Bribery is a relic of a bygone era—a Bronze Age mindset, if you will. It’s a tool of self-preservation for those clinging to ill-gotten gains, a desperate attempt to maintain power and control within a system on the verge of collapse. But as history teaches us, no amount of bribery can stop a system from falling apart when larger forces are at play. The collapse of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BCE, is a perfect example.

Bronze Age civilizations were complex, interconnected societies reliant on fragile trade routes, bureaucratic systems, and resource monopolies. When climate change, internal strife, invasions, and economic disruptions struck, these civilizations crumbled. What’s fascinating is that the people of the Bronze Age didn’t foresee the collapse—or the subsequent rise of the Iron Age. They weren’t prepared for the shift. No records show them transitioning smoothly into a new era; they simply vanished, replaced by societies that discovered new ways of working with iron.

The transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age brought significant structural improvements in materials, tools, and societal organization. While bronze and iron are both metals, the shift to iron offered new possibilities in use and functionality that profoundly shaped civilizations. Here’s a breakdown of these improvements:

Material Accessibility

1. Wider Availability of Iron Ore

• Bronze Age: Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and both metals were scarce. Civilizations depended on complex trade networks to secure these materials, making them vulnerable to disruptions.

• Iron Age: Iron ore is far more abundant and widely distributed across the world. This meant societies no longer needed to rely as heavily on long-distance trade, creating more localized and self-sufficient economies.

2. Lower Cost of Iron

• Bronze was expensive and labor-intensive to produce, so it was often reserved for elites.

• Iron, while initially harder to work with due to higher smelting temperatures, became cheaper and more widely available, democratizing access to tools and weapons.

Technological Functionality

1. Strength and Durability

• Bronze: Softer and more prone to wear and tear, particularly in tools and weapons that required repeated heavy use.

• Iron: While raw iron was initially brittle, advancements like carburization (adding carbon to create steel) made iron tools and weapons stronger, sharper, and more durable. This greatly improved their functionality.

2. Edge Retention in Weapons

• Bronze blades dulled quickly and required frequent maintenance.

• Iron and steel blades held their edges longer, making them far more effective in warfare and agriculture.

3. Versatility

• Iron tools were more versatile and could be adapted to a wider range of uses, including farming, construction, and everyday life. For example:

• Iron plows revolutionized agriculture by allowing farmers to till harder soils.

• Iron nails and fittings improved construction techniques, enabling stronger and more complex buildings.

Societal Impacts and Structural Changes

1. Agricultural Productivity

• The introduction of iron tools, such as plows and sickles, made farming more efficient. This increased agricultural yields, supported larger populations, and enabled the rise of more complex societies.

2. Military Advancements

• Iron weapons and armor gave militaries a significant edge. The cheaper production and increased durability of iron meant larger armies could be equipped, fundamentally altering the scale and nature of warfare.

• Societies that mastered iron production often gained military dominance, leading to the rise of new empires and kingdoms.

3. Economic Decentralization

• The wide availability of iron ore reduced reliance on elite-controlled trade networks for bronze. This shift contributed to a decentralization of power, as more local communities could access the materials they needed to thrive.

4. Expansion of Infrastructure

• Iron tools allowed for more ambitious construction projects, including roads, aqueducts, and fortifications. These advancements facilitated trade, communication, and the consolidation of political power.

5. Spread of Knowledge

• The widespread use of iron also coincided with the diffusion of new technologies, such as improved smelting techniques and methods for crafting steel. These innovations spread more rapidly than in the Bronze Age, partly due to iron’s availability.

Philosophical and Cultural Shifts

1. Democratization of Technology

• With bronze, tools and weapons were often monopolized by the elite due to their cost. Iron democratized access, enabling broader participation in farming, craftsmanship, and warfare. This shift had cultural implications, fostering a sense of empowerment among lower classes.

2. Urbanization and Growth

• The improved agricultural productivity and military strength enabled by iron supported the growth of larger cities and more complex political systems. This laid the groundwork for classical civilizations like Greece and Rome.

