A New Age of Crypto-Authoritarianism

Cryptocurrencies have become a key component of global democratic backsliding. The imbrication of cryptocurrency and current authoritarianisms has been largely understated and misunderstood as a quirky or obscure anecdote in the process of autocratization. In fact, cryptocurrencies are a constitutive part of contemporary authoritarian policymaking, both as tools to help autocrats centralize power and as mechanisms of enrichment for incumbents and connected elites.