Bitcoin and the Future of Diplomacy: How Blockchain Could Revolutionize International Treaties

Bitcoin is set to revolutionize politics, not replace it. Even in a hyperbitcoinized world, the state will continue to play a crucial role in international relations. However, thanks to Bitcoin, the state will undergo significant transformations, leading to a ‘new state’ that is stripped of extensive monetary power and focused on core functions such as legislating, adjudicating, ensuring security, and providing defense.

In this future landscape, with numerous small sovereign states and intense trade, diplomatic activities will flourish. This is where the Bitcoin network could come into play, offering a secure and transparent platform for ratifying and archiving international treaties.

Diplomacy and Blockchain

In a decentralized world where trust is essential in both economic and political dealings, the Bitcoin blockchain could serve as a trusted platform for storing legally binding relationships between states. By developing a standard for digital signatures from sovereign states and creating a protocol for treaty ratification on the Bitcoin layer 1, states could ensure the security and inviolability of their agreements.

Why specifically the Bitcoin Layer 1?

The Bitcoin native blockchain offers practical advantages such as publicity, traceability, immutability, ordinality, and neutrality, making it an ideal platform for recording international treaties. Additionally, the increase in transaction fees could add value to agreements recorded on the blockchain, promoting greater adherence to the terms.

By exploring the possibility of constructing ‘smart-treaties’ on higher layers of Bitcoin, dependent on events on the main blockchain, diplomatic agreements could become more detailed, interactive, and adaptable to a complex international political system.

Conclusions

Using the Bitcoin blockchain for international treaties could offer numerous advantages, including greater security, transparency, and trust among parties. By revolutionizing how agreements are written, managed, and monitored, blockchain technology could promote collaborative behaviors and reduce the risk of interstate conflicts, ultimately benefiting all members of the future international relations system.