Citizenship in the Era of Blockchain-Based Virtual Nations

Abstract

In the last decades, modern democracies have been witnessing a low rate of political participation and civic engagement with existing governmental institutions. Civic participation is not dead, however, it is only shifting to a new space. In the shadow corners of the internet, people are looking at blockchain technology as a means to replace many of our traditional institutions. While most of the attention was put, initially, on Bitcoin disrupting banks and other financial operators, as people understood the full potential of blockchain technology they saw it a means to implement new governance structures that could potentially replace some of our existing systems of governance. At the extreme end of this spectrum are those who envision the creation of new blockchain-based virtual nations, with a view to ultimately replace the nation state, or at least experiment with new and allegedly apolitical governance systems, which nevertheless play a crucial political function.