The Bitcoin protocol as a system of power

【Author】 Zamani, Efpraxia D.

【Source】ETHICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

【影响因子】3.633

【Abstract】In this study, I use the Critical Realism perspective of power to explain how the Bitcoin protocol operates as a system of power. I trace the ideological underpinnings of the protocol in the Cypherpunk movement to consider how notions of power shaped the protocol. The protocol by design encompasses structures, namely Proof of Work and Trustlessness that reproduce asymmetrical constraints on the entities that comprise it. These constraining structures generate constraining mechanisms, those of cost effectiveness and deanonymisation, which further restrict participating entities' 'power to act', reinforcing others' 'power over' them. In doing so, I illustrate that the Bitcoin protocol, rather than decentralising and distributing power across a network of numerous anonymous, trustless peers, it has instead shifted it, from the traditional actors (e.g., state, regulators) to newly emergent ones.

【Keywords】Decentralisation; Power; Bitcoin; Critical realism

【发表时间】2022 MAR

【收录时间】2022-03-21

【文献类型】期刊

【主题类别】

区块链治理--