The soft spot of hard code
Blockchain Technology, Network Governance and Pitfalls of Technological Utopianism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4263170 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Moritz Hütten (0000-0002-2133-5251, Darmstadt Business School Haardtring 100 64295 Darmstadt Germany, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 329-348 |
| Publication date | 2019-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Networks (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/glob.12217 |
| OpenAlex | W2901678200 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 25 |
The emerging blockchain technology is expected to contribute to the transformation of ownership, government services and global supply chains. By analysing a crisis that occurred with one of its frontrunners, Ethereum, in this article I explore the discrepancies between the purported governance of blockchains and the de facto control of them through expertise and reputation. Ethereum is also thought to exemplify libertarian techno-utopianism. When 'The DAO', a highly publicized but faulty crowd-funded venture fund was deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, the techno-utopianism was suspended, and developers fell back on strong network ties. Now that the blockchain technology is seeing an increasing uptake, I shall also seek to unearth broader implications of the blockchain for the proliferation or blockage of global finance and beyond. Contrasting claims about the disruptive nature of the technology, in this article I show that, by redeeming the positive utopia of ontic, individualized debt, blockchains reinforce our belief in a crisis-ridden, financialized capitalism
Bankruptcy · Blockchain · Business · Commerce · Computer security · Corporate governance · Economics · Political science · Reputation · Blockchain Technology Applications and Security · Computer Science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Law · Philosophy · Finance
Self-Sovereignty for Refugees? The Contested Horizons of Digital Identity
New finance, old structures
Decentralized Autonomous Organization
Technology, small states and the legitimacy of digital development
Governing Techno-Futures
Flying cars and bigots
Ruling through technology
Locating infrastructural agency
How do coffee farmers engage with digital technologies? A capabilities perspective
The promises and pitfalls of cryptocurrencies and blockchain for marginalized communities
Going crypto-native
Making blockchain real’
Between decentralization and reintermediation
Connecting the grids
Smart, Commodified and Encoded
Beyond scandal? Blockchain technologies and the fragile legitimacy of post-2008 finance
Blockchains, trust and action nets
Digitisation and Sovereignty in Humanitarian Space
Retranslating Resilience Theory in Archaeology
Bitcoin, techno-utopianism and populism
A legal theory of finance
Theory of the firm
The Social construction of technological systems
Law & Capitalism
Cyber-Proletariat
Formalizing and Securing Relationships on Public Networks
The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism
Big Data and algorithmic governance
The invisible politics of Bitcoin
Blockchains, trust and action nets
Making sense of financialization
The Social Life of Bitcoin
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,86 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2026 (8) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |