Work
Independent
December 2021–present
Researcher and writer
I founded and maintain the website
Web3 is Going Just Great , which highlights examples of how cryptocurrency and web3 projects are
failing to live up to their promises. I also run
Follow the Crypto, which tracks cryptocurrency industry spending in the 2024 elections in
the United States. I write a
popular newsletter that
covers topics pertaining to the cryptocurrency industry. I have written
essays outlining issues with crypto-utopianism and techno-solutionism, and
my expertise has been featured in publications including
The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,
Financial Times, and NPR. I've also advised various lawmakers,
regulators, and other governmental officials within and outside of the
United States. Some of my work has included:
- "The State of Crypto Is Anything But Strong", published in Bloomberg Businessweek, May 2024.
- "Sam Bankman-Fried is going to prison. The crypto industry isn't any better for it", published in The Guardian, March 2024.
- "Sam Bankman-Fried and the Achilles' Heel of Crypto", published in The New York Times, November 2023
- "The Feds Are Coming for Crypto. Can It Survive?", published in Rolling Stone, June 2023
- "Popping the Web3 Bubble" conversation at South by Southwest, March 2023.
- Testimony on "Web 3.0 and the Metaverse" to the German Bundestag (written statement), December 2022
- "Why did one of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges just collapse?", published in The Guardian, November 2022
- "Is web3 bullshit?" talk at Web Summit, November 2022
- "Blockchain solutionism" guest lecture at the University of Texas at Austin, September 2022
- "Abuse on the blockchain" guest lecture at Stanford University, March 2022
Harvard University Library Innovation Lab
November 2022–October 2023
Fellow
Year-long fellowship to continue my research and work surrounding the
cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, as well as topics including
online governance, digital identity, and the future of the web. Some of my
work with the LIL included:
- "Blockchain Solutions to Socio-Political Problems: An Exploration of Current Issues in Web3" seminar series, March–April 2023
- "Challenges, opportunities, skepticism on Web3" conversation with Dr. Shlomit Wagman and Molly White at the "Web3: What don't we know about it yet?" workshop at Harvard University, February 2023
- " Web3 Is Going Just Where?" fireside chat with Molly White and Jonathan Zittrain, January 2023
HubSpot
2014–2022
Tech lead
November 2017–May 2022
I spent more than four years as a tech lead for several teams working on
HubSpot's developer platform and tooling. I took an active development
role while also building high-performing teams and collaborating with
engineering leadership, product management, and product design to lead
team direction. Throughout, I mentored and worked alongside engineers who
were anywhere from intern to senior level, and mentored several people
into senior engineer and tech lead roles.
Senior software engineer
July 2017–November 2017
Software engineer
May 2016–July 2017
Software engineering co-op
May–September 2015, July–December 2014
Recognition
- The New Republic's "25 Political Influencers to Watch in 2024", April 2024.
- The Boston Globe's "2023 Tech Power Players", May 2023.
- CoinDesk's "Most Influential 2022", December 2022
- Northeastern University's "40 for 40" Khoury College of Computer Sciences honoree, November 2022
- Forbes' "2023 30 Under 30", November 2022
- Fast Company's "2022 Most Creative", August 2022
Selected press
- "Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It's Going Just Great", Wired UK, May 2023.
- "What we're watching in 2023", Columbia Journalism Review, January 2023.
- "Molly White tried to tell you Web3 was not going great before the crypto crash", FastCompany, August 2022.
- "Meet Molly White, the Mass. software engineer going after the crypto industry", The Boston Globe, July 2022.
- "Crypto-sceptic Molly White could be the new JK Galbraith... just much tougher". The Guardian, July 2022.
- "First she documented the alt-right. Now she's coming for crypto.", The Washington Post, May 2022.
- "Crypto's CSI: How Molly White Became an 'Absolute Nightmare' for Web3 Evangelists", The Information, April 2022.
Education
Northeastern University — Bachelor's Degree in
Computer Science
2011–2016