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Ads for blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin seem to be everywhere. Crypto technologies are being promoted as a replacement for banks<\/a>; a new way to buy art<\/a>; the next big investment opportunity<\/a>, and an essential part of the metaverse<\/a>. To many, these technologies are confusing or risky<\/a>. But enthusiasts ardently promote them<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a cybersecurity and social media researcher<\/a>, I\u2019ve found that behind the hype is an ideology about social change: Hardcore enthusiasts argue that crypto will get people to trust in technology rather than government<\/a>, which they see as inherently untrustworthy. This ideology leads people to encourage its use while downplaying its risks.<\/p>\n My colleagues and I studied almost three months of discussions on Reddit forums about cryptocurrencies to try to understand how people talk about crypto and Bitcoin<\/a>. The loudest voices on the forum were a group of crypto enthusiasts who called themselves \u201cTrue Bitcoiners<\/a>.\u201d Unlike technology enthusiasts or crypto marketers, \u201ctrue bitcoiners\u201d didn\u2019t talk about technology, or about their own use of crypto. Instead, they talked about trust and corruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n These crypto enthusiasts often cite examples<\/a> of what they see as government and corporate corruption. They recognize that society depends on governments and corporations setting and enforcing rules, and they complain that people are stuck with these \u201ccorrupt\u201d institutions. Corruption, they say, is an inevitable flaw in humanity and leads to trying to control and mistreat others. The enthusiasts see Bitcoin, blockchain and other crypto technologies as providing an alternative to the corruption. They argue that these new technologies are \u201ctrustless<\/a>\u201d and don\u2019t depend on institutions. You can buy and sell things using bitcoin without checking with a bank or using government-issued cash.<\/p>\n These two beliefs \u2013 that governments are corrupt and that crypto avoids that corruption \u2013 are common among the crypto enthusiasts we studied. But enthusiasts go one step further. They seek change. They want to change who has power and who doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n They argue that crypto is how that change will happen. For crypto enthusiasts, using crypto isn\u2019t just a way to buy and sell things. By using crypto technologies, they argue, society will become less dependent on governments and corporations. That is, using crypto \u2014 and getting as many people as possible to use it as much as possible \u2014 is a way to change the world and take power away from governments<\/a>.<\/p>\n These beliefs about who should and should not have power in society embody an ideology<\/a>. An important part of the crypto ideology is that this change can\u2019t happen unless people use crypto. The technology and the ideology are tied together. For many of these enthusiasts, recommending crypto to other people is not just a technology recommendation. To them, buying and selling crypto is a form of political and social activism<\/a>. They argue that buying crypto will remove corruption and change society to trust technology over government.<\/p>\n This ideology is a more extreme version of technolibertarianism<\/a>, which seeks to replace government with technology. Like technolibertarians, true bitcoiners want technology to control society. But they focus on financial and economic control more than civil liberties. And because promoting crypto is part of this ideology, crypto has often been compared with a religion<\/a>.<\/p>\n An important aspect of any ideology is the way it emphasizes some dangers and downplays others. True bitcoiners emphasize the problems with government corruption. But they downplay the financial risks of crypto<\/a>. The price of Bitcoin fluctuates wildly, and many people have lost money<\/a> buying crypto. Crypto wallets are difficult to understand and use<\/a>, and fraudulent transactions are difficult to reverse<\/a>.<\/p>\n Crypto enthusiasts frequently downplay the technology\u2019s risks to people<\/a> and society<\/a>. They also dismiss the valuable role that governments and corporations play in protecting people\u2019s money<\/a>, providing insurance for bank accounts<\/a> and returning money that\u2019s been stolen<\/a>. Beliefs in crypto\u2019s ability to create social change are also overstated. Crypto technologies don\u2019t necessarily eliminate corporations or avoid government control. There are private, corporate blockchains<\/a> and many government<\/a> regulations<\/a> about cryptocurrencies<\/a>. As I see it, simply using the technology doesn\u2019t necessarily lead to the social change<\/a> these enthusiasts seek.<\/p>\n This article is republished from <\/em>The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a> by Rick Wash<\/a>, associate professor of Information Science and Cybersecurity at Michigan State University<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThe true believers<\/h2>\n
Pushing an ideology<\/h2>\n
Crypto dangers<\/h2>\n