Crypto is often derided as a casino of the most degenerate sort. And it’s true. At some level, that’s precisely what it is. However, it’s a mistake to take issue with crypto on this basis alone. Speculation -- i.e. degeneracy by another name -- is, in some sense, fundamental; for all of human striving is conjecture. Indeed speculation is the means by which we actualise the future. It is, in the economic context, the act of taking capital and allocating it to a future that might be. It is future-building in action.

When one appreciates that the human condition is a fundamentally speculative one, that all of life is a gamble, one is inclined to cast a more sympathetic eye upon crypto. On this frame, crypto merely represents an extension of our capacity to speculate, and, by extension, the broadening of the space of possible futures we might actualise. In this respect, crypto is purest instantiation of the techno-capital machine; the existing system but without any of the same artificial constraints that come from being situated in physical jurisdiction, meatspace. It’s the most powerful future machine we have.

Of course, it isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. When you widen the Overton window of speculation, you widen it in both directions, normatively speaking. Without constraints, you will see better just as you will see worse. If one takes the Hobbesian view of human nature, the idea of removing the state and broader cultural apparatus that currently constrains speculation ought to be concerning. If, however, one takes the view that humans are fundamentally decent, creatures who progress only through the messy process of error-correction, the idea of broadening what we can and can’t speculate on is rather less terrifying.

In the end, it is only a cynic who is fundamentally alarmed by the degeneracy of crypto; for it is a cynic who is scared by the idea of humans doing what they want. Conversely, it is fundamentally optimistic to champion speculative freedom, to believe that humans ought to do, with their dollars, precisely what they choose (however degenerate).