Tim Berners-Lee on CNBC's Beyond The Valley called cryptocurrencies tools for market manipulation. In his opinion, crypto assets are very similar to the dot-com bubble, when a large number of Internet companies closed 20 years ago without a fundamental basis for business development.. Berners-Lee believes that digital currencies can only be suitable for money transfers if they are immediately converted into fiat currencies upon receipt:
“Crypto assets are needed only for speculation. It's like the pleasure of gambling. Investing in things like this is not something I want to spend my time on.”
British scientist expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Internet works now: Berners-Lee would like to give users more control over their data. Many see the future of the Internet in the areas of Web3, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, believing that decentralization will eliminate the monopoly of large companies like Facebook and Google. However, Berners-Lee is not convinced that the blockchain fits into the concept of the Internet.. The engineer is sure that the blockchain technology is not so fast and secure.
Berners-Lee is more loyal to collectible tokens. A few years ago, he called NFT “the ideal way to own” when he introduced a non-fungible token containing the original source code for the technical foundations of the Internet. In July 2021, this NFT was sold by Sotheby's for $5.4 million.