The Rhetoric of Bitcoin: Money, Politics, and the Construction of Blockchain Communities

The rise of Bitcoin and related digital currencies has been accompanied by a proliferation of discourse about these technologies, including debates about their value and status as forms of money. This dissertation examines digital currency discourse from a rhetorical perspective, and traces the development and impact of a key trope of early Bitcoin discourse--the application of commodity money rhetoric to Bitcoin--to understand the rhetorical construction of Bitcoin. It argues that early attempts to establish Bitcoin as a form of money, which figured Bitcoin as a "natural" entity beyond the reach of community politics, produced an unanticipated rhetorical fallout: the displacement of the politics of the Bitcoin community onto the development of Bitcoin as a technology. It further argues that this early displacement continues to influence the rhetorical dynamics of Bitcoin and its heirs by shaping subsequent debates over digital currency governance and valuation.

Author dc:creator

• Bellinger, Matthew Charles

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Harold, Christine

• bitcoin
• blockchain
• cryptocurrency
• digital currency
• money
• rhetoric
• Communication
• Sociology

Statement dc:rights

• none

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1773/43342

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/43342