Abstract This paper argues that the concept of “jouissance” can help us understand the popularity of blockchain protocols, meme-coins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the world of Web3. These technologies act as mirrors to project reflections that allow people to imagine social and...

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...

Abstract Web3’s raison d’être is decentralization. Quite problematically, however, few industry analysts can articulate what “decentralization” really entails; whether it differs at all from the notion of “distribution,” and how either construct can be measured with observable data...

Abstract This paper argues that a coordinated network of independent producers is crucial in creating an immersive metaverse. A digital asset layer that is beyond the control of any single counterparty, along with reliable definition and exchange of fungible and non-fungible digital objects, is...

Abstract This paper critically evaluates the political economy of Web3 and offers a neo-institutional model to explain qualitative observations of contemporary digital social movements. By starting to develop a sociological model of Web3 rooted in micro-organizational practices, including trust...

Abstract “Immediate Gratuitousness” puts cryptocurrency and its sister industries into a history of performances of extravagance, daring, and waste. My assertion is that the people to read at this point in the development of crypto are not Mazzucato or Galbraith, Minsky or Perez (or Hayek...

Abstract Drawing on anthropological perspectives, this paper argues that the fungibility of objects and the ability to exchange them for money is a defining characteristic of capitalist markets. In contrast, other systems of reckoning value emphasize the unique relationships within which objects...

Abstract This paper is an encounter between an artist creating characters for video games and an academic studying how people and things are being financialized. Exchanging about the appearance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies – technologies associated with Web3 in the video...

Abstract This paper introduces the concept of a “computable economy” and discusses how it relates to the emergence of Web3 or the new type of economy that has arisen from the integration of digital technologies such as blockchain, smart contracts, and digital identity. A “computable...