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Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic payment system that operates as an independent currency. This paper is a philosophical investigation of the ontological constitution of Bitcoin. Using Slavoj Žižek's ontological triad of the real, the symbolic and the imaginary, the paper distinguishes between three ideal typical theories of money: commodity theory, fiat theory, and credit theory. The constitution of Bitcoin is analysed by comparing the currency to each of these ideal types. It is argued that Bitcoin is commodity money without gold, fiat money without a state, and credit money without debt. In conclusion it is suggested that Bitcoin poses an ideological challenge to conventional forms of money in so far as it not only provokes sedimented beliefs about money but also exposes the forms of exploitation, risk and even violence inherent in the existing system of state authorised credit money.

correspond to design model (1). But pressure on parity could ultimately force the central bank to phase out cash to allow for CBDC interest rates going negative thus leading to design model (2). Another option is for the central bank to give up taking responsibility for parity between CBDC and bank money (B). This would amount to design model (3) or (4) as bank credit money would no longer have the status of money but be merely a particular form of commercial credit.

The paper is a contribution to current debates about conspiracy theories within philosophy and cultural studies. Wittgenstein’s understanding of language is invoked to analyse the epistemological effects of designating particular questions and explanations as a ‘conspiracy theory’. It is demonstrated how such a designation relegates these questions and explanations beyond the realm of meaningful discourse. In addition, Agamben’s concept of sovereignty is applied to explore the political effects of using the concept of conspiracy theory. The exceptional epistemological status assigned to alleged conspiracy theories within our prevalent paradigms of knowledge and truth is compared to the exceptional legal status assigned to individuals accused of terrorism under the War on Terror. The paper concludes by discussing the relation between conspiracy theory and ‘the paranoid style’ in contemporary politics.

In the Road Runner cartoon, a classic moment is the following scene: at some point in his constant chase after the ever-elusive Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, by accident, runs over a cliff. Wile E. Coyote does not immediately fall down into the canyon below, however, as one would expect, but instead continues running unsuspectingly into thin air. Only when he senses something wrong and looks down to realize that there is no solid ground to support him does gravity start to function and he falls into the abyss below.Being addicted to drugs is to be in a state similar to that of the coyote in the air, having realized the lack of supporting ground. It is a radical way of fulfilling the imperative of enjoyment constantly thrown at us by the contemporary ideology of consumption. The problem of drug addiction is that the extreme enjoyment achieved through use of the drug at the same time also reveals an ambiguity in the ideology of consumption and a fundamental paradox of the capitalist economy of desire. Compared to the ordinary capitalist subject, the addict's problem is not that he has lost the solid ground under his feet. 1 His problem is, rather, the realization that there never was any such solid ground in the first place. While the ordinary capitalist subject stays unaware, hanging in the air, the drug addict's realization sends him falling directly into the abyss.