Cryptocurrency: Your Fungible Democracy, Explained.
To the software developer, cryptocurrency is a software encryption implementation that uses an encryption algorithm called Blockchain. Blockchain has an integral chain-of-custody mechanism that is supposedly secure enough to be used as a unit of monetary exchange in open markets. While others contend that the only way to keep computerized information secure is not plug the computer in in the first place, this post isn’t meant to explain whether or not Blockchain is secure or describe how it works — you can follow this link to a basic article about Blockchain or look it up elsewhere — you don’t need me for that; rather, this post is meant to discuss how Blockchain could theoretically be used to affect Democracy in America.
The original argument for digitizing new monetary units was that it would decentralize currency from the control of banks, governments, and the International Monetary Fund by creating a secure software unit of exchange that exists outside of conventional constraints. Whether decentralizing control of currency is a good idea or not, the cryptocurrency concept is currently going through an experimental “proof of concept” probe by speculators testing the waters of the marketplace. So far, cryptocurrency’s experimental markets have largely been dominated by get-rich-quick speculators, teenage flash-nerds, and application developers. Add money launderers, data blackmailers, and rogue nation states to the mix, and you have a basic cross-section of the non-coding users experimenting with exploiting cryptocurrency. As a percentage of the overall population, though, only a minuscule percentage of the world is actually using cryptocurrency for any purpose, and if nobody is using crypto currency, it isn’t a problem. The fractional percent of users also makes it difficult to consider cryptocurrency as a threat to our democracy; however, when we focus on the concept of cryptocurrency through the eyes of our adversaries, cryptocurrency could have decidedly insidious overtones:
“Destabilize a nation’s currency, and you destabilize the country. Destabilize the country, and you can manipulate its population. You can push people to overthrow their own government.”