Cryptocurrencies, Web 3.0, Artificial Intelligence — towards a New Philosophy of Money?

Abstract

Computers and computing technology underwent unimaginable development in the second half of the last century, but all of this pales in comparison to what happened after the turn of the millennium. The 21st century, so far, showcased an unprecedented rise of new developments, like cryptocurrencies, Web 3.0, and artificial intelligence (AI), which besides turning our everyday life upside down, changed fundamentally the way we think about money and finances in general. Of all these, the most spectacular journey has been taken by AI, which after a humble beginning and a setback, is now practically conquering every facet of our lives. These three fiercely advanced technologies are now forcing us to reconsider ideas we have taken for granted for centuries or even millennia, such as the meaning of value in societies, the way trust operates in economies, or the role played by people in all of these processes. One of the most important tools that has been associated with these issues for a long time, partly expressing them, is money. Until less than two decades ago, the concept of money was traditionally linked to centralized institutions, like governments and banks, or even something more abstract like the gold standard. Money was also supposed to be neutral, a means to facilitate the exchange of goods and services or to serve capitalisation, but nowadays, with blockchains and programmable tokens, we are witnessing a radical shift in the core structure of finances. The effective functioning of a society requires that there be strong bonds of trust between its parts and individuals, and one of the most important of these is trust in money. Once being placed mostly in institutions, trust in money is turning now towards bare computer code, allowing people to enter into transactions directly with each other, without intermediaries. Web 3.0 is promoting the concomitant ideas of tokenization and decentralized control, which are shaking up older assumptions about ownership and identity. In such systems, where people can act pseudonymously, or even anonymously, value is being generated and exchanged in ways that radically differ from prior economic models. The third factor is the fulminant upheaval of AI, which adds another strange layer by fuelling machines that are now participating in economic systems, not just as tools but as creators or manipulators of value. That generates many difficult questions about who is doing the labour, who is responsible when an AI makes a decision, or what does authorship even mean. Thus, we are dealing with something bigger than just simple financial innovation, because these new technologies are reshaping the whole ecosystem in which people coexists with money. The once clear borders between work and automation, between value and information, between the individual and the system, are now getting blurry. It makes you wonder whether value is something inherent or just something conventional, or maybe even something that can be coded into existence. Our paper is a brief attempt to discern some of these paradigmatic shifts and the new kinds of philosophical questions they raise. We do not provide answers, we just try to line out how the scene is changing, and how money—once thought of as a stable, practical matter—is becoming something far more abstract, more fluid, and more tightly linked to the digital structures that increasingly shape how we live. UDC: [336.747.5:004.056.55]:004.89; JEL: B260