It seems like everyone from corporate giants like Visa and Anheuser-Busch to socialite Paris Hilton and NBA legends Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant have recognized the growing importance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to the economy of the century. XXI.
World-renowned artists, athletes and musicians have harnessed fashion, giving legitimacy to this new use of technology that enables the ownership of a wide range of digital assets. But the true test of this innovation will not be how it helps the wealthy perpetuate their positions of power, but how NFTs can advance human rights and other public goods.
The right to self-determination
Let’s start with the most misunderstood international human right: the right to self-determination. It was the principle underlying the Fourteen Points of the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, at the end of the First World War, which is contained in the Charter of the United Nations of 1945 and incorporated into the International Bill of Human Rights of the Nations. United.
And although self-determination grants all “peoples” the right to “freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development,” its exercise was reserved for national liberation movements to become fully independent states after long periods of time. decolonization battles. No one else had to request it. But now, with non-fungible tokens, the right of self-determination can be exercised more fully, outside the context of statehood.
Voting rights, including access to and confidence in the electoral process, could be facilitated with non-fungible tokens, making them more accessible and strengthening the democratic process. It is not unreasonable to imagine a political world in which civil rights are replaced by membership rights embedded in smart contracts. An NFT holder could vote on proposals in the large community of other NFT holders, and see the changes enacted in real time via smart contracts. Voting on the blockchain could solve a litany of current real-world problems, most notably fraud or access to polling stations.
NFT for governments
There are countless ways in which NFTs can facilitate the pursuit of economic, political and social agendas. In such a system, states would no longer be the sole arbiter of disputes, the arbiter of property rights, or the executor of contracts. Smart contracts on the blockchain can do all of that. We could develop a new system in which individuals or political groups (whose membership is represented by NFTs) vote on the mechanisms to distribute goods and services more effectively instead of besieged, inefficient or traditional bureaucracies. Goodbye to the politics of always.
After all, we don’t all have to vote in unison if we are registered as Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. We can support the right to arms, but also be open to choice when it comes to abortion and vaccinations. An individual could easily show support for a variety of causes simply by being in control of any underlying NFT that matches group membership. With this change, we may have many more ways of defining “me” outside of our nation or even traditional identity politics. We may choose to be part of other communities rather than abide by the jurisdiction and predilections of our pre-assigned cultural, economic, religious, social, or political groups.
Thus, self-determination does not have to revolve around statehood. This is quite a breakthrough when reflecting on the litany of failed secessionist projects after World War II, when renegade provinces tried to continue to exercise the right of self-determination. The disastrous civil wars that attended the dissolution of the former Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia (1990s), Katanga (1962) and Biafra (1967) are examples of this.
In this last example, the leaders of Biafra wanted that territory to be a country of its own, separate from Nigeria. Much of Africa had recently decolonized, so more secessionist movements were seen as a threat to the continent’s political stability. Only a handful of African states recognized the independence of Biafra, a movement that was doomed to fail. It is estimated that between half a million and two million people died of hunger in the civil war during that ill-fated exercise of self-determination: Never has the fight for the defense of human rights gone so badly.
However, Biafra produced its currency. But the supply of money is only one area of the responsibility of the state as sovereign. The public goods that a state must provide can also include public health, citizen security, public services, a clean environment, clean water, and even basic food.
Given that the tulip madness shows no sign of abating, let’s find a way to take advantage of this trend to better develop the mechanisms by which we govern ourselves and distribute public goods. Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Paris Hilton, and multinational companies have enough power and fame already.
This article has been written by James cooper and Peter grazul.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
James cooper is Professor of Law at the California Western School of Law in San Diego. He has advised governments in Asia, Latin America, and North America for more than two and a half decades on legal reform and disruptive technologies.
Peter grazul He is a recent graduate of the California Western School of Law and has passed the February 2021 California State Bar Exam.