ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that blockchain is psycho-political in its formations of meaning and conduct ahead of any material exchange for value. 'Nostalgia for an oppositional and reversible symbolic exchange', says Jean-Joseph Goux, 'reactivates the phantasy of a dual relationship in which the partners, face-to-face, are both reciprocally mother and child, without any abstract general equivalent mediating this commerce with its law'. This quote was never intended as a description of blockchain, and yet it reveals a great deal about the politics and psychology that underscores the ecosystem and its stakeholders. The chapter aims to explore these themes. As the 'genesis' coin, Bitcoin kick-started the new paradigm of desire and has rightly elicited comparisons with former gold rushes in that regard. Belief in blockchain extends to the natural ally of promise, including within hype and rhetoric, which help encourage significant investment in blockchain projects that are little more than concepts.
