The Internet is supplying those same people with obvious, immediate benefits. They're not being asked to endure hardship for a hypothetical benefit to hypothetical people. So to people who are victims of online fraud I would say, I'm sorry that happened, let's improve the Internet so that it doesn't happen again (eg by writing more secure software). To be clear I'm not a utilitarian per say, I just look at cryptoassets and say, yep, that's causing a bunch of harm, that's not good.
The right to have authority over your financial assets is just not that interesting to me. I'm largely ambivalent about people's right to hold private property (capital), if anything I oppose it. I care more about people's rights to hold personal property, like their home and the other tools they need to survive, but crypto cannot do anything to protect that because you can't put it into the blockchain.
I'm not a big lover of state power, but I have no interest in supporting the wealthy in thwarting state power. My view is that that is how cryptoassets after used in practice; as speculative assets, which is largely a shell game that transfers more wealth to the wealthy, and as a means to evade taxes, capital controls, and law enforcement.
I believe the main place we differ is that you seem to think these are necessary evils and that crypto will change for the better, and I'm pretty sure this is crypto is telling us what it is about and what it is for, and that we should listen & believe it. I think building a better society requires changing social relations by confronting them and discussing them, not by somehow transcending then through technology. Cryptoassets propose to "solve" trust by abstracting away humans and relationships, but that's just the wrong direction; trust is formed by speaking to and connecting directly with each other, not through math. In the same way locks may keep people honest but don't really stop dishonest people who are determined to gain entry.
The right to have authority over your financial assets is just not that interesting to me. I'm largely ambivalent about people's right to hold private property (capital), if anything I oppose it. I care more about people's rights to hold personal property, like their home and the other tools they need to survive, but crypto cannot do anything to protect that because you can't put it into the blockchain.
I'm not a big lover of state power, but I have no interest in supporting the wealthy in thwarting state power. My view is that that is how cryptoassets after used in practice; as speculative assets, which is largely a shell game that transfers more wealth to the wealthy, and as a means to evade taxes, capital controls, and law enforcement.
I believe the main place we differ is that you seem to think these are necessary evils and that crypto will change for the better, and I'm pretty sure this is crypto is telling us what it is about and what it is for, and that we should listen & believe it. I think building a better society requires changing social relations by confronting them and discussing them, not by somehow transcending then through technology. Cryptoassets propose to "solve" trust by abstracting away humans and relationships, but that's just the wrong direction; trust is formed by speaking to and connecting directly with each other, not through math. In the same way locks may keep people honest but don't really stop dishonest people who are determined to gain entry.