Financial imperialism on the blockchain: bitcoin in El Salvador
The Anti-Dystopians 2.2: a conversation with Mallika Balakrishnan
This week’s episode is for everyone who isn’t sure what blockchain is, but (given the general theme of the show) have a feeling it might be bad . . .
For the second episode of season 2, Mallika Balakrishnan returns to talk about the protests over bitcoin in El Salvador: what exactly is bitcoin? Why has El Salvador adopted the cryptocurrency as a legal tender? And how does this relate to the longer history of financial imperialism in Latin America? For all your questions about the blockchain, listen to this week’s episode of the Anti-Dystopians.
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Articles mentioned in this episode
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law Is a Farce (Foreign Policy)
For Latin American politicians, Bitcoin is a PR goldmine (Rest of the World)
Jorge E. Cuéllar, Bitcoin Sanctuaries — Sidecar (New Left Review)
USAID, Bitcoin and the Long Fight over El Salvador’s Sovereignty (Daniel Alvarenga, El Faro)
Left Out of Bukele’s Bitcoin Decision, Salvadorans Face Deepening Inequality (NACLA)
In Central America, Rule of Law Is Under Attack. El Salvador Is the Latest Victim (Foreign Policy)
In El Salvador, Broken Promises Have Forced the Establishment Out (Foreign Policy)
More books about cryptocurrency and blockchain:
Blockchain Chicken Farm by Xiaowei Wang
Blockchain Democracy by William Magnuson
Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain by David Gerard
You can now support the Anti-Dystopians!
All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata (me) and are freely available to all listeners. If you want to support the production of the show via a Guardian/Wikipedia-style tipping model, you can visit: bit.ly/3AApPN4
What I’ve been reading
Podcast guests Mallika Balakrishnan and Matt Mahmoudi’s work with No Tech for Tyrants was featured in the article “The radical student activist group taking on big tech.” If you missed the past episodes with Mallika and Matt, you can check them out here: No Tech for Tyrants (ep 4) and The Digital Periphery (ep 8).
More about blockchain:
Other interesting tech things: