Deciphering digital dreams: a critical study of blockchain and green finance

This dissertation explores the role of blockchain technology in the landscape of contemporary capitalism, with a particular focus on KlimaDAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that wanted to scale carbon markets. The initial enthusiasm surrounding this initiative followed a series of accusations and scandals that, however, didn’t shut down the project. The study is situated at the intersection of economic anthropology and technology, offering a critical examination of how digital innovations like blockchain intersect with financial practices and society. This research investigates the symbolic and practical implications of technologies and carbon markets, challenging orthodox notions of finance and environmentalism, providing an anthropological lens on the complexities and paradoxes generated by the convergence of technology, finance, and environmental initiatives. Furthermore, currents gaps in socio-anthropological literature surrounding carbon markets and blockchain are identified and addressed. The methodology integrates a multidisciplinary approach, combining qualitative research methods such as participant observation and interviews with stakeholders, complemented by a comprehensive review of relevant literature spanning economic anthropology, technology studies, and environmental finance. The research presents a nuanced yet critical understanding of the motivations and aspirations of cryptocurrencies’ enthusiasts and experts. What emerges is how these actors embody and repeat many orthodox standpoints and ideas, even if they are seen and see themselves as the carriers of new socio- economic forms, thus helping the reproduction of current capitalism as we know it. From this point of view, carbon markets and cryptocurrencies resemble each other: they are both praised and adopted by a growing quantity of economic players despite their numerous drawbacks. My findings suggest that behind their success don’t lay mere monetary reasons, crypto are not only “get-rich-quick” schemes nor green finance is just greenwashing, but there’s a more profound connection with the symbolical, mythological and epistemological orders governing everyday life of capitalism.