November 2022 will go down as a pivotal month in the history of contemporary technology.
Twitter, the small but influential social-media network, is imploding under the leadership of Elon Musk as other leading tech companies start mass layoffs. The FTX crypto exchange, once considered a stable titan in the cryptocurrency market, has filed for bankruptcy and its eccentric founder has stepped down after failing to find US$8 billion to keep the exchange afloat (and maybe even avoid jail time).
There is an immediate effect on investors and users of these platforms, but the pernicious aspect of these events could be an erosion of trust in technological innovations.
Social media have fundamentally changed how people communicate and share information around the world. Cryptocurrency has changed the way money is exchanged and controlled.
If eccentric billionaires can implode the core pillars of these platforms, why should the general public adopt them? Given the pace of innovation across technology sectors, where should people put their faith? These aren’t easy questions to answer. Recent events are forcing a new conversation with fresh perspectives about the future.
At the end of October, global cryptocurrency markets were dominated by two major exchanges, Binance and FTX. While Binance’s Chinese-Canadian co-founder and chief executive officer Changpeng Zhao has been known for his direct demeanor, the founder of FTX was a darling of the crypto…
