Library
A collection to understand crypto, politics, economics and power.
Featured reading
Political Economy · Yanis Varoufakis · 2023
Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism
To discuss crypto from the left, one must understand platform power. This book offers a provocative vocabulary for that, and also a target for debate.
Access readingEssentials
Foundational works to understand the project's central themes. 4 readings
BookEC·B·0072023Political Economy · Book
Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism
Yanis Varoufakis · 2023
Varoufakis argues that big digital platforms have shifted market profit towards a feudal-type rent.
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BookEC·B·0082017Political Economy · Book
Platform Capitalism
Nick Srnicek · 2017
A short, rigorous map of how platforms became the dominant business model of the digital economy.
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BookEC·B·0092019Political Economy · Book
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Shoshana Zuboff · 2019
The work that named the economic model based on capturing and predicting human behavior.
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BookEC·B·0102020Democracy & Regulation · Book
Blockchain Democracy: Technology, Law and the Rule of the Crowd
William Magnuson · 2020
A legal scholar examines blockchain's democratic promises and the limits they meet in law and politics.
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Crypto, the State and democracy
Books, papers, reports and surveys on regulation, sovereignty, institutions and democracy. 5 readings
Academic articleEC·B·0022024Democracy & Regulation · Academic article
Privileged interests on the party agenda: Bitcoin-related issues in two countries since 2020
Joost van Spanje, Costin Ciobanu e Greta Arancia Sanna · 2024
A study drawing on voter and party surveys in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (2020 to 2023) on how 32 parties respond to Bitcoin, which is disproportionately supported by wealthy, highly educated male voters. In its literature review, the article notes that left-wing people may see Bitcoin as a decentralized system able to challenge power structures, while libertarians stress freeing the individual from the State. A basis for saying that Bitcoin is not inherently right-wing.
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NewsEC·B·0052026Web3 & Power · News
Reform UK Tones Down Crypto Focus Ahead of Party Conference
Mansi Chavan · 2026
Shows the growing ties between crypto interests and the British right. Nigel Farage's Reform UK has accepted crypto donations and had industry sponsors at its 2025 conference, and Farage faces a parliamentary investigation over whether he should have declared £5 million received from crypto investor Christopher Harborne. An example of the political consequences of abandoning the crypto debate.
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Academic articleEC·B·0142021Democracy & Regulation · Academic article
Blockchain Governance Challenges: Beyond Libertarianism
Outi Korhonen e Juho Rantala · 2021
A short text proposing to think about blockchain governance beyond the libertarian horizon.
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ReportEC·B·0212024Democracy & Regulation · Report
Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and VASPs
Financial Action Task Force (FATF/GAFI) · 2024
An international review of how countries apply anti-money-laundering rules to virtual assets.
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Academic articleEC·B·0232025Democracy & Regulation · Academic article
Crypto assets and CBDCs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Opportunities and risks
Olga Bespalova et al. · 2025
A regional overview of crypto-assets and central bank digital currencies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Economy, capital and technology
Political economy, digital capitalism, platforms, economic concentration and technological change. 6 readings
PodcastEC·B·0012026Crypto & the Left · Podcast
The Blockchain Socialist: Yanis Varoufakis on blockchain, the digital euro and being a class traitor
Joshua Davila (apresentação) com Yanis Varoufakis · 2026
A podcast and website dedicated to discussing blockchain, Web3, decentralization and the digital economy from the left. Highlight: the interview with economist and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, recorded at Web3 Summit in Berlin in June 2026, on blockchain, the digital euro and the power of big tech and banks.
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FeatureEC·B·0032022Political Economy · Feature
What Would Karl Marx Think About Crypto?
Ben Munster · 2022
A provocative feature mapping the left's split over Web3. On one side, critics who see financialization with a cooperative veneer; on the other, those who defend DAOs as tools for worker cooperatives and argue for contesting these technologies instead of handing them over to libertarians and anarcho-capitalists.
