Bitcoin is for Republicans, Ethereum is for Democrats

by James · March 3, 2023

Greetings from Colorado’s capital, where more than 20,000 Ethereum enthusiasts have descended to celebrate ETHDenver, a multi-day extravaganza dedicated to demos, workshops and a whole lot of hoopla related to their favorite blockchain. As usual, many of this year’s contestants showed up wearing rainbows or strange animal costumes—a colorful pageant that felt especially striking given that this year’s ETHDenver takes place at the city’s fabled stockyard and rodeo arena, which is emblazoned with images of cowboys, Budweiser, and other commonly associated icons with red America.

I noted the hippie-like atmosphere — which included a “zen zone” and an arena full of sleeping bags for 500 Ethereum scholarship attendees to stay overnight — to a 50-year-old crypto industry professional, himself dressed in a vibrant shirt and hipster glasses. He nodded and observed, “Bitcoin is for Republicans, Ethereum is for Democrats.” It’s hard to disagree. While the hardcore Bitcoin crowd is fixated on hoddling and suspicion of government, the Ethereum set is more given to radical experimentation and eccentricity.

I added this characterization to Keven Owocki, the founder of open software promulgator Gitcoin, who has just launched Supermodular, a venture studio looking to commercialize a wide variety of Ethereum innovations. He described the political labels as “very reductionist”, but admitted that the broad strokes are correct. “Bitcoin is all about red meat and guns … Ethereum has rainbows and unicorns,” Owocki noted.

All of this underscores the extent to which cryptoculture has grown and become more diverse since the libertarian Satoshi published his famous white paper in 2008, and soon after embedded a warning about central bankers in the first block of Bitcoin. Today, the two main blockchains have come to embody very different political strains, both offering new and distinct ideas but also overlapping with broader progressive and conservative cultural movements.

For the thousands of mostly young people packed into the warehouse, politics was far from their minds. They were instead engrossed in the prospect of the next phase of Ethereum, which successfully made a very difficult transition to the eco-friendly proof of stake last year and is on track to introduce a number of other updates that will make the blockchain faster and easier to use . In May, it’s Bitcoin’s turn to be the center of the crypto universe when its followers gather in Miami Beach for an extravaganza of its own. We’ll have a dispatch from there as well, but for now, suffice it to observe that – even after one of the industry’s toughest years ever – crypto and its colorful culture are more entrenched than ever.

Jeff John Roberts
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts

DECENTRALIZED NEWS

Coin base bought digital asset manager One River in a bet on future institutional demand for crypto. (Bloomberg)

Silvergate experienced a run on deposits as Coinbase, Circle and other major crypto customers fled the troubled bank. (Coindesk)

The potential collapse of Silvergate, whose shares fell 50%, is unlikely to have a wider impact on the banking sector. (Bloomberg)

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kans.) issued a letter requesting Binance to explain “potentially illegal” activity. (Reuters)

The The Security and Exchange Commission has recently increased the staff of its crypto assets and cyber unit by 40%. (Fortune)