DeFi Skeptics

May 4, 2022

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A software engineer who rewrites Wikipedia pages for fun is taking on Web3. Molly White, the “unofficial tech ombudsperson,” has been paying close attention to “crypto,” “Web3,” and the casino-like investing she sees taking place over the Internet. She recently revealed scandal after scandal in her piece “Web3 is going just great,” including phishing attacks on MetaMask, crypto exchange Binance's alleged collusion with Russia to target Ukrainians, and a crypto founder’s alleged sexual assaults.

Molly White for The Information

When the New York Times rolled out its “Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto,” Molly spearheaded the edited version, which called out the article for poor research, a pro-crypto bias, and bad journalism. For Web3 evangelists who are turning memes and Internet humor into increasingly speculative investments, Molly is a disastrous foil.

And she’s not the only one. Berkshire Hathaway just hosted its annual investor meeting and called out e-trading platform Robinhood for its “gamification of investing,” which it sees as a “disgusting” business model for the high fees incurred in trading. Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett also chastised Fidelity Investments for adding Bitcoin as an offering for retirement accounts, a move that the beloved holding company believes can be harmful to retirees given the price fluctuations.

For now, some Web3 enthusiasts appreciate White's work for poking holes in the excitement through thoughtful, intellectual writings. But others aren’t so happy. Chris Dixon, Web3 investor at Andreessen Horowitz, blocked her on Twitter in response.