The Blockchain Socialist The War on Cash and The Coercive Nature of Money ft. Brett Scott
This week I spoke to financial activist and author of The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance Hacking the Future of Finance Brett Scott (@Suitpossum). His last book was written in response to the Occupy Wall Street protests and is a guide to the world of high finance and the emergent forms of alternative finance, alternative currencies and economic activism that are challenging it in response to the financial crisis. He has a new book forthcoming in 2021.
In this interview we speak about his ideas around the "War on Cash" and how the transition to relying on digital bank infrastructure to pay for things as opposed to cash, while largely described as an organic evolution towards a "cashless society" by mainstream media, actually has been a deliberate push by banks for efficiency gains and is an attempt to privatize the money system or what Brett calls a "bankful society." We go on to talk about where cryptocurrencies fit in this framework, how the Left should embrace going into spaces where they traditionally aren't (like finance and crypto), and how money systems come into existence largely through power hierarchies as opposed to the value of the commodity underpinning it which is a common thought ironically in both cryptocurrency and Marxist spaces. Brett also gives us a sneak peek into what his book coming out next year is about.
More on Brett
Altered States of Monetary Consciousness
YouTube Channel
Twitter Profile
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ICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking.
The book is officially published and you use this linktree to find where you can purchase the book based on your region / country.