I have previously categorized ‘crypto’ – a catch-all for blockchain- and Web3-related innovation – as part of the Digital Revolution that started around the late 1960s to early 1970s with the invention of packet-switched networks, microprocessors, and other digital technologies that enabled the proliferation of personal computers and the Internet. I would like to expand on that by:
Providing a brief theoretical outline of the two main stages of technological revolutions;
Comparing the organizational and institutional shifts of the previous revolution (centered around oil, automobiles, and mass production) with those of the current one (centered around digital information and communications technology) as imagined during the dot-com era (late 1990s, early 2000s); and
Discussing how ‘crypto’ as a techno-populist reform movement and innovation cluster is shaping global institutions and governance as the Digital Revolution matures.
Throughout the text, I will be using ‘ICT’ as a shorthand for digital information and communications technology, and ‘ICT Revolution’ as a shorthand for the Digital Revolution. From here on, quotation marks around the word ‘crypto’ will be omitted, while still referring not just to cryptography, but to all blockchain- and Web3-related innovation. Readers familiar with Carlota Perez’s theory of techno-economic paradigm shifts may skip the first section.
Full paper here.