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But simply calling Bitcoin horizontalist renders it sociologically anaemic, buying into the ideology that it is essentially a machine. Paradoxically, the ideology behind Bitcoin is premised on denying that money even has a social life: by treating money as a thing whose production is controlled by technology, not as a process whose value is sustained by its users. But the idea that money is a thing cannot withstand close scrutiny. On the contrary, there is a strong sense of community around Bitcoin, as reflected in discussion groups, Internet forums and the organizations that are associated with it. Bitcoin is currently being sustained by sociological features that are directly at odds with the political ideology and theory of money that underpin it. These include leadership, social organization, social structure, sociality, utopianism and trust. Technological artifacts cannot simply enact organizational forms on their own. Social factors inevitably emerge as those who interact with and use these artifacts both shape and are shaped by their practical use. We can only reach a proper understanding of the politics behind Bitcoin once we appreciate that it has a social life.

The Demetricator