Conclusion

Abstract

Summarising the book’s findings, algorithmic decentralisation is shown to be an inherent contradiction as spatial trajectories coalesce at different points around blockchain networks. This provides a starting point for understanding the economic geographies of distributed blockchain networks that, on one hand, are open for all to see and, on the other, work out of view underneath the surface of cryptographically concealed code. By following Bitcoin into different aspects of its network, its money/code/space is revealed to be a product of complex webs of humans and non-humans formed through cultural-economic practice as opposed to an autonomous machine world. In doing so, the Conclusion works to debunk the libertarian and liberatory claims of cryptocurrencies by illuminating modes of uneven power. It is argued: only by understanding these limitations can pathways be taken to building less inequitable, or at least sensationalist, blockchain forms.