In Summary

The shift from bronze to iron wasn’t just about replacing one metal with another—it was about a transformation in accessibility, functionality, and societal structure. Iron tools and weapons were stronger, cheaper, and more versatile, enabling advancements in agriculture, warfare, and construction. These changes democratized technology, decentralized economies, and allowed for the growth of larger, more complex civilizations. In essence, the Iron Age didn’t just smelt a new material; it forged a new way of living.

The lesson here is clear: bribery and corruption, tools of the old system, cannot prevent collapse, nor can they usher in a new system. When new ages emerge, they are not born out of the practices that upheld the old. Instead, they arise from ruptures—fundamental changes in how societies operate, think, and create.

Which brings us to the modern day, and to crypto.

Cryptocurrency is, in many ways, a new way of smelting. It represents a technological innovation with the potential to reshape how we create and exchange value, much like iron smelting did for ancient societies. Yet, despite its promise, crypto has not yet ushered in a powerful new age like the Iron Age. Why? Because it hasn’t created the vehicle—the societal, structural, and practical systems necessary to drive this transformation forward.

Instead, most cryptocurrencies are using new tools to replicate old systems. They smelt “ironed stuff” that looks like Bronze Age artifacts—modern technologies that mimic the power dynamics, inequalities, and speculative behaviors of traditional finance. Decentralization often gives way to centralized exchanges. The promise of democratized wealth becomes a game for insiders and speculators. The tools are new, but the structures they create feel old.

For crypto to truly forge a new age, it must break away from these Bronze Age relics. It must transcend mere speculation and wealth concentration, creating practical, scalable applications that empower individuals and communities. Only then can it move beyond being a shiny replica of outdated systems and become the foundation for something genuinely transformative.

To explore how crypto could transcend its current limitations and evolve into something transformative, akin to iron in the Iron Age, we must analyze its potential to overcome two fundamental obstacles:

1. The casino-like speculation and libertarian ideals that dominate its current state.

2. How crypto could fulfill its promise of being a foundational material—something that reshapes systems in a way analogous to iron’s role in history.

Here’s an elaborate breakdown:

1. Bypassing the Casino Economics of Anarcho-Capitalists and Libertarians

In its current state, crypto often feels like a Bronze Age artifact masquerading as innovation. The anarcho-capitalist (ANCAP) and libertarian ethos dominating the crypto space has resulted in a speculative economy—a casino where wealth is hoarded by early adopters, manipulated by whales, and inaccessible to most of society. To transcend this, crypto must move beyond trading for profit and focus on creating systems of real-world utility and inclusion.

How Does It Bypass This?

• Shift from Speculation to Utility

• Crypto must prioritize practical applications over speculation. Decentralized finance (DeFi), for example, shows promise, but it needs to move beyond complex yield farming schemes and become a tool for genuine financial empowerment—such as offering credit, banking, and savings to the unbanked and underbanked in a transparent way.

• This involves creating platforms where people use crypto not to trade or gamble but to solve real-world problems, like remittances, property rights, or decentralized voting systems.

• Rethink Governance Models

• Many cryptos rely on governance systems skewed toward the wealthiest holders (e.g., proof-of-stake systems or governance tokens). To bypass this, we need systems where decision-making power is distributed based on contributions to the network rather than wealth. Concepts like quadratic voting or proof-of-contribution could shift the balance toward fairness.

• Integration with Existing Systems

• Crypto doesn’t have to replace fiat systems entirely to be revolutionary—it can enhance them. For example, creating decentralized identity systems tied to crypto wallets could enable people in the Global South to access international financial markets, bypassing corrupt local systems.

Why is This Important?

The libertarian, ANCAP-dominated vision of crypto assumes that reducing all interactions to individual freedom and market mechanics is enough to create a better world. But this vision has failed to address systemic inequalities or provide the infrastructure for large-scale adoption. If crypto remains trapped in this speculative and ideological framework, it will never become more than an echo of the Bronze Age, where value is hoarded rather than widely distributed.

