Crypto setting an explicit value on everything is one of the key tensions in crypto and web3. I wrote about this tension in a mini-essay, and it’s something that the community is still trying to figure out how to address.
On one hand, people argue that everything has intrinsic value, so crypto is just making that value explicit and subjecting it to market dynamics. Proponents argue that this gives the most fair value to creators for their work and prevents people from getting exploited for giving away their creations for free.
On the other hand, operating in a world where your mind is constantly occupied and confronted with price and money and trading does not seem like the solarpunk, science fiction future utopia we strive to fight towards. What we focus our attention on makes a difference in the direction we go and the projects we prioritize. In this world, there’s a danger that priorities will inevitably shift towards capitalist ends to make the most profit. We’ve already seen this happen in web3 with Sushi and Uniswap where Sushi did the same thing as Uniswap but introduced their own coin, which led to Uniswap doing the same to be competitive.
Proposed solutions
danny zuckerman has a long tweet thread on this. He contends that ^31810d
Open questions
- What does it look like to reject finanicalization in web3? Is it simple as eliminating gas from user perspective and avoiding any sort of tradeable token? Is there anything from stopping the community from assigning value to things though?
- How can we leverage financialization to give value back to artists, creators, and creatives who may be exploited in the current world by those with power and money?
- How do we maintain being community-led and people-first in a world that is full of economic incentives and markers?