Linus Torvalds shared his opinion in a chat with professional software engineers. He said that statements about the long-term value of cryptocurrencies, as well as about the omnipotence of artificial intelligence technologies, cause him confusion and regret.
According to the developer of the Linux operating system, statements that cryptocurrencies or artificial intelligence will somehow magically change the world are an unsupported story.
"What really created the world today is a hardworking engineer, a lot of failures and a few successes," Torvalds believes.
He stated that cryptocurrencies are an excellent means for fraud and are certainly very well used to create various Ponzi schemes.
"I do not believe in cryptocurrencies and see them as a tool for taking money from a narrow-minded and impressionable user. Just like I don't believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny," Torvalds said.
He believes that people should soberly assess what is happening. Many events that, in the opinion of an inexperienced layman, have far-reaching meaning and significance are related to the stories that someone told them and the culture in which they grew up, and not with a really deep truth or inner content.
"Before you start talking about the merits of digital assets, perhaps you should read about blockchains and the use of cryptographic hashes to verify the chain of events yourself. And also about how they are used in real work, as opposed to fraudulent Ponzi schemes. And maybe look for who was the author of one of these major projects long before Bitcoin even appeared?", advises Torvalds.
Earlier, Chris Dixon, general partner of the a16z cryptocurrency fund, said that the current rules of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allow only memcoins to flourish, while useful crypto projects are being persecuted.