Singapore upon the Korea Strait? Cyberlibertarian Desires and Anxious Regulation in Busan's Blockchain Regulation Free Zone

Abstract

This article examines the intersection of Asia's blockchain industry and special economic zones (SEZs). SEZs have been promoted to localise blockchain technology by disparate actors from cyberlibertarian figures to Asian blockchain firms, national policymakers, and local politicians. This convergence raises questions about what activities are imagined for Asian blockchain zones and what mutations of sovereignty, markets, and democracy they involve? To answer, this article surveys how zones have been imagined for blockchain and examines the case of Korea's Busan Blockchain Regulation-Free Zone (BBRFZ). We discuss competing imaginaries that shape the project, from the laissez-faire fantasy of Busan as a cryptocurrency hub to more “developmentalist” ideas for the zone. We argue that despite its invocation of freedom, the BBRFZ is animated by an anxious regulatory dynamic: one that seeks to promote blockchain as a means for regional development but remains conflicted due to the risks that cyberlibertarian logics of exception might bring.