Emergence of the Crypto Commons. Navigating Socio-Technical Affordances and Ideological Tensions on the Blockchain.

This dissertation explores the emergence of crypto commons as a novel approach to collective resource stewardship enabled by Blockchain technology. Crypto commons are decentralized systems that manage shared resources and incentivize external actors to align their financial interests with governing communities. Their recent emergence is explored along three research questions: What are Blockchain’s affordances for crypto commons governance? How do crypto commoners navigate ideological tensions between Blockchain’s libertarian principles and the communal values of the commons? And, what is the political economy of crypto commons and how does it affect their shared governance?Using a qualitative methodology rooted in critical realism, abductive reasoning, and insider research, the study examines two case studies through interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. The first case explores the Token Engineering Commons (TEC), focusing on mechanism design and social norms development in a decentralized digital community. The second examines Regenerative Finance (ReFi) between movement and industry, offering insights into how Blockchain’s affordances for natural systems regeneration are actualized differently in corporate, libertarian, and commons contexts.The findings highlight three key Blockchain affordances critical to crypto commons: trustless accounting, contractual organization, and permissionless mechanization of institutional patterns. Crypto commoners navigate tensions between Blockchain’s libertarian design and communal governance values through ideological compromise, technical adaptation, and social scaffolding. This tension framing the political economy of crypto commons fosters new institutional mechanisms that incentivize market actors to contribute to the commons while resisting the intrusion of market imperatives into governance structures.This research establishes the crypto commons as a distinct object of inquiry, offering practical insights to crypto commoners seeking to bridge the gap between ambitious visions and limited empirical examples. It supports the recognition of Blockchain’s emerging role in sociopolitical struggles and promotes a shift toward a regenerative political economy centered on the commons.