Let Them Eat Crypto: The Blockchain Scam That’S Ruining The World

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Peter Howson is a technology writer, researcher, and Assistant Professor in International Development at Northumbria University, Newcastle. He investigates the green-washing, aid-washing, and crypto-shenanigans that go on in Silicon Valley, as well as the lesser-known tech-hubs of the Global South.

The subject of immense hope, hype, and confusion, crypto has amassed countless headlines in recent years. With cryptocurrencies, NFTs and metaverse markets crashing, the underlying blockchain technology is still promised to solve global development challenges, whilst revolutionising every industry. But is the technology really a silver bullet? Let Them Eat Crypto puts blockchain, cryptocurrency and 'Web3' under the microscope like never before. Peter Howson cuts through the jargon and bluster to tell an alarming story of how right-wing libertarian crypto entrepreneurs - often aided by charities, politicians, and philanthropists - seek out and exploit conditions of poverty, oppression, corruption, and conflict. Their goal? A new front of 'crypto-colonial' extractivism. Let Them Eat Crypto reveals the alarming truth: far from 'banking the unbanked', saving the gorillas, or freeing people from oppressive governments, blockchain offers only false solutions, surveillance, and hi-tech snake oil.

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