Meaning | Ethereum’s founder on what crypto can – and can’t – do
When most people hear “crypto,” the first thing they think of is “currencies.” Cryptocurrencies have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. And they have given rise to an entire ecosystem of financial speculation, get-rich-quick schemes and, in some cases, outright fraud.
But there’s another side of crypto that gets less attention: the segment of society interested in the way the technology that powers crypto can decentralize decision-making, make institutions more transparent, and transform the way organizations are governed. That’s the side I find far more interesting.
There are few individuals as central to the latest segment of crypto as Vitalik Buterin. While still just a teenager, Buterin co-founded Ethereum, a decentralized platform whose token Ether is the second most valuable cryptocurrency today, second only to Bitcoin. But the vision behind Ethereum was that the blockchain technology could be used for more than digital money; it can create a kind of digital infrastructure on which organizations and companies and applications can be built – seemingly free of centralizing structures like banks and governments.
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Over the past decade, Buterin has arguably become the core public intellectual on the non-financial side of crypto. His new book, “Proof of Stake,” is a collection of long, thoughtful essays that collectively set out a vision of crypto as a truly transformative technology—one with the potential to revolutionize everything from city government to voting systems to online identity.
I myself have dueling impulses about Buterin’s vision. On the one hand, I think many of our governance systems and institutions are in dire need of the kind of reimagining he is engaged in. On the other hand, I am deeply skeptical about whether the issues Buterin and his ilk are focused on are actually technological problems that blockchains can solve . So this is a conversation that lies right within that tension.
You can listen to our entire conversation by following “The Ezra Klein Show” on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you find your podcasts. A list of book recommendations from our guests is here.
(A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)
“The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Annie Galvin and Rogé Karma. Fact check by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Original music by Isaac Jones. Mixing by Sonia Herrero, Isaac Jones and Carole Sabouraud. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin, Kristina Samulewski, Will Wilkinson, Alex Tabarrok, Glen Weyl and Nathan Schneider.
