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Valuation is political
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Dick Bryan, ‘Cryptocurrencies as units of account: possibilities for a postcapitalist, distributed mode of measurement’

by Gareth Bryant on October 17, 2022

Dick Bryan, ‘Cryptocurrencies as units of account: possibilities for a postcapitalist, distributed mode of measurement’

Gareth Bryant | October 17, 2022

Tags: finance
finance
| 4 245

Political Economy Seminar

Cryptocurrencies as units of account: possibilities for a postcapitalist, distributed mode of measurement

Presenter: Dick Bryan

Date: Oct 25 2022
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time)
Location: Room 650, Social Sciences Building (A02), University of Sydney, NSW, 2006 and Zoom

Recording

Abstract

There is, as yet, relatively little debate about how blockchains and cryptotokens might be innovatively and effectively applied to the economic potential for post-capitalism. Unfortunately, most of the economic debate to date has been about whether Bitcoin is, or might become, a challenge to the state’s fiat currency as a means of exchange and store of value (essentially a Hayekian question).

In contrast, this paper puts the focus on the role of money as unit of account and hence on the definition of what constitutes ‘Value’ (as that term is understood in political economy) and its measurement. It re-frames the conventional, state-centred depiction of ‘unit of account‘ to make it crypto-compatible, and then explores the potential for cryptocurrencies to build the conditions for a distributed, scalable network determination of what constitutes ‘Value’, distinct from capital’s (state-endorsed) criterion of profit.

Such an alternative unit could be centrally defined and imposed hierarchically, but the objective considered here is a distributed process in which ‘Value’, and debates about what should count as ‘Value creation’, are expressed in ledger-based network relations. The goal is not to define what that post-capitalist unit of account should be, but to offer a perspective on the procedures by which it might be determined as an organic expression of network relations.

The presentation will be conceptually focussed but will also, by way of illustration, consider a range of environment-focussed tokens, and their limitations as units of account, as a way to clarify the sorts of protocols that might enable a coherent unit of account.

About the speaker

Dick Bryan is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sydney and Chief Economist at the Economic Space Agency (ECSA)

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Author: Gareth Bryant

Gareth Bryant is a political economist at the University of Sydney. He works as a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Economy and as economist-in-residence with the Sydney Policy Lab.

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Comments

  • Anitra Nelson | Oct 18 2222

    Will a recording be made available, please?

    1
    • Gareth Bryant | Oct 25 2222

      Hi Anitra.- so we recorded it after all! I have included link to Youtube in this post.

      0
  • Gareth Bryant | Oct 20 2222

    Hi Anitra – no recording plans sorry, but you can watch live via Zoom.

    0
  • Anitra Nelson | Oct 26 2222

    Great. Thanks for making a recording of this talk available Gareth.

    0

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  • Home
  • About
  • Manchester University Press Book Series
  • Past & Present Reading Group
  • A Political Economy of Australian Capitalism
  • Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE)
    • Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE)
    • JAPE Issues
    • JAPE Submission Guidelines
    • JAPE Young Scholar Award
  • Australian IPE Network (AIPEN)
  • Forums
    • Forums
    • Debating Anatomies of Revolution
    • Debating Debtfare States
    • Debating Economic Ideas in Political Time
    • Debating Mass Strikes and Social Movements in Brazil and India
    • Debating Social Movements in Latin America
    • Debating The Making of Modern Finance
    • Debating War and Social Change in Modern Europe
    • Feminist Global “Secureconomy”
    • Gendered Circuits of Labour and Violence in Global Crises
    • Scandalous Economics
    • The Military Roots of Neoliberal Governance
    • Politicising artistic pedagogies
  • Literary Geographies of Political Economy
  • Pedagogy
    • Five Minute Honours Theses
    • Piketty Forum
    • Radical Economics Pedagogy
    • Unconventional Wisdom
    • Journal Club
    • Marxism Reading Group
  • Wheelwright Lecture
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • Links
    • Political Economy At Sydney
    • PHD in Political Economy
    • Master of Political Economy
    • Centre for Future Work
    • Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ)
    • Climate Justice Research Centre (UTS)