2. Crypto as Iron: Foundational Material in a “Bronze Age” Universe

In the Bronze Age, bronze was a status symbol. It was costly, limited by trade, and controlled by elites. The rise of iron was transformative because it was abundant, versatile, and democratized access to tools and weapons. Iron didn’t just replicate the uses of bronze—it created entirely new possibilities for farming, construction, and warfare that reshaped societies.

For crypto to become the “iron” of the digital age, it must transcend its current state of being a niche technology and evolve into a foundational material that empowers society in ways traditional systems cannot.

What Would This Look Like?

• Abundance and Accessibility

• Crypto must become cheap and easy to use for everyday people, much like iron tools became accessible to farmers and craftsmen. This includes reducing energy consumption (moving away from proof-of-work systems like Bitcoin’s) and creating seamless, user-friendly interfaces for crypto adoption.

• Imagine a world where sending money, managing contracts, or securing personal data is as simple and universal as using a smartphone—but without intermediaries like banks or governments.

• Infrastructure, Not Just Currency

• Iron didn’t just make better swords—it enabled infrastructure like stronger plows, more durable buildings, and tools for engineering feats. Similarly, crypto must move beyond being “digital gold” or a speculative asset to become the backbone for decentralized systems:

• Decentralized supply chains that ensure ethical sourcing and transparency.

• Decentralized healthcare records that protect privacy and improve efficiency.

• Smart cities powered by decentralized grids and IoT devices tied to crypto networks.

• Trustless Systems

• The biggest promise of crypto is its ability to create trustless systems—systems where individuals don’t need to rely on intermediaries to verify transactions or agreements. For example:

• A farmer in a remote region could sell goods directly to an international buyer using a smart contract, bypassing corrupt middlemen and unstable local currencies.

• Election systems could use blockchain to create tamper-proof voting records, restoring trust in democratic processes.

Iron’s Key Lesson: Integration Across Domains

Iron wasn’t limited to one use—it transformed agriculture, warfare, and urbanization. Similarly, crypto must integrate across multiple domains:

• Finance (e.g., DeFi).

• Governance (e.g., decentralized voting).

• Identity (e.g., self-sovereign identities).

• Energy (e.g., decentralized energy grids).

Crypto must go beyond being an innovation in finance to becoming the scaffolding for a decentralized, interconnected digital world.

Challenges Crypto Must Overcome to Be Iron, Not Bronze

1. Scalability

• Current blockchains like Ethereum face limitations in transaction speed and cost. For crypto to be foundational, it must scale without sacrificing security or decentralization.

2. Energy Efficiency

• Iron was revolutionary because it was cheaper than bronze. Crypto must become environmentally sustainable to avoid becoming a luxury good, inaccessible to most people.

3. Global Collaboration

• The Iron Age didn’t emerge from one civilization but spread across the world, with different cultures innovating in unique ways. Crypto’s promise lies in its ability to transcend borders, but this requires global cooperation rather than the current fractured ecosystem of competing chains and ideologies.

Crypto, like iron, has the potential to be a transformative material—but only if it can break free from the speculative, casino-like dynamics of its current Bronze Age. To do so, it must move beyond being a tool for profit or a libertarian experiment and focus on becoming a foundational infrastructure that democratizes access, enhances trust, and powers systems that are inclusive and resilient.

If crypto can create the “vehicle”—the practical systems and societal adoption needed to reshape how value, power, and trust are distributed—it might just smelt the iron of a new digital age. But until then, it risks remaining a flashy artifact of the old world, unable to forge a path forward. The question remains: will crypto evolve into iron, or remain stuck in bronze?

The Iron Age wasn’t just about the material—it was about the tools, weapons, and systems that iron made possible. Likewise, for crypto to succeed, it needs to smelt not just coins, but entirely new vehicles for societal progress. Until then, it risks remaining a technological marvel without a meaningful revolution.

True transformation requires a rupture with the past, not its replication. Just as the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age, today’s systems—whether financial, political, or social—need more than new technology. They need new ways of thinking, new processes, and new vehicles to carry us into a better future. The question is, will crypto rise to the occasion, or remain stuck, forging iron that still looks like bronze?