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ReportEC·B·0192025Political Economy · Report
The next-generation monetary and financial system
Bank for International Settlements · 2025
The chapter in which the BIS presents its vision for the future monetary system and assesses stablecoins.
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ReportEC·B·0202026Political Economy · Report
The impact of stablecoins on the international monetary and financial system
Iñaki Aldasoro, Jon Frost e Hiro Ito · 2026
A study on how stablecoins may affect national currencies and the international financial system.
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Academic articleEC·B·0242022Web3 & Power · Academic article
Blockchain and the emergence of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): An integrative model and research agenda
Carlos Santana e Laura Albareda · 2022
An academic review that organizes what is known about DAOs and proposes a research agenda.
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Academic articleEC·B·0252024Political Economy · Academic article
An alternative organizational model for a more democratic and equitable digital economy: A systematic literature review on platform cooperativism
Pietro Ghirlanda e Vassil Kirov · 2024
A systematic review of platform cooperatives as an alternative to the big tech model.
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Critical readings
Authors and arguments critical of crypto, blockchain and Web3. A serious debate starts by knowing the best opposing arguments. 5 readings
Academic articleEC·B·0042024Crypto Critiques · Academic article
Bitcoin, techno-utopianism and populism: Unveiling Bukele's crypto-populism in El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin
Tobias Boos · 2024
A must-read critical counterpoint. The article analyzes how Nayib Bukele wove Bitcoin's techno-utopian promises into right-wing populist narratives in El Salvador. Recognizing that part of crypto's political culture has been appropriated by libertarianism and the radical right is precisely what makes it necessary for the left to contest this space.
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BookEC·B·0112016Crypto Critiques · Book
The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism
David Golumbia · 2016
A forceful critique of Bitcoin's ideological roots in right-wing libertarian thought.
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ReportEC·B·0122018Crypto Critiques · Report
Cryptocurrencies: looking beyond the hype
Bank for International Settlements · 2018
The chapter in which the central banks' bank explains why, in its view, cryptocurrencies do not work well as money.
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Academic articleEC·B·0132023Crypto Critiques · Academic article
Crypto-politics and counterfeit democracy
Leah Downey e Stefan Eich · 2023
An article questioning the idea that crypto is inherently more democratic than public money.
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Academic articleEC·B·0262023Crypto Critiques · Academic article
The political economy of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador: Temporary bandages to permanent wounds?
Tobias Boos e Juan Grigera · 2023
A political economy analysis of Bitcoin's adoption as legal tender in El Salvador.
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Documents & primary sources
Legislation, government documents, central banks, international organizations and original whitepapers. 6 readings
Official sourceEC·B·0062026Democracy & Regulation · Official source
BC aprimora regras relativas à prestação de serviços de ativos virtuais
Banco Central do Brasil · 2026
Primary source for Resolutions BCB No. 588 and No. 589: reporting to Coaf of transfers of US$10,000 or more involving self-custody wallets, and adjustments to the rules for virtual asset service providers.
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WhitepaperEC·B·0152008Web3 & Power · Whitepaper
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Satoshi Nakamoto · 2008
The original nine-page text that proposed Bitcoin.
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WhitepaperEC·B·0162014Web3 & Power · Whitepaper
Ethereum Whitepaper
Vitalik Buterin · 2014
The original proposal for a programmable blockchain, the basis of smart contracts and DAOs.
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Official sourceEC·B·0172022Democracy & Regulation · Official source
Lei nº 14.478, de 21 de dezembro de 2022
Presidência da República · 2022
Brazil's legal framework for crypto-assets.
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Official sourceEC·B·0182023Democracy & Regulation · Official source
Regulamento (UE) 2023/1114 (MiCA)
Parlamento Europeu e Conselho da União Europeia · 2023
The European regulation on markets in crypto-assets, a global regulatory reference.
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ReportEC·B·0222025Democracy & Regulation · Report
Relatório de Cidadania Financeira 2025
Banco Central do Brasil · 2025
An official report on access to, use and quality of financial services in Brazil.
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The Library points to where each work can be found and does not host copies of copyrighted books.