Co-founder of Opera Suggests Banning Cryptocurrency

cryptonews.ruPublished on 2026-09-13Last updated on 2026-09-13

Abstract

The co-founder of Opera and CEO of Vivaldi, Jon von Tetzner, has proposed a ban on cryptocurrencies, comparing them to unregulated technologies like ad profiling and content algorithms that can manipulate public opinion and undermine democracy. He argues the crypto industry's lack of regulation poses global risks, calling cryptocurrencies a "pyramid scheme" masquerading as currency. Von Tetzner has long criticized crypto for its volatility, high energy consumption in Bitcoin mining, and doubtful real-world utility. Consistent with this stance, he has vowed Vivaldi will not integrate crypto wallets or follow trends like adding AI chatbots and LLM-based features, citing user opposition. This contrasts with Opera, which integrated support for multiple blockchains and NFT platforms in 2022.

The businessman fears that the lack of regulation in the crypto industry could lead to negative consequences for the whole world. Von Teetzner advised implementing a similar ban on "user profiling for advertising and content recommendation algorithms." The entrepreneur drew a parallel between digital assets and browser algorithms, calling them uncontrollable technologies used to manipulate public opinion and undermine democracy.

The CEO of @vivaldibrowser says “we should have banned Crypto currencies.” He also says we should ban ad profiling, content algorithms, and... AI (regulated or banned)? https://t.co/FUmO7TlXTR
— The Lunduke Journal (@LundukeJournal) September 13, 2026

Von Techhner has long been critical of cryptocurrencies. Previously, he argued that digital assets were unlikely to become a widespread means of payment due to their high volatility. The browser creator criticized Bitcoin mining for its excessive electricity consumption and doubted that cryptocurrencies could find real-life applications.

In January 2022, the creator of Vivaldi promised that his company would not follow the example of competitors and add cryptocurrency-related features to the new browser. According to Von Techhner, "if you strip away the hype around cryptocurrencies, you'll find nothing but a financial pyramid masquerading as a currency." Adding a built-in crypto wallet to Vivaldi would be like pushing users towards gambling and fraud, the businessman explained.

In August 2025, Von Techhner stated that Vivaldi would not succumb to the mass trend of turning browsers into AI assistants and would not integrate chatbots based on large language models (LLMs), automatic summary generation systems, or other similar generative AI features. At the end of the year, the businessman cited an internal company poll, according to which the overwhelming majority of Vivaldi users were against integrating AI into the browser.

In 2022, Opera developers added support for eight blockchains to the browser: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Ronin, StarkEx, Nervos, and IXO based on Cosmos. Later, Opera announced a partnership with the Alteon LaunchPad platform for issuing non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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