Government of the People, by the Blockchain, for the Crypto

• In Event: Democratizing Digital Tech? Democratic Prospects and Pitfalls in the Digital Age

Abstract

As cryptocurrencies have emerged as a major force in finance, increasing questions of how they are to be governed and regulated have shifted from being a curiosity to a matter of international importance. This paper marks the first analysis of the democratic mechanisms of crypto by comparing the governance of three major currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. While the initial “constitutions” of cryptocurrencies are written into their code at creation, reforms to the governance structure of the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, raises vital questions about how crypto can and will be governed. Bitcoin operates on a computationally (and therefore energy) intensive proof of work model to validate transactions and Solana operates a more efficient proof of stake model. Ethereum is switching from the former to the later. While many have noted the benefits of these changes from both global climate crisis and global power politics perspectives, their implications for models of democratic governance has been thus far uninterrogated. This paper analyzes models of crypto governance by comparing them to our understandings of existing democratic mechanisms such as representative democracy, democracies with property qualifications, and shareholder democracy.

Authors

• Heather Pincock, Kennesaw State University

• John Wagner Givens, Spelman College