What Erik Voorhees and Other Crypto-Libertarians Get Wrong

This week I decided to do something a little bit different and go solo. For this episode I wanted to analyze the mindset and beliefs in a lot of the mainstream cryptocurrency discourse. In order to do that I wanted to use someone who is a popular figure and thought leader in the space, Erik Voorhees. Erik is the CEO of ShapeShift, an pseudo-anonymous cryptocurrency exchange turned definitely-not-anonymous cryptocurrency exchange in order to comply to new regulations. Before that he also started several bitcoin-ventures including bitcoin gambling site Satoshi Dice and was known for being one of the first people to go "full-crypto".

What probably won't be surprising is that Erik is also very openly libertarian, of the pro-capitalist variety and a lot of people in Crypto World like to listen Erik's opinions. Erik was recently in an interview for Consensus, hosted by Coindesk, one of the biggest online publications for cryptocurrency news, about the Future of Wealth and I think it provided a great window to understand the libertarian mindset a little more. Therefore I thought he would be a good case study for understanding the mind of the average crypto-libertarian.

Keep in mind that this isn't the belief of everyone, but it is for a prominent segment of the mainstream. It's important that we understand where they come from in order to create an alternative.

Sources Used
ShapeShift site
Totally not apolitical cryptocurrency book recommendations for noobies from ShapeShift
Down the Rabbit Hole Trailer
Down the Rabbit Hole Interview with Erik
Consensus Interview with Erik

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ICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking.

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