Why are there so many leftists within crypto? As Solana says in his bankless episode, crypto disintermediates and reduces the power of the state. I get why libertarians and rightists like crypto, but why leftists? Leftists should want state power to enact leftist policy goals if they care about leftist outcomes.

Is this a genuine question or are you really just saying “leftists get out of my bubble,  you don’t belong here” in a rhetorical question?

Implying that left leaning crypto tribe are self serving hypocrites seems to suggest the latter.

Horticulturalist. Environmental hand wringer. Open source enthusiast.  

Is your question genuine or is it an attack I can’t tell. But these meta questions don’t really do much to advance the conversation.

I’m curious how people reconcile their leftism with crypto, and whether they are ideological leftists or if it’s more of a vibe or aesthetic or identity

The Farcaster formerly known as Kchamp. Books, beats, bodybuilding, bright ideas and beautiful things.

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Disagree with the premise that crypto is radically anti-leftist. 

Fundamentally it’s an anti-authoritarian tool. It’s about pushing the Overton window down the political compass, not to the right. Bitcoin challenges centralised control of the money supply. Defi challenges centralised control of banking infrastructure. DeSoc challenges centralised control of media. None of these are inherently leftist. Each of these are about removing the ability of a small number of people to make decisions on behalf of the many, often in their own self interest. 

Which is why many in the left leaning crypto tribe are aghast to see right leaning members supporting Trump, since his version of the Republican Party is more populist authoritarian than it is right wing. Authoritarian politicians should be the opposite of what anyone involved in crypto for its core values should want.

https://warpcast.com/kripcat.eth/0x06fd5021

I think I’d always prefer to be having a good faith discussion, even if we disagree. It can be tricky to tell, especially online, if that’s the intent and engaging in bad faith arguments is tiresome and unproductive.

As I said in the cast below, crypto is fundamentally anti-authoritarian. Conflating all of left wing politics with the authoritarian left, when a full quarter of the political compass is dedicated to the libertarian left is a pretty tired trope; and rings about as hollow as some on the left proclaiming that “capitalists are fascists”. So it’s likely to get a hostile reception.

I would expect many in the left leaning crypto tribe want to see power taken out of the hands of the few and distributed (decentralised) as equitably as possible, and see Crypto as a new tool that can help achieve this.