# Geopolitics unchained: exploring web3’s global impact - Andreea Cia

- Channel: [ETH Belgrade Community](https://streameth.org/eth-belgrade-community)
- Date: 2024-10-07
- Duration: 15:57
- Topics: People & Blogs
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-5FzvHBRihQI
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FzvHBRihQI

## Description

Geopolitics unchained: exploring web3’s global impact - Andreea Cia

## Transcript

thank you so much Diana hello everyone uh my topic my topic for today is the impact of web Tre in geopolitics uh before we dive in uh I figured I should since this is my first ever keynote I figured I should give some information about uh who I am uh also I had quite a random background so uh so yeah I'm I'm the co-founder of it Bucharest we had our first edition this year uh I'm also like a what I call a fake devil because everybody is assuming I'm a devil but I'm not I know enough to organize events and connect people but not enough to be useful in Tech settings um yeah so uh if you know me you probably seen me as at basically volunteering at all the possible e events if not uh this is me uh I have a masters in geopolitics I know everybody these days is an expert in geopolitics but I actually have a diploma in a field that everybody's an expert in yeah uh I did some work on the dark side um I used to be a corporate drone and I also worked for the government so I figured I might have some useful insights uh from that side so um before we dive in about geopolitics this has been a term that has been highly used in media uh we've all heard it so far and there are some common misconceptions for example that it's only about war and conflicts or U just uh the thing about geopolitics is that actually it's more comprehensive than that uh it involves so it's a multifaced field that integrates uh insights from political science geography economics history uh sociology uh and uh it helps us understand the power dynamics and it also has a big focus on power which is I guess one of the most interesting words for uh most people uh Power there are different types of power a hard soft and smart power hard power is usually the one that involves using force and strength um the soft one is basically uh the one that um uses uh diplomacy or like cultural exchanges to um gain influence in certain parts uh smart power is a combination of the two so basically it has both uh charm and strength uh kind of like the toxic X you always go back to um so his ially there have been different types of um Power and different attributes or assets of great Powers uh back in the day power used to be about military uh Power or like economic strength um or for example you could be a great power if you are a member of the UN Security Council uh closer to our days we've been we've heard about cosmic power or power through uh having access to nuclear uh weapons um the last centuries have given us a new dimension of power which is um the Cyber power the cyber space which of course has become very interesting for all the actors involved in the geopolitical landscape um and of course um since the Cyber u space became a thing uh and we're at the webpr conference uh we we're going to talk about the impact of web pre um in geopolitics wepr uh is promising uh it's kind of like talking about the promised land um about Financial Freedom because of course we're not going to be dependent on the traditional um institutions um it also promises us better cyber security control over data so we're uh witnessing a shift downwards which uh in my opinion uh is a new thing because we've never actually seen this happen like U the idea of getting the power back to the people uh just a small disclaimer here this is an going research so basically I'm going to present today just like some preliminary findings um also uh web PR uh is prom is promising us decentralization of power uh which would mean that we will have uh a need for new models of governance but uh and of course there's good parts about we pre because everything being being open source and transparent I mean not everything but we're getting there I hope um Innovation through shared technological advancement but of course any sword has um two blades there's also um ways in which uh web tree can have not the best impact uh in geopolitics um which can be for example as uh we might know um fundraising for malicious reasons for uh terrorist organizations uh let's say or uh sanction sanctions evasion um how would that happened is that basically we maybe all know about the example of uh the US uh imposing sanctions on U Iran uh and basically way in which they could afford is they could um not afford sorry they could avoid this would be uh let's say to have mining activities uh to gain um assets or uh to use cryptocurrency which kind of provides you at least a really fair amount of anonymity uh and it's it can be hard to trace um yeah and apart from that um I have some examples here some good examples of course we all know uh about um the usage of web Tree in fundraising for the um conflict in Ukraine which has been a very good I mean a positive way of using web tree even though I mean it is about a conflict in the end uh but it's a positive um example of how web tree can help with connectivity and can speed up things we all know Swift is uh slow and really expensive so like yeah we've seen this example and also Ukraine da and all those communities that have uh come back to uh come come together to help with a conflict but then also of course uh whenever uh a powerful tool comes into place uh there are other people who become interested for example we Tre can be used as a political tool uh you might have heard of uh people saying uhu or Trump saying a vote for me is a vote for for crypto and he's also been using um cryptocurrency for uh fundraising for his um campaign uh then of course the alliances uh in the geopolitical landscape like bricks have become interested in in this and of course like maybe you guys know that bricks is U an alliance with Brazil Russia India China and South Africa uh and there are some really interesting actors in there involved that are looking to have their own digital currency which would allow them to have exchanges um with each other um with the possibility of avoiding certain things uh then of course examples like uh North Korea uh being of course interested in crypto uh and it's hackers stealing crypto uh and yeah uh this example of using crypto to fundraise terrorist activities which actually is I guess one of the main um things that people that are against crypto would say uh