It’s been a little while since our the last update, so we wanted to catch you up on what the Center for Emerging Technology Policy (CETP) has been up to and what we’re planing.

Cryptocurrency

The CETP categorizes cryptocurrency as a harmful technology used to exploit the public, and Stephen Diehl has been instrumental in informing policy makers and regulators that the emperor has no clothes.

The CETP asserts that all blockchain systems using a speculative digital token, inclusive of Bitcoin, can be categorized as cryptocurrencies (crypto), and that these cryptocurrencies do not provide meaningful utility over and above existing technologies. Crypto is only useful in its ability to further criminal activity, specifically, crypto is great for money laundering, tax evasion, human trafficking, sanctions evasion, theft, ransomware, investment fraud, and terrorism. What’s not to love.

We probably shouldn’t even use the world technology to describe cryptocurrencies, which are better thought of as investment frauds. After all, speculative digital tokens represent an investment of money which allow the token holder to claim returns from the funds contributed by new investors. See this SEC definition.

Of course it’s worth noting that append-only blockchain systems, touted by salespeople as a panacea for all humanity’s ills, have been around since the 80s and have seen extremely limited use. See TK

Advocacy

Throughout 2023 Stephen Diehl has been traveling the globe speaking at conferences and events in support of responsible fintech regulation.

In September of 2023, Stephen spoke at the seventh annual Fintech Conference, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He was joined by crypto promoters from Coinbase Global, Lightspark, and Circle on a panel titled The Future of Payments, Cryptocurrencies, and Stablecoins and, as usual, expressed a sane view of reality and the need for financial regulation that represents the public interest.

Earlier in the year, Stephen had attended the Financial Markets Conference organized by the Atlanta Fed, and pushed back against techno-babble infused sales pitches during the ambiguously named Policy Session - How Might Web3 Change the Financial System? - as it turns out the answer is for the worse.

The CETP represents a community of like minded individuals who want to see technology regulated so that it can further public interests, but if you watch these videos, you’ll see just what we’re up against. The lobbyists are slick, well spoken, and have polished their narratives to a reality-distorting shine. And their hard work has paid off; they’ve influenced law makers in every corner of the globe, thanks in no small part to deep pockets kept full by their ability to defraud the public.

Crypto criminals have the ear of politicians, regulators, and powerful special interests. In many cases they’ve managed to capture the institutions who should be stopping cryptocurrency on our behalf. There’s no sugar coating it, we’re fighting a larger, stronger, and better resourced opponent. But that doesn’t mean we can’t punch above our weight and make an impact.

Organizing

Voices like the CETP, citizens groups, and advocates for the environment have been making themselves heard. Your support for these groups and others is critical, we need your help to challenge crypto narratives and push back against the tide of exploitation that’s inundated the public, and ruined lives the world over.

To better organize opponents of cryptocurrency, the Center for Emerging Tech Policy is creating a broad based coalition of various groups who want to see this criminal industry put out of business.

If you represent an organization, association, or group who’d like to join our coalition so we can better co-ordinate anti-crypto activities, please reach out to killcrypto@emergingtech.center.

As part of our commitment to the mission of creating technology policy that benefits everyone, we’ll keep fighting crypto con-artists everywhere.

Announcements

We’re happy to announce a few new things that that we have on the go.

  • Newsletter: We’re starting a weekly newsletter to keep you better informed about the issues that we care about and what we’re up to. You can consider this email to be the very first issue!

  • Contributors: If you’d like to speak at one of our upcoming events, or want to contribute to our newsletter, please email editorial@emergingtech.center

  • Events: The CETP ran the Crypto Policy Symposium in 2022, and we intend to host another event, details are TBD.

  • New Member: Sal Bayat has joined the Center for Emerging Technology Policy and will be assisting with policy development, advocacy, as well as day-to-day operations. Sal has over 15 years of experience in the telecom industry and is an expert in carrier messaging infrastructure. He designed, built, and operated one of the world’s first text-to-911 (T911) systems for emergency call takers and has a diverse skill set that encompasses highly available systems, data center operations, and network architecture.

    Sal also loves open source in all its flavours, and hasn’t met a production environment that wasn’t tremendously improved from its use. In his spare time he enjoys weight lifting, martial arts, and collaborating with others on projects related to technology. He also claims to have perfected the recipe for the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie. The CETP has agreed, selflessly, to verify this claim in the future.