When discussing cryptocurrencies, the society sees them as a tool for generating economic activity. However, to have a better understanding of virtual currencies, it is important to understand what constitutes its community as well.
Paul J. Ennis, an assistant professor at University College Dublin, describes cryptocurrencies as ‘cryptocultures’ and each cryptoculture represents an open-source community with its own micro-economy. Each virtual currency represents its values, essentially mixing values and technology.
One can easily assume cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, as a monolithic community. However, each blockchain offers a different perspective such as Dogecoin might represent memelogy, Monero represents privacy, and Polygon offers efficiency. The community that manages Blockchain and mining might make up for what is called the ‘Block regime’.
If we talk about Bitcoin, its political philosophy is relatively well-known. Bitcoin was built on the prediction of the disintegration of the current legal tender system. It represents a scarce digital gold that is built on an almost impenetrable code.
Ethereum’s philosophy
While we know about Bitcoin’s philosophy, Ethereum’s philosophy is hard to come by. Many think of it as a shared world computer that represents a neutral infrastructure and how anyone organizes it is up to them. Ethereum, however, can also be closely related to ‘radical liberalism’ – both have an inherent desire to change the current state of political economy.
Ethereum also represents the case of ‘hypergovernance’ while Bitcoin represents ‘hyperauthorship’. The Ethereum community creates a foundation of infrastructural governance that allows for a more decentralized functionality.
One model that binds the whole community together is the ‘Hash, Cash, and Bash’ model. ‘Hash’ represents the security it ensures using the blockchain technology whereas ‘Bash’ represents social and cultural value within the community. Lastly, ‘Cash’ is the central role that dominates the crypto culture experience, that is, investing, trading, exiting. These experiences are essential to understand the ‘cryptoculture’.