Vivaldi CEO Jon von Tetzchner calls for cryptocurrency ban

Vivaldi CEO Jon von Tetzchner has stated that cryptocurrencies should have been banned, citing the negative consequences of a lack of regulation. In a recent social media post, von Tetzchner argued that cryptocurrencies are used to exert excessive political influence and compared the situation to the unregulated use of user profiling for advertising and content algorithms, which he believes has harmed society and democracy.

A longtime critic of digital assets, von Tetzchner previously described cryptocurrencies as a ‘pyramid scheme posing as currency’ and criticized Bitcoin for its energy consumption and volatility. He has maintained that Vivaldi will not integrate cryptocurrency wallets into its browser to avoid encouraging what he characterizes as a gamble or a scam.

Von Tetzchner also addressed the rise of artificial intelligence, noting that AI companies are now calling for regulation similar to social media companies. Additionally, he indicated that Vivaldi intends to resist the industry trend of turning web browsers into AI assistants, stating the company will not integrate LLM chatbots or automatic summarization systems.