Another look at cryptocurrencies: benefits and limitations of their use for the common good

Abstract

This article challenges dominant narratives that depict cryptocurrencies as speculative, energy-intensive, and destabilizing assets. Drawing on recent empirical studies (Chainalysis, Cambridge CCAF, Galaxy Digital), it reassesses key criticisms – criminal use, lack of utility, excessive energy consumption – and highlights their analytical limitations. Beyond such reductive views, the paper explores how certain cryptocurrencies operate as decentralized monetary tools potentially serving the common good. It focuses on two categories: environmental cryptocurrencies (e.g., Solarcoin, Regen Network), which reward ecological contributions via blockchain-based incentives; and citizen-based basic income systems (e.g., June, Circles UBI, Proof of Humanity, Idena), which reconfigure monetary issuance through verified personhood. These initiatives, though marginal, expose critical challenges in governance, scalability, and legitimacy. The article ultimately argues for recognizing the potential of contributive cryptocurrencies to foster new forms of decentralized coordination, social justice, and ecological transition – laying the groundwork for a monetary paradigm shift anchored in common goods.