Bruce Schneier on the Crypto/Blockchain Disaster

It’s a bad year for the reputation of cryptocurrency. The foundation of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, has not faired much better. The IBM Blockchain page promises to deliver trust, security, and cost savings, there are few examples where any of that is true. That assessment might be generous.

While some of the older cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, have resolved some security issues. However, the intrinsic value of any currency depends on its reputation for stability, especially when applied to commerce. The volatility of all cryptocurrencies, along with almost weekly stories of stolen wallets, has destroyed that value.

More to the point, a progressive view of cryptocurrency has said that it could be useful for countries with no national currency and limited banking resources. However, El Salvador, which is arguably a power child for such a nation, descended into chaos economically when the country’s government declared Bitcoin to be legal tender. On the plus side, the rapid devaluation of bitcoin a year after the announcement has boosted tourism, but at a severe cost to the general economy

Bruce Schneier, dubbed the “security guru” by The Economist, has been decrying the value of blockchain and all its offshoots for more than a decade. In an interview with Cyber Protection Magazine, he stated. “It’s not secure. It’s not safe, it’s not reliable, it’s not trustworthy, it’s not even decentralized, it’s not anonymous, it’s helping destroy the planet. I haven’t found one positive use of nothing that couldn’t be done better without it.”