John Reed Stark, a former Securities and Exchange Commission official who at one point ran the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement, has posted a series of tweets sharing his belief that Web3 is little more than a “scourge and a scam.” Stark is currently a consultant providing advice on a range of services including ransomware recovery and cyber/incident responses.
Stark has long posited his views on crypto sharing his skepticism in regards to the future of digital assets. This most recent commentary states that a “JPEG of a bored ape” is not a sound investment. He adds that “a glorified append-only spreadsheet is not the panacea for economic inequality, financial empowerment, social justice, and any other current or future societal ill.”
I worked at the SEC for 18+ yrs, the last 11 as Chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement. I have taught cyber law at Georgetown and Duke Law Schools for 20 yrs. I spent 5 yrs at Stroz Friedberg fighting cyber crime. Why I believe the bulk of Web3 is both scourge & scam.🧵 pic.twitter.com/M273MUTUeE
— John Reed Stark (@JohnReedStark) April 1, 2022
Stark continues to hammer DeFi as “inefficient, wasteful and uneconomical,” while consuming massive amounts energy. DeFi is, in his opinion, an illusion – “replete with cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
“Crypto, DeFi, NFTs and the rest of Web3 generally tout the same tired and faux libertarian notions of decentralization, except with even less protection, even more fraud and even more unlicensed, unregulated and suspect money-sucking intermediaries,” states Stark.
An interesting read, all posted on April 1st.
What problem does Web3 solve and is Web3 even remotely worth the risk of its intrinsically perilous externalities? Big Crypto wants you to believe Web3 is the future but the reality is that Web3 is indeed the future – except only for Big Crypto. For the rest of us, not so much.
— John Reed Stark (@JohnReedStark) April 1, 2022
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