Where did all the anarchists in crypto go? I came into this space when it was filled with people building tools and protocols that would sever reliance on state actors and ancient bloated institutions. People used to recoil when government or political parties were mentioned, because they could be captured by authoritarians or an adversarial mob. We were building a trustless base layer of last resort, it would literally be impossible to exclude anyone from using it. Those were the values and aspirations that pulled me into this space.

Interested in ZK, FHE, PUFs, hardware, system design, ai safety, and smart contact security.

Those institutions are decaying further now. And a good chunk of people here are cheering it on. I understood in 2016 throwing out the most potent protest vote that you possibly could have, saying "fuck you!" to the systemic corruption. It didn't work, it kept chugging along like nothing happened. I understand wanting to burn it all to the ground to start fresh. What made me dig even deeper into this space was the option of building alternatives that can outcompete the established institutions, no burning necessary.

If you consider yourself an anarchist of any sort, vehemently disagree with censorship, are repelled by mobs, or, like me, in 2016 you were kind of stoked about a viable protest vote (though, I literally can't vote in your elections. I understand being sick and tired of the establishment), please take a moment, maybe even five minutes, to thoughtfully reconsider your values and priorities. I'm not trying to tell you what to think, just asking that you take some dedicated time to think and consider evidence you may not have been exposed to.

Some additional food for thought:
https://acoup.blog/2024/10/25/new-acquisitions-1933-and-the-definition-of-fascism/
https://youtu.be/cyjw2riat80

Those legacy systems are entering a failure mode now, and it's not good. An authoritarian esque cult of personality has won the popular vote in the United States. I'm not saying that the next American administration is guaranteed to descend into totalitarianism, but a realistic path into doing so has opened. The antithesis to the values that embody the technology of this space are being realized in the most powerful institutions on the planet. And a significant portion of the people here are in support.