Margaret O’Mara

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Why Did We Put So Much Faith in the Crypto Whiz Kid?

Internacional

Disheveled, young and exceedingly brainy, Sam Bankman-Fried perfectly fit the role of a Silicon Valley mogul in the making. Mr. Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, leaned into the Silicon Valley stereotype and then some, playing video games while pitching investors and wearing a T-shirt and shorts onstage with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Blue-chip investors fell for his persona, and Mr. Bankman-Fried profited greatly, with his estimated net worth reaching over $26 billion at one point.

That net worth is now close to zero. In last week’s sudden collapse of FTX — which nine months ago was the star of a Larry David Super Bowl ad — billions evaporated as revelations emerged of questionable transfers between FTX and Alameda Research, Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, testifying remotely before the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee on Wednesday. The hearing reflected a souring of the relationship between Congress and tech companies. Credit Pool photo by Graeme Jennings

ReflexionesNuevas Tecnologías

On Wednesday, Representative David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, opened a half-virtual hearing on “Online Platforms and Market Power” with a combative opening statement: “Our founders would not bow before a king. Nor should we bow before the emperors of the online economy.”

That set the tone for the hours of sharp questioning of four of the wealthiest people on the planet: Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, whose companies have a combined market value roughly equivalent to the G.D.P. of Japan.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNuevas Tecnologías

Tech regulation may be the only thing on which a polarized Capitol Hill can agree. “We should be suing Google and Facebook and all that, and perhaps we will,” President Trump recently declared. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, has made the breakup of tech companies a central plank of her campaign. Even Silicon Valley-friendly contenders like Pete Buttigieg have called for curbs on the industry’s power.

If Americans buy into the idea that the tech industry is an entrepreneurial, free-market miracle in which government played little part, then the prospect of stricter regulation is ominous. But that isn’t what actually happened.…  Seguir leyendo »