English computer scientist and creator of the World Wide Web (www) Tim Berners-Lee has joined other anti-crypto entities who claim that investing in digital currencies is the same as gambling. During one of the episodes of CNBC’s “Beyond The Valley” podcast where he was discussing the future of Web 3.0, Tim Berners-Lee termed cryptocurrencies to be dangerous.
While many envision Web 3.0 as the future of the internet which is supported by blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, Berners-Lee has always held the opinion that Web 3.0 can exist separately from blockchain technology. He called digital currencies a speculative asset class and further went on to compare them to the Dotcom bubble where internet stocks not backed by a solid business are given highly inflated valuations.
“It’s only speculative. Obviously, that’s really dangerous. [It’s] if you want to have a kick out of gambling, basically. Investing in certain things, which is purely speculative, isn’t what, where I want to spend my time” the WWW inventor said.
At the same time, he believes that the cross-border remittance payment ecosystem may benefit from crypto but only if they are immediately converted to fiat currency on getting to their destination.
Berners-Lee Says Web3.0 is not Blockchain
Tim Berners-Lee has held some reservations about how the web which he invented almost 34 years ago turned out due to several modifications. Market proponents believe that Web3 is a decentralized internet that relinquishes control from platforms like Facebook and Google. Unlike many enthusiasts’ opinion that the Web3 is a version of the internet that is backed by blockchain technology, Berners-Lee says “It’s not blockchain.”
He reiterated that this was not his original vision for the technology, therefore, together with John Bruce, they plan to restructure the future of the internet through Inrupt the open-source Pod browser. As part of their plans, they propose to give users more control over their data. Notably, Bruce and Berners-Lee are co-founders of Inrupt in addition to the former occupying the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
With many veterans giving a negative disposition about the crypto industry, firms like American custodian bank and securities service company, Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon have announced that investors remain unshaken and are still plunging their funds not the nascent asset class. Many of them are currently leveraging the recent Bitcoin (BTC) rally and increasing their crypto portfolio.
