Vitalik Warns Against Simplistic Pro-Crypto Politics

Today, Vitalik Buterin published a blog post cautioning against aligning political support solely based on a candidate's stance on crypto. He urged the crypto community to consider broader values and freedoms beyond just cryptocurrency.

What's the scoop?

• Vitalik acknowledged the push for political activism within the crypto space, but warned against favoring politicians just because they are "pro-crypto."
  • “I argue that making decisions in this way carries a high risk of going against the values that brought you into the crypto space in the first place,” he wrote. 
• Vitalik argued that the crypto movement was founded on broader principles of freedom, not just financial liberty, including free and private communications, privacy-friendly digital identity, freedom of thought, and high-quality access to information.
  • “If a politician is in favor of your freedom to trade coins, but they have said nothing about the topics above, then the underlying thought process that causes them to support the freedom to trade coins is very different from mine (and possibly yours),” he wrote.
  • “This in turn implies a high risk that they will likely have different conclusions from you on issues that you will care about in the future.”

Bankless take:

Vitalik's broad point is one that's easy to get behind: look at a candidate's actions not just their words.

Authoritarian regimes and power-seeking politicians often view crypto as a means for control, supporting it only when it serves their interests, like evading sanctions, and opposing it when it threatens their power. As Vitalik pointed out in his post, this reality is evident in countries like modern Russia, where the government uses crypto to bypass international restrictions while cracking down on its citizens' financial freedoms. Who we should prioritize are those who genuinely understand and support the principles of decentralization, privacy, and individual freedom that underpin the crypto movement.