$BTC United States President Donald Trump recently announced the U.S. would establish a strategic cryptocurrency reserve of Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple, Solana and Cardano. This move, he said, would make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the world.”

Once a vocal crypto-skeptic, Trump now frames his support as an embrace of technologies that champion freedom and innovation.

However, the problem with Trump’s view is that it assumes crypto will lead to the elimination of financial intermediaries. By replacing trust with transparency, cryptocurrency promises to put individuals in charge of their monetary transactions.

Our research demonstrates that this is only a partial view. In reality, crypto is dependent on social practices behind the technolo