A critic of the decentralized blockchain (Web3) and cryptocurrency industries,[2] she runs the website Web3 Is Going Just Great and a newsletter, which both document wrongdoing in that technology space.
[3] Initially, White wrote articles about her favorite emo bands and women scientists, but she came to write about right-wing extremism—such as Gamergate, the Boogaloo movement, Gab, Parler, and Jacob Wohl—during the first Donald Trump administration.
Despite the concept's hype on social media with sizable venture capital investment, she found the term to be ill-defined and associated with numerous scams, frauds, and "rug pulls" affecting consumer investors.
[12] The site also includes a glossary of jargon, curated resources about the blockchain, and an annotated critique of Kevin Roose's New York Times article, "The Latecomer's Guide to Crypto",[13] which she considered a "grossly irresponsible" advertisement for cryptocurrencies.
[4] She has a large following among cryptocurrency skeptics[17] and, in late 2022, was recognized among both Forbes's "30 Under 30" people in Social Media[18] and Prospect's list of the world's top thinkers.
[5] In early 2022, she proposed that the Wikimedia Foundation cease accepting cryptocurrency donations, which she argued were associated with predatory technologies and no longer ethical.
[3] She also sees privacy and harassment implications with having an individual's entire transaction history permanently available and accessible to the public via blockchain, and has been surprised by how few companies consider vectors for abuse.
[20] She also says that positive use cases for the technology have largely consisted of situations in which "any replacement is better than what exists", such as sending funds to people struggling to live in sanctioned states.
[21] The letter states, in part, that blockchain technology is "poorly suited for just about every purpose currently touted as a present or potential source of public benefit.
[23] At a March 2023 SXSW talk, White claimed that the tech industry's shift to artificial intelligence displayed a similar pattern of hype and uncritical media coverage as happened with blockchain technology.
[26] While attending Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, White interned at a NASA-funded University of Maine lab that researched lunar habitat module sensors.