Cryptopolitics in the Making: The Case of Giveth

Abstract

Ethereum is a multifaceted ecosystem shaped by diverse commitments and aspirations. This dissertation focuses on a relatively understudied micro-culture within Ethereum, known as “public goods” represented by a subcultural group known as “Regens”. Unlike the dominant financial use cases of blockchain, Regens aim to harness blockchain technologies for communal and participatory purposes, often through blockchain operated digital institutions known as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). I focus on Giveth - a well-known public goods DAO within the Ethereum ecosystem. Using an empirical approach grounded in ethnography, I map its culture, governance practices, and labour dynamics. Through this analysis, I examine how blockchain mediated infrastructures can both enable and constrain political life. In particular, I trace how blockchain infrastructures challenge traditional conceptions of democracy through the concept of ‘coordination,’ a central organizing principle that characterizes DAO governance. Examining how Giveth’s governance mechanisms operate in practice, I argue that while Giveth and similar public goods DAOs endeavor to address the problems inherent in existing traditional political systems, they often end up producing the same plutocratic outcomes. Drawing on Marxist theory of labour and value, I also demonstrate that despite Giveth’s noble intentions to reimagine non-profit work through blockchain, the reality is that members continue to sacrifice significant time and resources in pursuit of the project’s mission. This reveals a fundamental contradiction within such initiatives: while projects like Giveth aim to dismantle hegemonic neoliberal structures, they paradoxically reproduce and extend many of the same conditions they seek to overcome by embedding market computational logics and game-theoretic principles at the core of their operational design. Nevertheless, I emphasize on the potential of DAOs to foster alternative world-building practices, serving as spaces for the development of creative political imaginaries that can advance collective organizational efforts and greater participation when designed with intention.