Crypto ‘risky, flawed and unproven’ — tech experts

For a contrarian view of the merits of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, 26 esteemed technologists have chimed in with their opinions, in an attempt to counter the arguments and influence of the crypto lobby in Washington.

As Scott Chipolina reports, signatories to a damning open letter on crypto to congressional leaders include cryptographer Bruce Schneier, Google Cloud principal engineer Kelsey Hightower and Netscape developer Jamie Zawinski.

“We urge you to resist pressure from digital asset industry financiers, lobbyists, and boosters to create a regulatory safe haven for these risky, flawed, and unproven digital financial instruments,” the letter reads.

The tech experts maintain blockchain technology has always been a solution in search of a problem and has “severe limitations and design flaws”, adding: “Financial technologies that serve the public must always have mechanisms for fraud mitigation and allow a human-in-the-loop to reverse transactions; blockchain permits neither.”

Politicians are urged to “look beyond the hype and bluster of the crypto industry” as they consider how to regulate it. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has led efforts to influence Capitol Hill with 26 lobbyists and $1.5mn spent on lobbying in 2021.

Meanwhile, Alphaville reports on a critique of Web3 and crypto written by industry insiders, including the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, Vitalik Buterin. Web3 today still “centres around expressing transferable, financialised assets”, they say. What it lacks is any way of “encoding social relationships of trust”. Persistent identities or “soulbound tokens” rather than pseudonyms, are needed to inspire confidence. However, crypto has once again come up with a complex solution to a problem it created, according to its critics.

The Internet of (Five) Things

1. Scotus blocks Texas social media ‘censorship’ law
The US Supreme Court has blocked a censorship law in Texas known as HB20 that would have prohibited platforms such as Facebook and Twitter from taking down content including misinformation and extremism. In a 5-4 decision, the justices decided to stay the law, while several tech trade associations challenge its constitutionality.

2. NSO’s cash dilemma 
Faced with a cash crunch so severe that the Israeli manufacturer of cyberweapon Pegasus could have missed payroll, Shalev Hulio had a startling suggestion. The chief executive asked NSO’s owners: why not start selling again to risky clients? To his audience, the idea was alarming, but that wasn’t all. Also, check out our latest Special Report, on Navigating Cyber Risk.

3. Apple moving some iPad production from China
Apple is moving some iPad production out of China and shifting it to Vietnam, after Shanghai’s strict Covid lockdowns led to months of supply chain disruptions, reports Nikkei Asia. However, Vietnamese companies will not benefit greatly, says Lex.

4. The pointlessness of Big Tech’s annual meetings
Today, Alphabet is the latest tech company to hold its annual meeting, with shareholders voting on 10 proposals covering pay equity, sustainability and human rights. Elaine Moore says such meetings are proving a waste of time: Facebook owner Meta, Twitter and Amazon all held annual shareholder meetings last week, in which investors had the chance to vote on company issues. In nearly every single instance, the company won.

5. SoftBank buys into Rimac’s electric supercar
SoftBank and Goldman Sachs have invested in Rimac in a €500mn funding round that gives the Croatian electric supercar maker and tech group a valuation of more than €2bn, according to the company. Elsewhere, Robin Harding reports China’s car exports are taking off, many of them are electric vehicles and most are going to Europe.

Tech tools — Epic’s Unreal car engine

Nvidia’s skills in making powerful graphics cards for gamers have been extended to providing sophisticated chips for cars, and now Epic, whose Unreal Engine software is widely used to create highly realistic games, is following in its tyremarks.

Volvo said today it would bring Epic’s photorealistic visualisation tech to the cabin displays in its next generation of electric cars, beginning with a flagship SUV model to be revealed later this year. While Unreal Engine has already been used for design processes and simulations in the car industry, here it will render high-quality graphics on the in-car display itself. That doesn’t mean allowing the driver to play Fortnite, but much sharper renderings, richer colours and new 3D animations are promised for the Driver Information Module, one of the displays inside the cabin that provides relevant information and infotainment features. Qualcomm graphics processing unit (GPU) cores from its third-generation Snapdragon® Cockpit Platforms are the hardware behind the advances.