Crypto is becoming too closely aligned with Wall Street and traditional finance, risking a dilution of the industry’s original ethos, according to a co-founder of blockchain firm Gnosis.
Friederike Ernst said recent regulatory wins and growing institutional adoption under President Donald Trump mask deeper concerns about crypto drifting away from its founding principles of user sovereignty and shared ownership.
“Why a lot of us got into crypto in the first place was not a back-end upgrade for existing industries,”
Ernst told DL News, arguing the technology was meant to fundamentally reshape how money and platforms work.
She said crypto’s early “weirdness” forced society to question entrenched financial power structures and imagine systems that reduced extraction by dominant institutions.
That dynamic has shifted as banks and fintech firms enter the space, with companies like Robinhood planning blockchain-based stocks and Bank of America hiring stablecoin engineers.
Ernst acknowledged that parts of US politics, particularly Democrats, previously went too far in vilifying crypto, but warned the new era presents a different kind of risk.
“If you now look at Robinhood and Bank of America, are these values there?”
Ernst said, adding:
“I would argue that they’re not.”