With FTX in tatters, bitcoin in abeyance and the entire fundament of crypto finance in doubt, the technology of blockchain was badly in want of an image boost. What the distributed ledger technology needed, Singapore decided, was the rhetorical skills of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson to burnish its battered image, and here he was at a glittering gathering of the blockchain industry in a five-star hotel last week.
Blockchain in particular and innovation in general, Johnson explained, is always scary at first. “Humanity has been paranoid about this since the Titan Prometheus gave us the first flame,” he said, mixing classical reference and technological detail.
Johnson was giving the keynote speech for the International Symposium on Blockchain Advancements to 80 or so crypto enthusiasts who had braved Singapore’s tropical thundery showers to hear his insights. It felt a fitting location for the event in the same week that Singapore’s state-owned fund Temasek was facing scrutiny for ploughing $275mn into the collapsed crypto exchange FTX after eight-months of due diligence failed to flag up any big concerns. It is clear there was never enough paranoia or fear, one nonplussed conference-goer said after an hour of Johnson’s musings on Brexit, Australian submarines and his time at the Telegraph.