Automating Trust with the Blockchain? A Critical Investigation of “Blockchain 2.0” Cultures
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13127258 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Silvia Semenzin (0000-0002-0726-2340, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, corresponding author), Alessandro Gandini (0000-0002-7705-7625, University of Milan) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2575-7350 • E-ISSN: 2575-7350 |
| Publisher | University of California Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1525/gp.2021.24912 |
| OpenAlex | W3173201545 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 15 |
This article discusses the cultural conceptions of trust underpinning the experimentation of blockchain startup applications beyond the financial sector. Based on qualitative research undertaken in the context of the so-called “Blockchain 2.0” scene, we show how a peculiar conception of trust, which blends the libertarian views of blockchain inventors with the neoliberal culture of competition and meritocracy that is typical of the startup world, underpins these implementations. As a result, we argue that “Blockchain 2.0” entrepreneurs ultimately fail to recognize the eminently social nature of the trust-building process. They emerge from our observation as unable to comprehend the extent to which the implementation of blockchain in a societal (i.e., not purely financial) context cannot do away with considerations about what kind of “social” the technology intervenes within, and find difficult to effectively conceive of how this technology embeds in existing social relations and power structures
Blockchain · Computer security · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Implementation · Meritocracy · Political science · Process (computing · Sociology · Underpinning · Blockchain Technology Applications and Security · Computer Science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Engineering · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Law
Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy
The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust
Ethnography in/of the World System
The Blockchain as a Narrative Technology
The political imaginaries of blockchain projects
Blockchains and the “Chains of Empire”
The politics of 'platforms
Platform labor
Labour process theory and the gig economy
Blockchain and value systems in the sharing economy
Hacker practice
Capitalism and the Commons
Trust as a Process
The Social Control of Impersonal Trust
Trust, reputation and ambiguous freedoms
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |