Miami conference: there is very little money in telling people that crypto is a Ponzi. However, it turns out that there is quite a lot of money in telling people that they are just a few clicks away from being rich.

“Unfortunately, perhaps, there are no lobbyists dedicated to stopping tax evasion and sanction evasion, such as that allowed by cryptocurrencies,” Sherman added.

This idea was present throughout the first day of the symposium, but was brought into sharp relief by the comments of Tonantzin Carmona, a speaker on the Predatory Inclusion panel and David M Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institute. She said:

“Part of the excuse that I often hear or read about is”well, the technology is not advanced yet“, so the highlight is the potential. So: “don’t rule it now because it has so much potential.” But this technology has been around for many years already, and millions and billions have been invested in this space, but the technology still hasn’t progressed.

The same sentiment came through in one of the day’s later sessions, hosted by former BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones with well-known skeptics David Gerard and Keith Pritchard.

“It’s not unreasonable to be so excited about your new technology that you think it will definitely take over the world given half the chance,” Gerard said.

“It quickly became a talking point whenever someone objected to these things – ‘it’s just like the early internet.’ When you hear someone say this, it’s almost always used as an excuse to fail, every time,” he added .

That such cynical obfuscations have been successful would be tragic enough if only individual investors got the short end of the stick. Yet crypto has crept into so many spheres and into the accounts of so many large institutions (as large as nations), that the stakes are now much higher.

“It worries me that small, poor countries like El Salvador have gotten involved in cryptocurrency. El Salvador is now facing a debt crisis, he said.

In many ways, Sherman’s remarks embodied the philosophy behind the entire conference. The space created by skeptics who have been called out by the industry has been filled with crypto bros with deep pockets and a pathological need to deepen them – and the price that the global community has already paid is far too high.

That was the focus for most of the first day. The unchecked power of digital currency billionaires and their power to advocate has already had some devastating consequences around the world. El Salvador is a good example and was given a good deal of consideration at the symposium Predators Inclusion panel. Mario Gomez gave the audience some political background on the country to give some context to how the Bitcoin craze has been able to capture the country’s government so effectively.

“In general, El Salvador has a lot of rules. The problem is a lack of enforcement.” Gomez said.

The economic turmoil in El Salvador — including, ironically, another government-linked Ponzi scheme that lost more than 130 million from private El Salvador citizens — has greatly reduced the ability of institutions to enforce consumer protection laws that Gomez said are actually relatively robust (on paper).

Gomez’s fellow panelist, Fred Abrahams, relayed a story that began long before Bitcoin entered the public consciousness and serves as a troubling sign of where the digital currency roller coaster could lead if left unchecked. In the early 1990s, the people of Albania discovered that the companies in which they had most of their investments – investments promoted by cronies of the government – were nothing more than pyramid schemes. The fallout was so extreme that it led to civil war in the country.

But the most vulnerable victims of this uncontrolled digital currency gold rush should not be forgotten simply because it also has consequences on a national level. For example, the first day saw a panel on Predator inclusion, where the discussion was focused on dispelling the mythical promise of financial inclusion, which has become so closely associated with the babble of digital currency marketing that it is often taken for granted. Such language is naturally aimed at low-income communities, but when the product being pushed works overwhelmingly to help the billionaires at the top of the pyramid soak up value from the bottom, the reality is that such communities end up being forced further out of the economic picture. system.

Back at the beginning of the day, as Congressman Sherman concluded his opening remarks, he said something that might as well have been the banner motto for the entire first day conference:

“I am against it. I think anyone who looks out for America or the international world order will be against it. Anyone familiar with the role of money and power in politics will see that the money and power that crypto has bestowed upon its oligarchs is too much, which is why our governments have not acted to regulate crypto.”

Watch BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 day 1 here:

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See BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 day 2 here:

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See BSV Global Blockchain Convention Dubai 2022 Day 3 here:

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