Digital Economies/Money

Cory Doctorow reviews my TECHNOFEUDALISM for truthdig

Socialists have been hotly anticipating the end of capitalism since at least 1848, when Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto – but the Manifesto also reminds us that capitalism is only too happy to reinvent itself during its crises, coming back in new forms, over and over again. Now, in Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, Yanis Varoufakis – the “libertarian Marxist” former finance […]

Time to Blow Up the Banking System – Project Syndicate, March 2023

The banking system we take for granted is unfixable. The good news is that we no longer need to rely on any private, rent-seeking, socially destabilizing network of banks, at least not the way we have so far. This time the banking crisis is different. It is, in fact, worse than in 2007/8 when we […]
The post Time to Blow Up the Banking System – Project Syndicate, March 2023 appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

The Techno-Feudal Method to Musk’s Twitter Madness – Project Syndicate op-ed

Immediately after taking over Twitter and pronouncing himself Chief Twit, Elon Musk affirmed his commitment to safeguarding the platform as the “public square” where anything and everything is debated. It was a smart tactic, because it successfully diverted the public’s attention from what Musk is really up to. ATHENS – Elon Musk had good reasons […]

How the West poisoned its money – Project Syndicate op-ed

ATHENS – Capitalism conquered the world by commodifying almost everything that had a value but not a price, thus driving a sharp wedge between values and prices. It did the same to money. The exchange value of money always reflected people’s readiness to hand over valuable things for given sums of cash. But, under capitalism, […]

Dangerous fantasy: Gold, Bitcoin won’t help you find freedom outside government – Interviewed on Kitco NEWS

Central banks should issue their own democratically controlled crypto, not bypassed by Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies” I told David Lin, Anchor and Producer at Kitco News; a service catering largely to the crypto community who (as you will see in the comments) cannot stand my rejection of their collective fantasy that crypto currencies will liberate us from […]

Discussing Crypto, the Left & Technofeudalism with Evgeny Morozov – CRYPTO SYLLABUS long interview

Rare is the person who could expertly comment – in a single interview! – on the rise of NFTs and their origins in the virtual worlds of gaming, the logic of the emerging regime of techno-feudalism, and the folly of El Salvador’s Bitcoin-heavy negotiating tactics with the IMF. Luckily, we have found this person in […]

The causes of inflation and what to do about it – Keynote at Banking Conference, Sofia 2 DEC 2021

Invited by the Bulgarian Central Bank’s Deputy Governor, here is a keynote I delivered in Sofia, on 2nd December 2021, in which I offer a historical  explanation of the nature and causes of our current inflation – as well as a proposed policy response that would help (but which vested interests are impeding).

A free Central Bank account for all would be a good start for a revamped monetary system – WIRED

Imagine that the Bank of England were to create a free bank account for everyone. Overnight, it would be far better placed to regulate the money supply in the public interest. Moreover, to stay in business, commercial banks would have to seriously raise their game. In times of trouble, such as the current pandemic, the […]

Why Bitcoin is not a socialist’s ally – Reply to Ben Arc

On 15th July, Ben Arc published in Bitcoin Magazine an open letter addressed to me in a bid to convince me that I should re-assess my rejection of Bitcoin as a force for good; as a bulwark for democratising capitalism and paving the ground for socialism. Here is my reply:

Dear Ben Arc,

Thank you for your open letter and your efforts to bring a socialist perspective to bear upon my assessment of Bitcoin.