Crypto-Egalitarian Life: Ideational and Materialist Approaches to Bitcoin.
In this article I explore the fundamental tension in the world of Bitcoin between 'maximalists', who see Bitcoin as a tool for the promotion of a moral revolution, and 'traders', who approach Bitcoin pragmatically as a financial tool. Based on ethnography of a crypto gold rush that took place in the...
| Published in: | Social Analysis Vol. 66; no. 3; pp. 62 - 83 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Berghahn Books
Sep2022
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=161814413&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 161814413 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0155977X H9B jtl: Social Analysis issn: 0155977X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2022 vid: 66 iid: 3 pid: 1130 pub: Berghahn Books artinfo: ui: 161814413 10.3167/sa.2022.660304 ppf: 62 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 824KB tig: atl: Crypto-Egalitarian Life: Ideational and Materialist Approaches to Bitcoin. aug: au: Shapiro, Matan affil: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London su: Tel Aviv (Israel) Materialism Equality Libertarianism Bitcoin sug: subj: Materialism Equality Libertarianism Tel Aviv (Israel) Bitcoin keyword: blockchain cryptocurrency egalitarianism libertarianism money techno-utopianism blockchain cryptocurrency egalitarianism libertarianism money techno-utopianism ab: In this article I explore the fundamental tension in the world of Bitcoin between 'maximalists', who see Bitcoin as a tool for the promotion of a moral revolution, and 'traders', who approach Bitcoin pragmatically as a financial tool. Based on ethnography of a crypto gold rush that took place in the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv, I argue that, despite heuristic distinctions, both of these attitudes advance egalitarian tendencies. While maximalists offer a sense of belonging to a close-knit community of equals, traders promote the nominal equality of all value-making strategies in an open financial environment. I use the terms 'ideational' and 'materialist' to characterize these two modes of practice, which realize contemporary visions of egalitarian life in different forms. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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