The Progressive Case for Cryptocurrency

Blockchain technology was born out of the “cypherpunk” movement, which is not exactly synonymous with libertarianism but has always been strongly attractive to people who share the cypherpunk’s reverence for personal responsibility and skepticism toward the integrity of public institutions. It should therefore come as no surprise that the vast majority of Bitcoin’s earliest adopters were libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, and otherwise politically conservative types, who saw it as a new form of sound money that might be able to shelter them from the effects of inflation and neo-Keynesian monetary policy. One of the most fascinating consequences of this love affair between Bitcoin and the American Right is Bitcoin’s popularity as a medium of exchange at PorcFest.

But blockchain technology is much bigger than that. There are now thousands of different cryptocurrencies, each with its own (more or less) unique set of attributes. The success of Ethereum has paved the way for a whole new generation of "smart contract" platforms that effectively repurpose the blockchain as a trustless, decentralized, censorship-resistant virtual machine. The conceivable use cases for such a thing are seemingly endless.

An especially exciting possibility is that one or more cryptocurrencies will achieve mainstream adoption in parts of the developing world, where billions of people still lack access to basic banking and financial services. Many projects (e.g. Cardano, Stellar) are explicitly designed to serve that purpose. Others offer equally promising solutions to non-financial problems, like voter disenfranchisement. Horizon State uses blockchain technology to facilitate frictionless and convenient democratic partipation. There is even an entire subreddit devoted to various attempts at using blockchain technology to deliver some form of universal basic income.

The cryptocurrency space is presently dominated, culturally and ideologically, by the political far right--but that is an accident of birth. There are plenty of ways for leftists, progressives, and bleeding-heart liberals like myself to find value in the global blockchain revolution. Furthermore, blockchain arguably threatens one of our few common enemies: the financial class, which profits from the inefficiencies of centralized banking and has become grotesquely wealthy under crony capitalism.

So, to my fellow progressives: cryptocurrency isn't just for technolibertarian STEM bros and neckbeards anymore. It truly has the potential to change the world for the better. Join us.

And to all of you digital gold bugs, crypto-anarchists, and craven tax dodgers: let's try our best to lay aside our differences. Together, maybe we can finally take down the banksters for real.