How to Become a “Blockchain Radical,” According to Podcaster Joshua Dávila
Crypto has been widely criticized by the political left, many of whom see cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as associated with libertarian or right-wing ideas. A common notion is that cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-based technologies such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are primarily designed to concentrate wealth, defraud investors, and otherwise replicate existing financial and power structures—only in a more unregulated way and Way.
On episode 16 of the podcast The Agenda hosts Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung chat with author and podcaster Joshua Dávila, host of the podcast The Blockchain Socialist and author of the new book Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It. Dávila is critical of the capitalist tendencies of much of the crypto space and offers an alternative based on his perspective as a self-proclaimed “socialism maxi”.
“Capitalism has ruined cryptocurrencies.”
Dávila acknowledged that there is a basic capitalist mentality in most cryptocurrencies, saying that the space “is strongly of a kind of, I would say, more right-wing libertarian thinking which includes a lot of, shall we say, support for capitalist structures, for free markets and for all those things.”
This is reflected at a central level in the consensus mechanisms of most blockchains, which tend to be for-profit and asset accumulation to incentivize validators, he argued. “If there were no reason in our society to accumulate profits or wealth, blockchains would collapse because that’s how they’re designed.”
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Dávila specifically pointed to venture capitalists as a negative influence on crypto. He believes that while there were many interesting experiments in the early days of cryptocurrency, the influx of venture capital has brought with it the expectation of massive returns for investors, which ultimately only replicates the traditional economic order.
“If there is no protection or reason to prevent them from getting in, of course they will get in and they will ruin things, because that is sort of the modus operandi of their actions.”
What is the alternative ?
There are many applications for cryptocurrency and blockchain that don’t fall within the existing socio-economic order, argued Dávila, who cited alternative chains like Cosmos as examples of how a blockchain’s design can influence its social impact.
He gave as an example an incident in 2022 on Juno, part of the Cosmos network, where the community voted to “expropriate” $35 million worth of airdropped JUNO tokens from a wallet ‘, which was said to have received more tokens. “They have very clear on-chain governance directly to the chain itself, which has had obvious socio-political ramifications,” he said. ”They wouldn’t have been able to do that if it was bitcoin.”
For Dávila, that’s a good thing: “Ultimately, we are the creators of our destiny, so we should embrace this fact and incorporate it into it as best we can.” implement technological code.”
As for his broader dreams for the crypto and technology landscape, Dávila said he would like to “see the creation of applications that enable collective ownership of digital infrastructure.”
“You [Web3 founders] need to create something that is different, that specifically gets to the root of the problem, and I think that’s how we own things and how we manage those things, and realize that our resources should be shared.” shared rather than fully privatized by the next billionaire to found another big tech company.”
To hear more of Dávila’s conversation with The Agenda, listen to the View the full episode on AskFX’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out the full schedule of other AskFX shows!
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This article is for general informational purposes and is not intended and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of AskFX. (*)
