Bridging the gap: Crypto users’ sense-making of a historical market crisis

Dr. Annika Aebli, a postdoctoral social scientist and digital ethnographer specializing in blockchain and crypto spaces. Dr. Aebli is an affiliate of the Persuasive Tech Lab at the University of Lausanne - UNIL. She is curious about how online communities form in emerging socio-technological systems, online engagement & fan behaviour, the social dynamics in digital worlds, and cognitive approaches to digital culture studies. She is currently working on a large-scale research project - funded by a renowned blockchain network - that investigates identity fusion & social bonding in decentralised, pseudonymous blockchain spaces.
 

The conflict between cryptocurrencies’ ideological promises and their practical reality has recently become a considerable topic of scholarly discussion. It has been framed in terms of the so-called ‘promissory gap’ of cryptocurrencies – a gap that is founded in the contrast between the promises of a ‘trust-free’ system and actual reality. Yet, while crypto’s notion of ‘trust-free’ money has been heavily questioned, there is little research on how users seek to overcome cryptocurrencies’ promissory gap. Contrary to the promises of being ‘trust-free’ by design, this paper demonstrates that struggles for trust and control represent a focal point of the community interactions surrounding crypto. By drawing upon Dervin’s sensemaking methodology to conduct interviews with crypto investors, this study examines how social actors attempt to construct ‘bridges’ over a ‘gap-filled’ reality related to the moment of a historical crisis in crypto. The results reveal crypto’s intricate social embeddedness: whilst unequal power dynamics, distrust, and conflicting interests represent primary elements of users’ struggles in the crypto space, users attempt to restore a sense of control by recalling personal motivations and connecting with like-minded people. The paper provides insights into crypto users’ strategies to construct meaning in a highly uncertain environment and contributes to the discussion of crypto as a socially structured phenomenon.