The big Blockchain lie

Blockchain's once bright future is being questioned PIC: DLT.COM
Blockchain's once bright future is being questioned PIC: DLT.COM

Now that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have plummeted from last year’s absurdly high valuations, the techno-utopian mystique of so-called distributed-ledger technologies should be next. The promise to cure the world’s ills through "decentralisation" was just a ruse to separate retail investors from their hard-earned real money. NOURIEL ROUBINI* writes

NEW YORK: With the value of Bitcoin having fallen by around 70% since its peak late last year, the mother of all bubbles has now gone bust. More generally, cryptocurrencies have entered a not-so-cryptic apocalypse. The value of leading coins such as Ether, EOS, Litecoin, and XRP have all fallen by over 80%, thousands of other digital currencies have plummeted by 90-99%, and the rest have been exposed as outright frauds. No one should be surprised by this: four out of five initial coin offerings (ICOs) were scams to begin with.

Faced with the public spectacle of a market bloodbath, boosters have fled to the last refuge of the crypto scoundrel: a defence of “blockchain,” the distributed-ledger software underpinning all cryptocurrencies. Blockchain has been heralded as a potential panacea for everything from poverty and famine to cancer. In fact, it is the most overhyped – and least useful – technology in human history.

Editor's Comment
Let’s fight GBV as a collective

Botswana for the longest time was known for her virulent peace with family being an enviable institution.As the media, we are also scared to be incessantly reporting on these bloody scenes where women are brutally murdered and worse, sometimes in front of their children and loved ones. Yes, we have reported cases where men were also brutally murdered by their loved ones, but such cases are a drop in the ocean.For the past two weeks, Botswana was...

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