Why Bitcoin Is Highly Political

The line-up for our Bitcoin conference UNCHAIN, full of controversial speakers, has triggered some interesting discussions about the political role of cryptocurrencies. Some media have claimed that conservatives or even right-wing extremists would take on this topic. In my humble opinion, this is complete and utter nonsense.

Bitcoin‘s mission is not to conserve the existing financial system, but to revolutionise it. Bitcoin was invented to disrupt the power of banks and governments. I cannot think of anything less „conservative“ than this.

Bitcoin's Declaration of Independence

In Germany, „right-wing extremism“ is first and foremost associated with National Socialism, an ideology that lifts the state and its „Volk“ above anything else and brutally violates individual human rights.

Bitcoin‘s political basis, however, is Libertarianism, a school of thought in which individual liberty is seen as the highest asset. Libertarianism is therefore diametrically opposed to National Socialism and other totalitarian ideologies. Most Libertarians see government as a necessary evil which has to be strictly limited.

National Socialism and Libertarianism are on opposite sides of the political spectrum

Some even go as far as questioning the need for any form of government. They want a society which is free of coercion and solely rests upon voluntary agreements. Libertarian masterminds like Murray Rothbard, David Friedman or Hans-Hermann Hoppe have expanded on such new models of society.

Murray N. Rothbard

We will discuss this interesting topic extensively at UNCHAIN. One of our most prominent speakers is Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof from Bitnation. She plans to offer services that have been in the governments domain up until now. Land titles, passports, marriages etc. can today be realised via Blockchain technology. This radical approach may facilitate the founding of new „nations“ which are not based on geography, but rather on the voluntary association of like-minded people.

Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof

No less radical, but more focussed on business, is the approach of Titus Gebel from Free Private Cities. He would like to create a free market alternative to today‘s states ruled by politicians. The citizens of a private city voluntarily obtain and purchase services from a company that manages the city.  An example of such could be security services to protect the lives and properties of its inhabitants. Should the city management not meet its obligations one can sue it, withhold payment or cancel the contract altogether. Customers are free to move to a different private city with a more efficient management, if so desired.

Titus Gebel

Our speaker Sterlin Luxan from Bitcoin.com even calls himself an „anarchist“. I personally would not use this term, as most people think of anarchy as chaos and the absence of any rules. As a matter of fact, rules for social coexistence exist even in anarchy, but they are reached by voluntary agreement, not by compulsion. I am looking forward to Sterlin’s talk about the connection between cryptocurrencies, Blockchain technology and a society without governments.

Sterlin Luxan

Initially we had planned to also give German politicians the opportunity to take a stand on the political impact of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology. We invited politicians of different parties, even though we knew that very few have any expertise in this field. Two of those candidates, Frank Schäffler (FDP) and Alice Weidel (AFD), initially accepted our invitation, but later had to cancel due to time constraints. Therefore we finally decided to dispense with party politicians.

Alice Weidel

The main focus of UNCHAIN lies on the practical use of cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain. Our main target group are decision makers in companies who want to learn more about this new technology. Smart industry leaders sense that a revolution is underway which will massively change economy and society.

Thus our event is highly political indeed. There is hardly a more delicate political topic than revolutionising the financial system and overcoming the nation state. Our name UNCHAIN already expresses that the most important topic for us is individual liberty.

We are looking forward to highly controversial discussions with our speakers and guests!