CTO of tech used in Bitcoin-Qt wallet thinks crypto is a “Ponzi scheme” 🚨 This article is 3 years old...
CTO of tech used in Bitcoin-Qt wallet thinks crypto is a “Ponzi scheme”
Lars Knoll, CTO of Qt, believes blockchain is "technological fraud," while the company promotes blockchain technology case studies via their website
2 min read
Updated: May. 9, 2022 at 12:33 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
The CTO of the popular programming framework Qt — which tech giants like Adobe use, Tesla, Blackberry, Google, and Blizzard — called cryptocurrency a “Ponzi scheme” on May 6.
However, the company has blockchain technology mentioned several times on their website and even claims;
Satoshi Nakamoto—used Qt to create the first Bitcoin wallet, called the Bitcoin Qt wallet, in 2009.
Lars Knoll, whose Twitter bio describes him as “Qt Chief maintainer and CTO,” has attacked crypto numerous times through his platform.
He recently tweeted:
“Going through the arguments, there’s really nothing left that justifies crypto assets.”
Yet, his own company has the below graphic in an article promoting how Qt can be used within blockchain IoT projects.
In response to criticisms of his tweets, Knoll replied:
Note that the statement above is my personal opinion. Having said that, We’re not having anything in our product related to blockchain technology. And I’m not happy about those posts as I don’t believe they are good show/customer cases.
However, it is not just a few blog posts that reference the power of blockchain technology and promote its benefits. At Qt’s virtual CES booth in 2021, the company discussed “Customer showcases … including… Blockchain (did you know that a well–known currency wallet is built with Qt?).”
Although its CTO believes that crypto and “smart contracts are simply a bad idea,” it repeatedly uses the fact that Satoshi used Qt in an early Bitcoin wallet. Given that crypto is a “Ponzi scheme,” it would be safe to assume that the publicly-traded company’s association with the household name “Ponzi” would need to be revealed as a risk in its annual report.
However, the company does not make any references to blockchain or cryptocurrency in its risk disclosures.
Knoll’s opinions as the CTO of a technology used in thousands of applications worldwide are highly negative toward crypto.
I’ve worked with Software professionally for the last 25 years and I fully agree.
Cryptocurrencies are a Ponzi scheme with huge externalities and the underlying technology hasn’t shown a use case that could not be solved better by other means. https://t.co/vgcP4myy2M
— Lars Knoll (@LarsKnoll) May 6, 2022
Knoll says he “fully agrees” with the notion that “blockchain technology… is a technological fraud.”
Can a CTO complete their fiduciary duty to a company if they believe the company is promoting “technological fraud” on its own website and at conferences?
Author 
Liam 'Akiba' Wright
Also known as "Akiba," Liam Wright is a reporter, podcast producer, and Editor-in-Chief at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.
