A Stanford student has submitted a letter of complaint to the Graduate School Board stating that a resident economics professor grossly misrepresented Bitcoin during a guest lecture on blockchain and the future of finance, while openly promoting Ripple as a better alternative.
Also read: Warren Buffett Calls Bitcoin a Delusion – But an Ingenious One
Questionable Academic Integrity
When Stanford student Conner Brown entered a lecture hall at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in January 2019 to attend a guest lecture by Susan Athey, Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford, he got more than he bargained for. So much so that he felt compelled to write the school board:
During the presentation from Dr. Athey there were multiple misstatements that were concerning to me. I understand that she is a respected professor at Stanford and that these may have been accidental; however I also believe that it is in the best interest of our academic environment that we ensure high caliber discussion and peer review.
He added: “My concerns revolve around misstatements around Bitcoin in comparison to Ripple’s token called XRP. I would also like to raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest in a professor making false statements while simultaneously promoting a product that claims to solve these problems and being paid by that company.”
The lecturer in question is an acclaimed economist who’s previously held a chair at Harvard. The highly cited professor, tasked with teaching an upcoming course in cryptocurrencies at Stanford University, might have been assumed to be an expert in her field.
Her decision to shill Ripple while criticizing Bitcoin has been attributed not to ignorance, but to the fact that she sits on Ripple’s Board of Directors,
