Intro to Crypto Philosophy
What is crypto philosophy, and why should you care?
I’ll definitely be writing more about crypto philosophy soon, so I tried to keep this short. I present anti-institutional views, but these are primarily for the sake of argument; to be clear, I recognize the benefit that these organizations can have for society. However, I also think that crypto philosophy is fascinating, so I will take anti-institutional stances at times for the sake of academic argument.
Cryptocurrency is an inherently philosophical topic because it deals with the philosophy of finance. One of the most exciting things about crypto is the philosophies behind it and those who support it. The whole point of cryptocurrency is to eliminate the need for a “third party” to validate transactions and money. This is an idea that is firmly rooted in anarchist philosophy. The idea is that if people are free to do whatever they want with their money, and the money is free from centeral manipulation, the people will make better choices with it than established parties.
When you think about the idea of cryptocurrency and how it works, you can see that even though it’s much more complicated than just printing your own money, it’s still very much rooted in anarchist philosophy. In fact, the idea of cryptocurrencies is very much a direct response to how banks have been able to control money for so long. Financial institutions are always looking for ways to make money, or at least trying to convince everyone else that they can’t make money without help from someone else. They’re trying to convince everyone that their way is better than how everyone else does it.
Cryptocurrencies are trying to prove this isn’t true by showing everyone that people can make good choices with their money. They hope to show that people are smarter and more capable than any bank or government can ever be, because they’re not directly controlled by profit. People can invest in what they want to invest in without having some big corporation control what they do with their money or how they do it. People can use their own money in whatever way they see fit, without having someone else dictate what they do with it. While this obviously has dangers (market manipulation is a prime concern), as crypto matures, it may become infinitely more stable than any present-day currency is.
In addition, having currency backed by gold or as a fiat currency (supported by the word of a government) is inherently unstable; disruptions to the gold supply or the wellbeing of a nation can cause the value of a currency to disappear. Cryptocurrencies are designed to be something that has value, that can endure for a long time, and even gain value in the long run. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies means that they are inherently less likely to collapse. Cryptocurrencies are designed to be a store of wealth and also a medium of exchange. They’re designed to be a viable economic system, and it is the philosophy of cryptocurrency that makes it so.
In the end, cryptocurrency is a fascinating topic because it ties directly into financial philosophy. It’s a way for people to create a new world for themselves- one with more freedom and less government control. It’s a way for people to take control of their own finances and their own lives. It’s a way for the world to have an economic system that is stable and will continue to grow- not one that is doomed to collapse at any moment due to outside factors. It can provide equity worldwide by ensuring that those in developing nations have the same access to the financial markets as those in established countries. Someday, it could even allow for interplanetary monetary supplies.
I’ll write more about cryptocurrencies in the future, so follow me for more! Ada G Idell
