Cryptocommunism (Theory Redux)

Cryptocurrencies are often associated with right-wing political movements, or even with the alt-right. They are the preserve of libertarians and fans of Ayn Rand and Friedrich Hayek. With their promotion of anonymity and individualism, thereÕs no doubt that they seamlessly slot into the prevailing anti-State ideology. But in this book Mark Alizart argues that the significance of cryptocurrencies goes well beyond cryptoanarchism. In so far as they allow us Ôto appropriate collectively the means of monetary productionÕ, to paraphrase Marx, and to replace Ôthe government of persons by the administration of thingsÕ, as Engels advocated, they form the basis for a political regime that begins to look like a communism which has at last come to fruition Ð a cryptocommunism.