Op-Ed: Finding My Tribe Through Crypto-Cosmopolitanism

As a full-time writer, I’ll admit to being a bit of a recluse. But honestly, I’ve not always been this way.

In my younger days, I was an extreme extrovert, always the first to arrive and the last to leave a networking event. Of course, this was before the internet had achieved mass adoption, so all interactions were face-to-face or by phone.

Today while I can count the number of close friends I have on one hand, my global community of acquaintances has seen exponential growth. I attribute this to the expansive nature of my chosen tribe, namely all of the blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiasts I’ve crossed paths over the years worldwide.

Crypto-Cosmopolitanism is a term I made up reflecting the broad and growing diaspora of those engaged in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. This movement in many ways is threaded together by a number of common ideologies tied to sovereignty, privacy, freedom, and liberty. A group of world citizens of sorts.

In general, the word Cosmopolitanism reflects the idea that all of us belong to a single global community. It’s a word derived from Greek cosmos or universe and polis meaning citizen of the world.

I, for one, find it fascinating to view the meteoric growth taking place in the crypto/blockchain world from a social, political, economic, cultural, and ethical context. By way of example, despite the geographic and cultural differences I may encounter with those I interview for various news stories, I’m always pleasantly surprised at our success at being able to navigate through such barriers.

The folks at WavesPlatform, a Moscow-based blockchain solutions for storing, trading, managing and issuing your digital assets, easily and securely are among my favorites to interact with. They are fun and responsive, providing me with the info I need for articles without any hint of a language barrier.

On a macro level, crypto-cosmopolitanism is reflected in a host of projects that continue to be launched in the forever evolving blockchain arena. One that immediately comes to mind is the London-based Humanitarian Blockchain which commenced in February 2016 under the visionary leadership of founder and CEO Julio Alejandro. It is touted as the world’s first e-governance consultancy project that aims to address humanitarian, social, and political issues through the use of blockchain technology.

The broader goal according to Alejandro, who I regularly engage with on social media, is to provide financial, communicational, and organizational independence to refugees and the organizations that help them with decentralized, accessible, and non-jurisdictional blockchain technologies.

Then there is the cosmopolitan effort taking place in Estonia which is the first country to offer e-Residency, a government-issued digital ID available to anyone in the world.

Ultimately what I love most though about crypto-cosmopolitanism is the open, free-market philosophy that it seems to promote. Sure, arguments occur around issues like blockchain scaling, regulatory intent, and whether Bitcoin should be used primarily for peer-to-peer payments or as an investment tool. But at the end of the day, we all ascribe to an ethos that brings us back together in a remarkable way.

Speaking of connectedness, I just received the following invitation via LinkedIn while writing this Op-Ed:

I’m Liina from Paxful. We’re in town (Las Vegas) for Money 20/20 and thought, why not do a bitcoin meetup to network with like-minded people, chat about all things crypto and have a good time.

Ahhh, music to my “Crypto-Cosmopolitanism” ears!