Internet inventor Berners-Lee calls crypto dangerous, compares it to gambling

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, called cryptocurrency “dangerous” and compared it to gambling in an episode of CNBC’s “Beyond The Valley” podcast published last Friday.

Discussing the future of the web, Berners-Lee said digital currencies are “just speculative” and compared it to the dot-com bubble, where internet stocks, often without a solid business behind them, were wildly inflated.

“It’s just speculative. Obviously, it’s very dangerous,” Berners-Lee told CNBC. “[It’s] if you want a kick out of gambling, basically.”

“Investing in certain things, which are purely speculative, is not where I want to spend my time,” he added.

However, Berners-Lee said that digital currencies can be useful for transfers if they are immediately converted back to fiat currency when received.

The British computer scientist is credited with inventing the World Wide Web in 1989. But Berners-Lee has been unhappy with the way his original vision for the Web has evolved. Together with John Bruce, Berners-Lee wants to reshape the future of the internet through his startup Inrupt, with the aim of giving people more control over their data. Both spoke to CNBC’s “Beyond The Valley” in a wide-ranging interview about the future of the internet.

Many proponents have talked about the future of the Internet in terms of Web3, a catch-all phrase with no clear meaning. But proponents often say that this version of the internet runs on blockchain technology that first came about with the cryptocurrency bitcoin. Web3, some say, is a decentralized internet that takes some of the power away from giants like Facebook and Google.

But Berners-Lee said the future of the Internet is “Web 3.0,” which he distinguishes from Web3. Web 3.0 is his own proposal for reshaping the internet.

“It’s not blockchain,” Berners-Lee said, suggesting the technology isn’t fast or secure enough.