The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, calls crypto ‘dangerous’ and compares it to gambling. Tim believes cryptocurrencies or digital assets are highly speculative and similar to the dot com bubble. In the past, Tim has converted the code of WWW into an NFT and sold it. So, it is surprising that he has made such a controversial statement about the industry in CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley” podcast.
Tim Berners-Lee on the world wide web
The investor of the world wide web isn’t a big fan of cryptocurrencies or digital assets. He has made a bold claim that crypto is dangerous. Tim says it could be helpful only if used for remittances and converted back to fiat immediately. The individual also thinks it is comparable to the dot com bubble, where companies with no fundamentals had inflated stock prices just because they had an online website.
Tim also went one step far when he also compared crypto to gambling. He said it’s essentially the same if someone gets a kick out of crypto investing. For him, it is not something he sees himself doing, considering that crypto is purely speculative.
However, he indirectly does say that crypto does have its own merits and is particularly useful for remittances if you consider international payments. But nothing beyond that, as payments, should be converted back to fiat currencies immediately to reduce any risk.
WWW as an NFT
Tim Berners-Lee decided to tokenise the original code of the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Ethereum blockchain network. He auctioned the NFT representing this code starting from a price of $1,000 on June 23rd, 2021. Sotheby’s sold the code for $5.4 million, including fees. They also announced that payments in cryptocurrency for both the buyer fee and hammer price would be accepted.
For those wondering, the NFT consists of four primary components. The first and most significant is the time-stamped code originally written, followed by a visualisation. The package also had a digital poster created by Tim and a letter from him explaining the significance of the code in modern times.
The proceeds from the sale of the NFT were donated to a charity organisation run by Tim and his wife.
What are your thoughts as the World Wide Web inventor calls crypto ‘dangerous’? And do you think he is right when comparing it to gambling? Let us know in the comments below. And, if you found our content informative, do share it with your family and friends.
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