Announcements for blockchain, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin seem to be everywhere. Cryptographic technologies are being promoted as a replacement for banks; a new way to buy art; the next big investment opportunity, and an essential part of the metaverse. For many, these technologies are confusing or risky. But enthusiasts ardently promote them.
As a cybersecurity and social media researcher, I discovered that behind the hype is an ideology about social change: hardcore enthusiasts argue that crypto will make people trust technology instead of government, which they view as inherently unreliable. This ideology leads people to encourage its use while minimizing its risks.
true believers
My colleagues and I studied nearly three months of cryptocurrency Reddit forum discussions to try to understand how people talk about cryptocurrencies and bitcoin. The loudest voices on the forum were a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts who called themselves “True Bitcoiners.” Unlike tech enthusiasts or cryptocurrency traders, “true bitcoiners” did not talk about technology or their own use of cryptocurrency. Instead they talked about trust and corruption.
These cryptocurrency enthusiasts often cite examples of what they see as government and corporate corruption. They recognize that society depends on governments and corporations setting and enforcing the rules, and they complain that people are trapped in these “corrupt” institutions. Corruption, they say, is an inevitable flaw of humanity and leads to trying to control and mistreat others. Enthusiasts view Bitcoin, blockchain, and other cryptographic technologies as an alternative to corruption. They argue that these new technologies are “Without hope” and not depend on institutions. You can buy and sell things using bitcoin without checking with a bank or using government-issued cash.
These two beliefs, that governments are corrupt and that cryptocurrencies prevent that corruption, are common among the cryptocurrency enthusiasts we studied. But enthusiasts go one step further. They seek change. They want to change who has power and who doesn’t.
They argue that cryptography is the way that change will happen. For cryptocurrency enthusiasts, using cryptocurrency isn’t just a way to buy and sell things. They argue that by using cryptographic technologies, society will become less dependent on governments and corporations. That is, using cryptography, and getting as many people as possible to use it as much as possible, is a way to change the world and take power away from governments.
promoting an ideology
These beliefs about who should and who should not have power in society embody an ideology. An important part of cryptographic ideology is that this change cannot happen unless people use cryptography. Technology and ideology are linked. For many of these enthusiasts, recommending cryptocurrencies to other people is not just a technological recommendation. For them, buying and selling cryptocurrencies is a form of political and social activism. They argue that buying cryptocurrency will eliminate corruption and change society to trust technology over government.
This ideology is a more extreme version of technolibertarianism, which seeks to replace government with technology. Like technolibertarians, true bitcoiners want technology to control society. But they focus on financial and economic control rather than civil liberties. And because the promotion of cryptocurrencies is part of this ideology, cryptocurrencies have often been compared to A religion.
crypto dangers
An important aspect of any ideology is the way in which it emphasizes some dangers and minimizes others. True bitcoiners emphasize the problems with government corruption. But they minimize the financial risks of cryptocurrencies. The price of Bitcoin fluctuates wildly, and many people have lost money buying crypto. Crypto wallets are Difficult to understand and use.and fraudulent transactions are hard to reverse.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts often downplay the risks of the technology to people Y society. They also discount the valuable role that governments and corporations play in protecting people’s money, bank account insurance Y return the money that has been stolen. Beliefs in the ability of cryptocurrencies to create social change are also exaggerated. Cryptographic technologies do not necessarily eliminate corporations or avoid government control. exist private and corporate blockchains And more government regulations about cryptocurrencies. The way I see it, simply using technology doesn’t necessarily lead to the social change these enthusiasts seek.
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article for rick washassociate professor of Information Sciences and Cybersecurity at michigan state university.
