LONDON (AFP) – Cryptocurrency critics, including economists, will gather in London and online this week to get their message across to regulators about the booming but volatile sector.
A number of governments have expressed concerns over cryptocurrencies, but those behind the first Crypto Policy Symposium say they hope the event will prompt much more “critical discourse” of the sector.
“There are so many crypto conferences but they are funded by the crypto industry,” said co-organiser Martin Walker.
“The goal is to dispel some myths created by the crypto industry and to make policy makers start asking the right questions.”
But Walker, a banking IT expert, is quick to reject claims that yesterday and today’s event is an “anti-crypto conference”.
Instead he said it is a chance to hear the critical voices of specialists in financial bubbles, researchers who have evaluated the industry’s carbon footprint and engineers who question the effectiveness of decentralised technologies.
“We’ve got regulators from all over the world,” he said.
About 1,000 people have signed up to watch the conference online and United Kingdom (UK) officials are expected to attend a live event in London today.
The conference comes as the price of bitcoin has plunged from a peak of nearly USD69,000 last October to around USD20,000.
