The dictionary is an important qualitative measure of culture — for showing when something has left the counterculture or subculture and entered the mainstream. This month, Merriam-Webster announced that several crypto focused words would be entering the language canon:

Merriam-Webster has added 850 new terms to its site, including trendy words like “kombucha” and “life hack.” Acknowledging a hot topic in tech and finance circles, the dictionary maker also created entries for “cryptocurrency,” “blockchain” and “initial coin offering” (“the first sale of bitcoin-like digital currency,” Merriam-Webster explains).

via CNET News

Though it’s amusing for us, in an industry that doesn’t value tradition measures of authority, to put much stock in a measure like the dictionary, we have to ask: does this mean that blockchain and crypto are becoming not only widely talked about, but part of the establishment?

It is validating for those of us in the crypto space to have our increasing importance to industry and daily life recognized. So, blockchain is definitely becoming mainstream. We don’t disagree, and in fact we celebrate this milestone for crypto.

The difference is between becoming mainstream and becoming part of the establishment. Because of its decentralization, blockchain can never be institutionalized in the same way that (to borrow another new dictionary entry) kombucha has gone from a hippie practice to something commodified and sold in every chain grocery store. Crypto and its practices like ICOs are inherently anti-establishment because the structure of the blockchain undermines a central authority.

The crypto industry has built something that doesn’t scale in the same way as objects that are mainstreamed and institutionalized in the same stroke. Let’s take a look at good ol’ Merriam-Webster’s definition of establishment:

: an established order of society: such as a often capitalized : a group of social, economic, and political leaders who form a ruling class (as of a nation) b often capitalized : a controlling group ● the literary establishment

The idea of a ruling class is completely antithetical to blockchain, and that is a core principle that we can maintain as blockchain becomes more popular because of the principles and innovation of peer-to-peer networks. Because blockchain is decentralized and fundamentally horizontal, we have decoupled mainstreaming and institutionalization in a revolutionary way. As blockchain becomes even more popular in the coming years, it will prove a greater threat to the establishment.