Meanwhile, “non-extractive capitalism” gains traction: DAOs like Gitcoin issue bonds that pay yields based on GitHub commits, not token speculation. ZK-proofs verify real-world labor—farmers in Kenya earn tokenized crop credits via Chainlink oracles, tradable globally without banks.

Yet contradictions flare. Can pseudonymous reputation systems replace Ivy League degrees? Will hyper-financialization of attention (via “social tokens”) deepen inequality? As Farcaster integrates Frames for in-feed commerce and EigenLayer lets ETH restakers “bet” on ethical AI outcomes, crypto confronts its ultimate test: Can decentralized incentives build a fairer world—or will they simply digitize age-old power games? The answer may lie not in blocks, but in what we choose to encode.