The Challenge of Building a Scalable Postcapitalist Commons: The Limits of FairCoin as a Commons‐Based Cryptocurrency

Abstract

Postcapitalist commons are a growing area of interest in the efforts to generate alternatives to capitalism in the present. Commons are understood as self‐organised collectives based around shared resources; yet postcapitalist commons have an additional element, in operating within while projecting an “after” capitalism. This can give rise to tensions since commons striving for postcapitalism also require a certain amount of capital to survive and function within capitalism. FairCoop is a radical postcapitalist commons that adopted the cryptocurrency FairCoin in 2014. FairCoop, through FairCoin, was able to generate some trans‐local connections through its use of peer2peer technologies and was thus able to scale‐up. Its design, however, was ultimately unsustainable due to insufficiently clear boundaries from capital. After highlighting the lack of commons boundaries around FairCoop, we identify some additional commons‐capital boundary design principles which could contribute to the sustainability of future postcapitalist commons experiments that are seeking to scale.

Alternative Economies and Commoning Practices in Catalonia: Unpacking Ecoxarxes from a Social Studies of Economisation Perspective

“…The case of the Ecoxarxes, we argue, fits within much of the work done around this topic, considering that there is an active community that strives collectively for post-capitalism with pooled material and immaterial resources (see De Angelis 2017). Dallyn and Frenzel (2021) and Gerhardt (2020) also base their recent analyses on De Angelis's theoretical framework. While we take inspiration from this literature, there is a tendency to engage with commoning projects in ways that reproduce a capital/non-capital dualism.…”

“…A rich tradition within geography engages with commoning and post‐capitalist debates (Bresnihan and Byrne 2015; Caffentzis and Federici 2014; Chatterton and Pusey 2019; Dallyn and Frenzel 2021; Gerhardt 2020; Stavrides 2013). Commoning is theorised as the social organisation of the commons, emphasising that it is an active process requiring constant performance rather than a stagnant concept (Linebaugh 2010; Stavrides 2013).…”

“…Dallyn and Frenzel (2021) and Gerhardt (2020) also base their recent analyses on De Angelis’s theoretical framework. While we take inspiration from this literature, there is a tendency to engage with commoning projects in ways that reproduce a capital/non‐capital dualism.…”

Distributed degrowth technology: Challenges for blockchain beyond the green economy

“…Blockchain projects are also being used to help envision direct alternatives to representative democracy, universal basic income (UBI) schemes, and protection of the material and digital commons (see Table 1). Dallyn and Frenzel (2020) FairCoin's design is problematic due to the omission of effective 'commons boundaries' (Ostrom, 1990), or 'filtering layers' (De Angelis 2017). They argue that post-capitalist commons need clear boundaries to remain protected from encroaching values and practices of capital.…”

“…In the case of FairCoin, these encroachments centre around state backed fiat currency, hierarchical market libertarian influences (Bitcoin, for example), and projects of private value extraction from the commons. Filtering layers between these entities are required inevitably because some capital is necessary to sustain the commons, and to enable the wider movement to expand and scale up without diluting the group's radical communal anarchist ideals and practices (Dallyn and Frenzel, 2020).…”