Billionaire Frank McCourt Criticizes Cryptocurrencies and NFTs at Web Summit 2023

According to Decrypt, billionaire real estate developer Frank McCourt criticized 'dodgy cryptocurrencies and silly NFTs' for spoiling the narrative around blockchain technology during his speech at Web Summit 2023. McCourt emphasized that his own project, the open internet protocol DSNP (Decentralized Social Network Protocol), is not tokenized and should not be confused with cryptocurrencies and NFTs. He believes that blockchain has the potential to 'fix the internet' by providing identity, provenance, verifiable attributes, and attestation. DSNP uses Frequency, a layer-1 parachain on Polkadot, for the foundational implementation of the social graph and public message routing. The project is not linked to any financial incentives by crypto tokens or private company database servers. In 2022, McCourt stepped down as CEO of real estate firm McCourt Global to focus on his non-profit Project Liberty, which aims to create a better web. He argued that big tech and social media platforms have caused profound damage to society and called for internet users to own their data and take back their digital rights. DSNP has already migrated over 170,000 users of Web2 social media platform MeWe to its protocol, with plans to reach 300,000 by the end of the year and over a million by the end of Q1 2024.