CNI (22.5.2040) “Crypto changed everything” is a truism that everyone now knows, so it’s easy to forget that there was a time when few people had even heard of crypto and fewer still had any inkling of the massive changes it would make in their lives. Tonight I’m joined by Dr. Anton Flumpiffle, author of the new BrainjackBook, CryptoCulture. Dr. Flumpiffle, it’s a pleasure to have you join us today, via CrypNet from your home in Medellín.
Thank you, Raoul, it’s good to speak with you again.
Always a pleasure. In your new BrainjackBook, you go into quite a bit of detail about the early years of the crypto revolution in general but it seemed to me as if you devoted much of your analysis not on crypto’s infancy, but to what’s since then come to be known as The Wild Years.
Indeed I did. I should mention that the term is unfortunately a bit vaguely defined. Many students of the era consider it to have been from 2020 to 2029 but others date it from as early as 2016 to as late as 2035, and there are some who argue that The Wild Years have yet to end. And I suppose they have a point, there are after all some instances of the old ways still extant, albeit in a limited way.
What do you think were the key changes brought about by the crypto revolution?
Well, those of us who were adults then remember how different it was, but young people today probably have a hard time grasping how thoroughly centralization in general and the nation-state concept in particular were simply taken for granted back then. The idea that only things called countries could issue pieces of paper that could be exchanged for tangibles seems absurd to us now but it was once the norm. But in the early part of The Wild Years a small percentage of people started to realize that cryptocurrencies and distributed ledgers could chip away at that hegemony.
They were laughed at and mocked at first. But they persevered, gained new converts, and then started to be perceived as a threat to the established order. History has again and again shown that empires in decline fight back viciously, often resorting to draconian measures in attempts to retain their power.
It’s generally understood that things started to unravel first in the former United States of America before spreading to Europe, Japan, and eventually the entire world. Do you agree with that timeline?
Yes, with a few caveats. The USA wasn’t the first country to try to rein in crypto, but when it went down that path, it did so with a vengeance. We now know that it was a doomed strategy, but those entrenched in positions of power probably thought they had no alternative. Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies had been making astonishing gains. But when the government there seized Coinbase late in 2021 and then a year later declared cryptocurrencies illegal, linking them to terrorism, all hell broke loose. The cryptoverse fought back in ways the established powers had not anticipated. It was a multi-pronged, decentralized revolt that to this day we have not completely digested. People ignored regulations, worked from friendlier jurisdictions, undermined the status quo at every turn. In the words of Chien Len-ho, who was in the thick of it, “Things got batshit crazy fast”. It really is amazing how quickly things changed.
It really is. But just six years after that, the Bitcoin network had effectively supplanted the International Monetary Fund. Other decentralized blockchains quickly adapted their distributed ledgers to tackle enormous issues. I’ve heard claims the the BEOS network’s foray into fusion power led directly to the dissolution of the Meccan Emirate and indirectly to President Chelsea Clinton’s dramatic decision to call for the devolution of Federal power following her resignation in the wake of the Ripplegate scandal. And today happens to be the 30th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, when two pizzas where bought for the astonishing price of 10,000 Bitcoin! That is amazing, isn’t it? You could buy what’s left of the former site of Washington, DC for a few hundred Satoshis at this point, now that the swamp has reclaimed it.
(laughs) It might not be worth even that. The rising ocean level means that it’ll be completely under water within a decade.
True, true. Well, The Big Game is about to start and my producer is telling me that I need to wrap it up. In our remaining thirty seconds, is there one thing that really stands out for you, when you reflect on The Wild Years?
Oh, there are so many. But you know Raoul, I keep coming back to the crowdsourced building of the Hive-powered space elevator. It’s really been a game changer. Who would have thought that we would already have three million people living in earth orbit?
I want to thank you for being with us today Dr. Flumpiffle.
Always a pleasure, Raoul. Thank you for having me on.
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