Andreas Antonopoulos talks about the emergence of a ‘zero-sum game’ mentality in crypto

In a recent talk given by Andreas Antonopoulos at a community event in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the author of the Internet of Money discussed how companies in the crypto space can move away from a ‘zero-sum game’ mentality to one that benefits the wider ecosystem and overall creative commons.

Andreas started his talk by stating that “most of the people getting involved in cryptocurrencies today don’t actually need it”. He said that they only use crypto today “because it is something to speculate in”.

However, Andreas said that this is “not the attitude in Argentina, South America, Southeast Asia, or South Africa”. He mentioned multiple examples of governments becoming corrupt, banks stealing pension funds, free speech being censored, and political parties getting imprisoned.

“This is the reason why crypto is so important”, explained Andreas.

The assumption of a ‘zero-sum game’

Andreas described “a zero-sum game” as an environment in which one party wins only if the other party loses.

He claimed that this toxic assumption, which exists in every cycle of business, “is not about making a better world, a better product, a better market, or increasing competition. It is about finding out what the rules are, figuring out how to exploit those rules, and building a fence around your intellectual property, your products, and your market niche.”

Instead, the open blockchain advocate said that modern business, in a nutshell, is much more about “learning how to prevent anyone from competing with you, learning how to capture customers (not acquire), herding them into this fenced area, and finally extracting as much money as you can.”

The absence of free markets

Antonopoulos said that this assumption stems from some important considerations, the most important being an “absence of free markets”.

“In a free market, you don’t play a zero-sum game and you can’t stop competitors from entering. In a free market, if you create something new, others will emerge to build on it, so that everyone can enjoy it and win. In free markets, it is not a zero-sum game.”

Andreas went on to say that the “most celebrated capitalists in the world have never seen a free market in their entire life! They operate in an environment where they come to own the regulators and write the rules. Their primary goal is to cheat enough to ensure that no one can stop them from acquiring the holy grail of business: a monopoly.”

Andreas said that he has seen companies succumb to the zero-sum message when the market turns and things become difficult.

They then think the “only way to win now is by giving up these stupid, naive principles” and they need to “play the game with the big boys, the professionals, the regulators”.

Privacy, anonymity, and censorship-resistance

Andreas made the case that “principles are your most important competitive differentiator” for a project or company in this space.

He said that “if your company or project operates based on principles of privacy, anonymity, and censorship-resistance, the corporate competitors in the banking environment won’t be able to compete with any such projects.”

“They are often legally prohibited from having principles. They are required to kill privacy as much as possible. They are required to do surveillance and violate the principles of the crypto creative commons.”

The Mastering Ethereum author said that “when you give up your principles for a little bit of money, you have now entered the domain of the Facebooks, Googles, and Apples.”

Hope with Bitcoin

Andreas proclaimed that unlike most centralised projects or companies in the ecosystem, “this space was built by people who love what they do, who pour their passion and creativity into their work. Bitcoin and all the cryptos that follow were not built by paid professionals. They were not developed by a committee. They were built by naive, idealistic weirdos with creative tendencies who loved to do this, not because they wanted to make money, but because they wanted to bring hope.

“We are building a beautiful alternative for the world, a creative commons and a festival of innovation. Everything that anyone creates in this entire space enriches other projects.”

Andreas concluded that every time you introduce someone else to this space “it all adds to the ecosystem we share. It is about building something that gives us hope – our creative commons for the future!”