Crypto, but as a tankie thing

[SpudNutimus]

I'm having a Biaggi-level idea but I don't have the energy to do it so whoever is reading this just feel free to take it and do whatever you want.

What if

Crypto and NFTs but they're started by like, a hard leftist/tankie group of grifters instead of a libertarian one and the whole "blockchain allowing for decentralization of currency to the masses" bullshit gets spun as some kind of great transition away from current monetary institutions towards a crypto-based market socialism where the blockchain is supposed to be the method by which workers directly control the means of production, and then as time goes on all the insane populist crypto bro conspiracies about Wall Street and the Fed being a secret cabal of evil that controls the world get merged with the tankie conspiracy theories about Wall Street and the Fed being a secret cabal of evil that controls the world to create a movement with the simultaneous delusions of the Occupy movement and the AMC/GameStop people.

 

[SpudNutimus]

Okay I've taken my meds now but the idea still stands

 

[Charles EP M.]

Depends if there's enough of the right sort of coders to start it - I could see them feasibly getting in on the ground floor and hijacking it.

This would also knock out a lot of high profile backing for crypto and NFTs, and I wonder what that does? Losing the copypaste apes probably helps their image, as we don't associate NFTs as being fugly. Unless they end up becoming those MS Paint memes oh shit they would

 

[Nyvis]

I don't think this works because you won't get investor backing to take it off the ground. It'll remain an ultra niche thing at best. A lot of what sustains crypto is the investor buzz cycle and wealthy right-libertarians.

Unless it's a "socialist" state backing it as a way to sanction-break? But then it's going to get banned right quick.

 

[theev]

Those “populist crypto bro conspiracies about the fed” have a far longer pedigree on the right than on the left by the way

 

[Coiler]

I can't really see internet tankies starting crypto, but I can see a divergence where more of them jump on the bandwagon while the libertarians/speculators do the real heavy lifting.

 

[Max Sinister]

How much money do tankies have?

 

[SpudNutimus]

I don't think this works because you won't get investor backing to take it off the ground. It'll remain an ultra niche thing at best. A lot of what sustains crypto is the investor buzz cycle and wealthy right-libertarians.

Unless it's a "socialist" state backing it as a way to sanction-break? But then it's going to get banned right quick.

Those “populist crypto bro conspiracies about the fed” have a far longer pedigree on the right than on the left by the way

Yeah these are both fair points this was kind of just a semi-delirious goblinpost more than anything

 

[Steve Brinson]

I think the fundamental issue is that lefties generally believe there should be some kind of central bank running monetary policy, they're just not fans of the current one. Whereas crypto, as long as it is legal, in theory makes that impossible - I guess it's possible that people will see the danger of a crypto black market persisting after the revolution or whatever as worth risking to undermine the status quo, but I suspect that would be a fringe phenomenon at best. If it can undermine their government it can undermine yours too.

 

[Coiler]

Updating this thread to say that I can believe this a lot more after being in the world of AI art. Ok, maybe not having it be outright started by super-tankies (unless you get some prominent programmers who are), but definitely having it be championed by them.

In contrast to the stereotypical "techbro", there are a surprisingly large number of pro-AI art people who are hard left and talk in a conspiratorial way. An existing manual artist with a legitimate concern for your job? Congrats, you are now an evil "Petit Bourgeois" kulak. Have any support for any kind of copyright or IP? You must be a drooling corporate shill. Meanwhile, they talk up AI art as being this great way of bringing true creativity or whatever to The Masses.

While crypto isn't the greatest or most similar, I can see a similar situation developing.

 

[Meadow]

Updating this thread to say that I can believe this a lot more after being in the world of AI art. Ok, maybe not having it be outright started by super-tankies (unless you get some prominent programmers who are), but definitely having it be championed by them.

In contrast to the stereotypical "techbro", there are a surprisingly large number of pro-AI art people who are hard left and talk in a conspiratorial way. An existing manual artist with a legitimate concern for your job? Congrats, you are now an evil "Petit Bourgeois" kulak. Have any support for any kind of copyright or IP? You must be a drooling corporate shill. Meanwhile, they talk up AI art as being this great way of bringing true creativity or whatever to The Masses.

While crypto isn't the greatest or most similar, I can see a similar situation developing.

That's an interesting observation and 'what if politics and technology collided in different ways' is definitely ripe territory for some Thinking Person's AH.

 

[Nyvis]

I think it will always hit a wall of corporations ultimately being the ones controlling and profiting from that technology. You may get a few shills in the same way you get red painted campists championing very much non socialist dictators but those people have never really been relevant outside of twitter because their politics have no basis in reality.