Thursday, 14 December 2023 

3-5 pm 

Aula Ovale Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali, Vico Monte di Pietà 1, Napoli

 

Title:  The Radical Politics of Crypto 

 

Speaker:  Felix Fritsch, Crypto Commons Association, Commons Hub and Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence

 

Abstract: 

 

After Bitcoin and the collapse of NFTs and meme coin bubbles, the world of crypto is active in

imagining alternative constitutions of communities, markets and the political. Concepts like network states, CoordiNations, crypto guilds, DeFi (decentralised finance), ReFi (regenerative finance), CoFi (collaborative finance) and Solarpunk testify to a rich theoretical imagination and practical experimentation among people who are actively building models for a possible post-capitalist infrastructure. Most of this is going on under the radar, but the movement is growing as young, educated people around the world, not least in Asia, see crypto as a viable alternative to corporate careers.

Felix Fritsch will deliver one introductory lecture summarising recent developments within radical crypto communities on December 14th, followed by a day-long deep dive into DeFi, ReFi and CoFi. for those interested in the details of crypto-economic mechanism design and proto-political community building on December 15th.

 

Bio: 

 

Felix Fritsch is a doctoral fellow in political science at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, where he explores the intersection of technical possibilities, societal relevance and economic viability in the realm of blockchain and regenerative finance. In particular, he seeks to extrapolate potential future impact of this technology from prevalent dynamics in structure and ideology of the blockchain ecosystem. Over the last two years, Felix has founded the Commons Hub, an experimental playground for emerging technologies, has organised five highly specialised crypto conferences with the Crypto Commons Association, which he co-founded, and has been invited to speak about organising tech communities at numerous international conferences, among them the World Economic Forum 2023.