While I was working on my transfiguration of Joan of Arc, I realized she reminded me of a lady I knew who used to be called by media “the Joan of Arc of blockchain”…
I am speaking of Toni Lane Casserly, crypto pioneer and entrepreneur, a bright star of Bitcoin’s early days (among things, she co-founded Cointelegraph).
Her vision for crypto was deeply humanitarian: she saw it as the greatest opportunity to transform our societies, turning them into communities of self-sovereign individuals, letting go of centralized structures of power that exploit and corrupt all that is good in us.
She gave all she had for her vision, with extraordinary courage and determination. She died in April 2020, aged 29, for reasons that are not clearly specified (it has been reported that she has been “unwell” since the previous August).
I can’t say to have known Toni Lane Casserly well, I actually never met her in person. I have been in touch with her between April 2018 and March 2019 as I got involved (very marginally and sporadically) in her last and possibly more visionary project called cultu.re. While I only had few (but intense) conversations with Toni, she left an everlasting impression on me.
After the initial reactions following her death it appears her memory has vanished from media. No celebrations, not even mentions, even if she has been a prominent figure in the early crypto days who remarkably fitted the archetype of the empowered woman.
While Toni was very generous and kind, as the extremely charismatic woman she was she wasn’t always easy to deal with. That’s perhaps the reason for the silence that fell around her, and that’s why I feel it’s good to do my little part in keeping her memory alive.
Even if I never met her in person, I consider Toni the most extraordinary woman I have ever come across (and I have met quite a few extraordinary ones in my rather adventurous life). Her intelligence, charisma, and spiritual awareness were out of this world. I have never witnessed all of them combined in one person to that degree, and at such a young age.
Her leadership was very feminine, she reminded me more of a matriarch from traditional societies than a tech entrepreneur. Even if she was very modern, emancipated, and eccentric, I felt there was something ancient and sacred in her.
The time in which Toni shined is recent but seems to have happened ages ago. A time when crypto was full of dreamers and visionaries who wanted to change the world.
Today, only a few years later, people like Toni seem to have disappeared from the crypto scene. As big money started to flow, crypto is getting colonized by corporate, media, and governmental power. The centralized oppressive world of greed and fear Toni was fighting against is taking over. You hardly hear of humanitarian projects anymore, at most some charitable initiative that serves some marketing purpose.
I believe Toni would greatly dislike recent developments, which I guess she saw coming. From an opportunity of liberation, crypto risks to become a vehicle of unprecedented control and oppression. Nation States, whose dissolution Toni predicted, are investing big in their own blockchains which are obviously going to be centralized. The exact opposite of the dream of early crypto believers.
In this TedTalk Toni gave in Berlin back in 2017 she shared her vision on how blockchain can transform the world and empower people. We should never forget her words and these two pillars of the crypto revolution: decentralization and self-sovereignty. Our future depends on these pillars. It won’t be an easy nor a short journey, but I believe history will prove her right.
See you again, somewhere, Toni. You may be gone but your spirit can never die. Your values and your hope keep living in me. Had our paths never crossed, I don’t think I would have started my revolution…
It has been a privilege to know you, I regret not having been more helpful. May your figure be remembered and keep inspiring people for generations to come, modern Joan of Arc!
Originally published at https://barabeke.net on September 19, 2021.
