The Gambler

Abstract This paper explores the influence of financialization in the post-2008 credit crisis, which led to a general mistrust in financial institutions and states. Simultaneously, Web3 and digital finance emerged as a way to navigate this problematic state of affairs, and many individuals were drawn to the agency of machines, code, and algorithms in making a deviation from austerity toward some form of liberation. Taking the form of an oracle reading, this paper uses the “Gambler” archetype to explore the subjective movement of those who engage with digital finance as a strategy to face the generalized climate of austerity and to claim their share of the economy, now that work has ceased to be a lifetime calling.