We hear everywhere that Bitcoin is linked to a libertarian or even anarcho-capitalist ideology, where the individual is king. While it is true that some of its supporters share this view, not all do. Far from it! So is Bitcoin right or left? That's a big question. To answer it, we have to go back to the origins of this monetary and political UFO.
The creator of Bitcoin (with a capital B for the protocol and a lowercase b for the cryptocurrency), Satoshi Nakamoto, is a self-proclaimed "cypherpunk. It was on a mailing list (the Cryptography Mailing List) gathering the followers of this informal group that the concept was first introduced in 2008.
Who are the cypherpunks? People, mostly computer programmers, who believe that in the digital age we live in, the right to privacy is essential in a free and open society. These digital freedom activists rely on the proactive use of cryptography to protect privacy.
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In his "Cypherpunk's Manifesto" (1993) the American Eric Hughes writes that "we cannot expect governments, corporations, or faceless organizations to grant us privacy simply because they are benevolent. It is in their interest to share information about us, and we should expect them to do so (...) We cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems. We defend our right to privacy with cryptography, anonymous messaging systems, digital signatures and electronic money.
Eric Hughes does not present himself as a resolute opponent of the state. Nevertheless, he calls for a fight against laws restricting the use of cryptography. More generally, cypherpunks are suspicious of the state and its laws because, according to them, the state (but also companies) could not help but use digital tools to monitor the population. Therefore, there should be instruments to protect themselves, first and foremost a... currency to continue to exchange regardless of the political regime. Bitcoin is not the first currency idea linked to this line of thought.
Before it, B-Money (1998) and BitGold (1998), designed by American cryptographers Wei Dai and Nick Szabo respectively, paved the way. But it is Bitcoin that has managed to break through. It is a decentralized, peer-to-peer system, in other words, one that, according to its advocates, dispenses with intermediaries such as governments and banks. This is something that appeals to the most zealous liberals... as well as to left-wing sensibilities that criticize the behavior of "crazy finance", especially since the subprime crisis. Bitcoin had also resonated in 2011 with the Occupy Wall Street movement. And in the first transaction in the history of Bitcoin, in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto had referred to the bailout of British banks by public funds.
Replacing the State... or helping those excluded from the financial system
The fact that Bitcoin is decentralized has very quickly drawn him the favor of those who are for less government, such as former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon. "Cryptocurrencies have a great future, they could play a very important role in the future, especially in a global populist revolt," he said in 2019. Supporters who have given a "right-wing" coloring to Bitcoin. But we notice that many personalities classified on the left (in the progressive sense) have also taken hold of it, such as Sam Bankman-Fried, the boss of the exchange platform FTX, who was the largest donor to the campaign of Democrat Joe Biden. And he recently indicated that he was ready to contribute up to a billion dollars to defeat Donald Trump if he runs for re-election in 2024.
There's a shift going on in Washington, where many young, progressive elected officials are now leading a fight to push back on regulatory proposals that could stifle the industry. There is also the new Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, who earlier this year pledged to take his first salary in bitcoins. In France, former deputy Pierre Person had declared in The Big Whale that about 20 parliamentarians hold crypto-assets.
More fundamentally, Bitcoin offers many perspectives that the left can also relate to: financial inclusion, a more transparent financial system, data ownership... The important thing to remember is that Bitcoin is deeply apolitical. It is a public currency, not in the sense that the state exerts its influence over it, but in the sense that anyone can take hold of it and build on it. Supporters of the left, as well as of the right.
