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)

• There Is No Democratic Tradition in El Salvador (El Faro)

• 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)

• CISPES

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

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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

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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).

The Anti-Dystopians @AntiDystopians

Fantastic article highlighting the amazing work of two of our previous guests, @DocMattMoudi and @mjbalakrishnan, and their organizing through @NoTech4Tyrants https://t.co/SudsBgJqOV

Timnit Gebru @timnitGebru

Great piece covering the work of @NoTech4Tyrants "Given the complexity of the systems of oppression the group are trying to dismantle, No Tech for Tyrants are focusing on where they can have the biggest impact.And because of the importance of higher education to the... https://t.co/g5tPouzF1a

More about blockchain:

• China declares all crypto-currency transactions illegal

• Coinbase Got a $1.36 Million Contract With ICE

• Waste from one bitcoin transaction ‘like binning two iPhones’

Other interesting tech things:

• Incredible feature on gig workers from Rest of the World

• Facebook paid billions extra to the FTC to spare Zuckerberg in data suit, shareholders allege

• UK government spent half a million pounds on lawyers to fight FOI disclosures

• A trailer for every single American rom com set in Ireland, courtesy of the wonderful comedian Eleanor Morton