This is a really brilliant and highly recommended text uncovering the ‘politics of the blockchain’ and whether it can be used in a right way as a building block for a more ethical and just economic system. Brett Scott’s answer is positive but in order to be successful we also have to understand the anarcho-capitalist underpinnings and utopian imaginary that went into its design.

Abstract

“The decentralized digital currency Bitcoin—and its underlying “blockchain” technology—has created much excitement in the technology community, but its potential for building truly empowering social and solidarity-based finance has yet to be tested. It also flags up potential points of concern and conflict; such as the tech-from-above “solutionism” and conservative libertarian political dynamics of some of the technology start-up community that surrounds Bitcoin. As a way of contrast the paper considers “blockchain 2.0” technologies with more overtly communitarian ideals and their potential for creating “cooperation at scale”. It concludes with suggestions for future research.”

How Can Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology Play a Role in Building Social and Solidarity Finance