but honestly in reality uh the number of people the number of money that that is used in in this um case is pretty low uh compared to the the bigger image so we're definitely noticing a lot of um potential for disruption in the traditional geopolitics uh there will be shifts in the power dynamics of course because we've seen a unipolar world and then a multipolar world but now there's the possibility of actors such as emerging countries to get power through crypto um because if for example they don't have traditional types of power like resources uh like natural resources or like U let's say military strength they could easily um get a place in the in the bigger picture um through using uh web Technologies um then of course we have the new communities that are formed the daos and other communities uh or like Network States uh that would require new governance models so there's definitely um a big um need for new governance models and for improving um the current situation in which um I guess most of us don't feel like um our our views are respected and of course there's like also the fact that um web pre is promoting um the absence of censorship which of course uh will promote freedom of speech which is a very good tool for promoting democracy in the end so yeah we're noticing uh this new great asset of power which I believe um seems to be very unique and uh very important because um it seems like it's the first time that we have the the actual power to do something and to make a difference and I do believe that web Tre is the most disruptive uh Power of the century and if I I think it's basically like united we stand divided we fall because if we all come together for for the values that we appreciate and the values that have b us into this space and not for U superficial things um we could potentially make it and uh we should protect the devs at all costs and people that are actually building and that are in in this for the right reasons um and maybe we could change how things are happening at the moment and we can actually uh reach a moment in which uh the values of web tree are actually achieved not just a nice thing to dream about uh because at the moment it does seem like it does sound healthy uh and appealing but but it's not really what's happening in reality and just like on a personal note um I will leave you with this and remember kids the next time that somebody tells you the government wouldn't do that oh yes they would and I would know thank you do we have any questions for Andrea we do thank you so as someone who studied politics and international relations in college this is a very interesting topic so I'm wondering for example when you look at the geopolitical landscape centuries ago it was always a situation of one country on top right so it was like a hegemony and then after the Cold War things obviously shifted it was the US versus Russia do you think that there's going to be a race for p power when it comes to web 3 so for example do you think that one country rather than another will try to seize power we're seeing that um countries in the Middle East are definitely trying to kind of get ahead we're seeing some Saudi Arabia uh Qatar a lot of web three Innovation going on there do you think that there's going to be one country that's going to really push for this power to be the hedgemon thanks to web 3 thank you um so we've definitely definitely seen some countries um already being ahead um in web3 but honestly I believe that if we were to follow the web3 narrative this shouldn't really happen um so the thing is traditional borders no longer exist in the digital world and I believe that's a very good thing so if we um follow those values and we stick to them um I'm really hoping for a world in which power would not be um in the hands of few but rather in the hands of I'm hoping for a state people parody at least let's say that was a great answer I know that was a tough question do we have any questions from the crowd let me take a look and see yes there's a question right back there can we please run a microphone do the gentleman right there don't make me ask you if democracy is realistic please don't make me ask you that we don't have to go there I mean we could the question is kind of multi-layer thank you for your presentation um it's a lot of big topic sort of big Vision things but I'm curious to get maybe a little bit more local and specific can you tell us a little bit more about the situation in Bucharest and Romania uh that led you to sort of creating eth Bucharest was this sort of sort of to sort of make an intervention into the geopolitical situation and just in general what's the landscape like like uh for Builders for for Deens whatever it might be what's what's going on in Romania what's the what's the vibe like sure thank you um the situation currently in Romania is that um we are one of the Eastern European it hubs and we have uh I think 200,000 um developers at the moment um so things do look good in terms of like let's say technological advancement um but what I noticed um is that those people uh need to have like we need to find them and bring them into the real world because uh right now I feel like there's a bit of a gap between let's say uh the normies or people that are interested in certain parts of web tree and the ones that are quite Advanced um I think uh the answer for this would be building strong communities um right now I I think we're still at the level in which the focus in Romania is on trading nfds um and mem coins but I did um so the motivation behind having it Bucharest was actually that I've been to a lot of different events and I met a lot of Romanians in really um really good projects in web pre um so um I think in in Romania it's still um the regulation part is still a bit unclear so definitely there needs to be work done on that part um but yeah I think um if for someone looking to uh relocate for example like uh for digital nomadic experience it's totally a good idea because we have the best internet in the world uh but yeah like I I do feel like the main goal of having it Bucharest is to bring developers I mean of course we want to educate the population the general public but the again we need to protect the developers at all costs and this comes from me as a non-technical person and I I I truly believe that uh they are the true driving force uh in webtree I don't know if I answered do we have any more questions for Andrea anything take a look no questions for Andrea Al righty and with that please give a big round of applause for Andrea CIA co-founder of e Bucharest great