Let Them Eat Crypto

The subject of immense hope, hype, and confusion, crypto has amassed countless headlines in recent years. With cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and metaverse markets crashing, the underlying blockchain technology is still promising to solve global development challenges whilst revolutionizing every industry. But is technology really a silver bullet? ‘Let Them Eat Crypto’ puts blockchain, cryptocurrency, and ‘Web3’ under the microscope like never before. Peter Howson cuts through the jargon and bluster to tell an alarming story of how right-wing libertarian crypto entrepreneurs – often aided by charities, politicians, and philanthropists – seek out and exploit conditions of poverty, oppression, corruption, and conflict. Their goal? A new front of ‘crypto-colonial’ extractivism. ‘Let Them Eat Crypto’ reveals the alarming truth: far from ‘banking the unbanked’, saving the gorillas, or freeing people from oppressive governments, blockchain offers only false solutions, surveillance, and hi-tech snake oil.