It's all very meta: crowdfunding, cryptocurrencies and financial inclusion

Recently we opened a crowdfunding campaign to support the launch of our social study of Bitcoin use.

The project website for the crowdfunding campaign is: experiment.com/cryptocurrency

For this study we propose to conduct an ethnography of Bitcoin use. We will be studying the diverse social and cultural contexts surrounding the use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. In this study we will also look at the mechanisms for trust, security and privacy that are raised through cryptocurrency use and characterise the role of Bitcoin alongside people’s use of other currency forms, digital and non-digital.

Our recent paper outlines our research directions and provides the context for the ethnographic research proposed and you can find a plain language summary of the research at my blog.

This research is being conducted because there is currently limited understanding of the use of Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies more generally, across diverse socio-cultural contexts. It is timely because alternative payment systems gain more appeal during periods of economic instability and resulting waves of political backlash from disaffected groups.

Should you be interested in staying connected to the research as it evolves you can follow the researcher on the ground, Dr Alexia Maddox, by twitter or receive research updates via her blog.

If you are interested in participating in the study and have used Bitcoin, please contact me directly by email alexia.maddox [at] rmit.edu.au

Thank you for your interest and support of this timely research. Alexia