Are blockchain and socialism different?
The rise of cryptocurrencies, and by extension, blockchain technology, has sparked many heated debates. Two of the most discussed aspects are the economic foundation and the political ideology the blockchain system is based on; and whether it promotes socialism.
What is socialism?
Before we proceed, we must be clear on what socialism means. According to thesaurus.com, it is a political and economic theory of social organization, which states that the production, distribution and exchange should be owned and regulated by the society as a whole, i.e, the resources are owned by a global population, and not specific individuals or entities.
Basis of Blockchain Technology
The blockchain technology is based on a principle of that many may find similar — that is, decentralization. Decentralization on the blockchain refers to data that is stored not being controlled by a central organization, but rather available to the public. Every bit of information ever entered on a blockchain is stored and available for everyone connected to the blockchain, and not owned by a single individual or organization.
Socialism vs Blockchain
On the basis of their definitions, blockchain technology may sound like socialism in a digital form. However, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin do not belong to anyone in particular, as opposed to a socialist system where it would have belonged to everyone. Participation of all the people is a must in a socialist society; but in case of Bitcoin, people can choose whether to mine them and perform transactions with them.
However, cryptocurrencies are not the only field in which blockchain technology finds its application. A token based virtual socialist economy can be formed on the basis of the Blockchain technology. Take Peerbuds, for example. All individuals who register start with a specific number of tokens. The registered individuals form a community. That community will decide the overall number of tokens and make decisions about the tokens together.
When an individual teaches, or gives gyaan, they earn karma. The person receiving the gyaan can pay in the form of tokens. This way, the overall production of tokens and their usage will be decided by the people and the blockchain technology will ensure that the protocols are carried out, recorded and available to the whole community efficiently.
Despite its effectiveness in the virtual system, such a system is not very feasible in the real world if you’re applying it to economics. Decentralized digital tokens can be used for illegal trading, and the transactions, visible by all, can compromise a nation’s security. Even though blockchain, like socialism, holds all people accountable for a nation’s economy, the system would have to be linked to a mainframe computer, which would eventually have one (or more) people responsible for it, thus defeating the very foundation of socialism.
Another school of thought to be considered is that blockchain does not completely have to be classified as either socialist or capitalist. It can be its own ideology that operates strictly on a peer-to-peer protocol and is completely voluntary.
The usage of cryptocurrencies is not imposed on anyone, investors and traders do so at their own risk and choice. If someone uses different platforms to trade or perform transactions using various cryptocurrencies, they are doing so by agreeing to the terms and rules of that platform. While they are responsible for their own transactions, there is no ownership of the particular cryptocurrency they are trading in.
The usage of blockchain in various fields is changing constantly. Whether it promotes a capitalist ideology, is synonymous with socialism, or will end up forming its own economic system, is something that we’ll have to monitor as blockchain tech becomes widespread.
Originally published at peerbuds.
