Vivaldi founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner has called for a ban on cryptocurrencies, stating that the lack of regulation allows industry companies to influence politicians and threaten democracy.
“We should have banned cryptocurrencies,” wrote the co-founder and former head of Opera Software.
According to him, experts had previously warned about the consequences of a lack of regulation, and now crypto companies with large cash reserves have the opportunity to “buy corrupt politicians.”
Von Tetzchner linked the situation to another regulatory failure, in his view—the use of user profiles for targeted advertising and recommendation algorithms in browsers. He believes society is already facing the consequences of these decisions for democracy.
The entrepreneur also drew a parallel with the AI industry. He noted that now industry companies themselves, like social networks, are calling for regulation because they cannot independently stop potentially harmful practices.
Tetzchner’s Crypto Criticism
This statement continues the Vivaldi founder’s longstanding criticism of cryptocurrencies. In January 2022, he wrote that behind the hype surrounding digital assets, he sees “a pyramid masquerading as a currency.”
Tetzchner also pointed to the volatility of cryptocurrencies, the high energy consumption of mining, and the lack of clear practical applications.
As early as 2021, the entrepreneur called for a ban on surveillance-based advertising. He argued that the data collection business model of Big Tech undermines democracy and that companies need regulation.
Earlier, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Elon Musk of xAI called for slowing down the development of AI technologies.
