Cryptocurrency and the Affective Experience

The Missing Cryptoqueen is a BBC Sounds production podcast, which tells the story of OneCoin, an alleged cryptocurrency which is under investigation for fraud. One of the co-founders has already been arrested by the FBI and the founder is missing since 2017. However the company has not ceased trading and people globally continue to invest. (Bartlett, 2019)

OneCoin claims more than 3million investors worldwide, however the currency is still not tradeable. I was struck by the way members-investors have responded to the scandal and I wondered what is that “force” that makes them behave in this irrational and affective way.

Apart from the fact that the company used Multi Level Marketing and practices which resemble rituals of a cult, there was something else that made the members to develop a strong sense of denial towards the scandal.

I believe is the affective relationship that we have with money. We are emotionally connected to monetary transactions and financial status – we may feel pride and embarrassment or a sense of power and value. Trust is a foundational value in this relationship.

Blockchain technologies developed as a “decentralized  peer-to-peer transaction network” with no creditors or central management and appealed to a wider audience.The radical ideas of Satoshi Nakamoto, towards non restricted participation, expanded access and a sense of community in banking, formed in a political manifesto and were a response to “political struggles” (Campbell-Verduyn, p.90).

“The emergent technology is confronting power structures in manners that have significant socioeconomic and political implications” (Campbell-Verduyn, p.90).

Cryptocurrency can be considered a “a social movement” or “the currency of the future” (Betz, 2018). The inclusivity, creates this feeling of “we”, the collective – in other words it carries an affective force of a collective experience towards a system change.

The possibilities of “banking the unbanked” create a resonance of hope in countries where the economies and currencies are devalued. Seigworth and Gregg, locate affect in those moments of resonance in “…worldings and diffusions, of feeling/ passions – often including atmospheres of sociality, crowd behaviours, contacions of feeling, matters of belonging…” (p.8 ).

On the other hand, cryptocurrency’s promises: “…no need to prove value, identity, or worth…individuals freely trade with others they cannot see and do not know” (Thomas, 2018). Thus, trust is no longer a principal in this relationship – however Betz argues, “it is not a trustless currency”. It requires trust towards the system, its algorithm and its community (Betz, 2018).

With the new contemporary banking technologies and the cryptocurrency ethos,  the emotional qualities that accompanied the traditional centralised finance system, transform into a collective experience of empowerment, hope, enthusiasm and autonomy.

But perhaps the implications of those socio-technical processes may far be more complicated and intertwined in many ways. Lauren Berlant underlines the caution in regards to these “propitious moments” :  “‘… shifts in affective atmosphere are not equal to changing the world’ …” (Berlant in Seigworth and Gregg, p.12-13). As somehow is manifested in the case of the OneCoin story.

References:

Seigworth, G and Gregg, M. (2010). An Inventory of Shimmers. Introduction to the Affect Theory Reader. Durham: Duke University Press.

Navaro-Yashin, Y. (2003) ‘`Life is dead here’: Sensing the political in `no man’s land’’, Anthropological Theory, 3(1), pp. 107–125.

Massumi, B (2009) ‘The future birth of the affective fact. The Political Ontology of Fear’ Chapter 2 in Gregg, M and Seigworth, G The Affect Theory Reader. Durham: Duke University Press.

Robbins, B. (2002). The Sweatship Sublime. PMLA, 117 (1), pp. 84-97.

Campbell-Verduyn, M., 2017. Bitcoin and Beyond : Cryptocurrencies, Blockchains, and Global Governance, Milton: Routledge.

Online Resources:

Jamie Bartlett, BBC (2019), The Missing Cryptoqueen [Podcast]. 17 September 2019.   Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p07nkd84 (Accessed: 28 December 2019).

OneCoin, Available at:  https://www.onecoin.eu/en/ (site not accessible on the 13/01/20).

Thomas, D.A. (2018), Money and Its Effects. American Anthropologist, 120: 7-10. doi:10.1111/aman.13024. Available at: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aman.13024 (Accessed: 3 January 2020).

Betz, S.  (2018) Encoding Value: What is cryptocurrency, and what does it mean for society? Available at: https://thefamiliarstrange.com/2018/10/04/what-is-cryptocurrency/  (Accessed: 4 January 2020).

Cerald, S. (2018) Can Cryptocurrency Revolutionize the Rituals of Money? Available at: https://www.sapiens.org/technology/cryptocurrency-money-ritual/  (Accessed: 5 January 2020).

How running apps encourage users to keep up running?

Nowadays fitness-themed apps are more and more popular, and running apps are one of the most common categories among them. Running apps offer new ways of monitoring, measuring and representing the human body (Lupton, 2013). They use the built-in GPS and accelerometers to record measures like workout duration, distance travelled, and speed of movement (MapmyFitness, 2012). Some of them can be connected to mobile and wearable digital devices so that they can record body functions and indicators such as body temperature, breathing rate, body weight, blood pressure, heart rate and so on (Millington, 2014). These technologies are increasingly used by non-professional people in health promotion as part of voluntary self-tracking strategies. Some people refer to it as the ‘quantified self’ (Lupton, 2013). Those data make body conditions and the process of running from invisible to visible, which influences users’ running experience.

The webpage of a running app – Joyrun

How those running apps encourage users to keep up running almost every day? Since affect has a force to drive us toward movement, toward thought and extension (Gregg & Seigworth, 2010). The Affect theory reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press., I think they are designed to allow users create different affective experiences which contribute to high commitment to fitness.

The emergence of data on apps becomes an inspiration and makes runners purposeful. APP not only enables runners to have a clearer understanding of their physical condition but also encourages them to finish their tasks. An informant of research which said that “For example, I know I’ve run 800 meters, and another 200 meters I will finish today’s task soon…It makes me feel motivated.” (Jiong, 2019). Some running apps have more methods to motivate users. For example, the built-in reward systems. Points, badges or real money can be collected or paid if the goal is achieved like regular exercise or weight loss goals. You can win a badge if you finish your task. They have different difficulties like keep running for 4 days and keep running for 90 days. One informant said that he enjoyed collecting badges so sometimes he would run further to win the badge (Jiong, 2019). They might even feel guilty when they are unable to finish running as planned.

badges can be collected

Another thing that gives runners a sense of achievement is pictures of running path and that’s what my friend I mentioned at the beginning often posts. This picture gives people a direct shock of how far the runner did. Some people even make some special or meaningful pattern and post them. Praises they received will motivate them to keep running.

interesting running path

Apart from that, competitive experiences encourage users to keep exercising is competition. This is the Steps ranking list on WeChat. It counts your steps a day and updates every day. All your friends on WeChat can take part in the ranking and see it. You may compete with your classmates, colleagues, family members.

Power in those affective experiences encourages users to be engaged in or even obsess about running, consciously or unconsciously, actively or passively, which is what these apps were designed for.

References

Gregg, M. & Seigworth, G.J., (2010). The Affect theory reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Jiong, T., 2019. 从自我监督到他人监督:跑步APP使用者的数据追踪与身体实践 [From Self-surveillance to Surveillance: Running APP Users’ Data Tracking and Body Practice]. Youth Studies, 2019(02), pp,73-81.

Lupton, D., 2013. Quantifying the body: monitoring and measuring health in the age of mHealth technologies. Critical Public Health, 23(4), pp.393–403.

Millington, B., 2014. Smartphone Apps and the Mobile Privatization of Health and Fitness. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 31(5), pp.479–493.

Related sources

MapmyFitness Inc. (2012). Mobile. Retrieved from http://www.mapmyfitness.com/imapmy/

Joyrun. Retrieved from https://www.thejoyrun.com/