The following is a guest post and opinion from Adrian Brink, Co-Founder of Anoma.
In short, sovereignty is the practical ability for individuals and communities to control their own infrastructure, assets, and data on their own terms, without being forced to trust or rely on a distant global network, corporate-owned data centers, or a set of validators that can be captured, censored, or become unavailable.
This idea is the bedrock of the vision of the crypto industry, but one that we have not achieved—at least not yet.
Modern consensus mechanisms depend on monolithic, globally synchronized networks of nodes working in sync across continents. Users, institutions, and governments have no ability to customize trust assumptions based on specific needs, compliance requirements, or risk models.
It’s akin to a single global trust fabric for crypto, with no room for sovereignty.
Without the ability to control what data we share, with whom, and for what purposes, crypto will never be truly sovereign.
Not only does today’s infrastructure limit our agency, it makes us vulnerable to disruptions in global connectivity. Blockchain security assumptions today are dependent on a globally connected, peacetime internet. In a world of relative geopolitical stability and free access to the internet, this design functions remarkably well. But what happens when global connectivity fractures under pressure? Are we truly sovereign if we depend on a single global network to use crypto in our own local communities?
These are just a few examples of how our claim to sovereignty and our ability to freely transact and preserve value without interference or trusted third parties can evaporate in an instant.
While it’s a grim thought, it is one that should be both considered and prepared for if we expect networks to survive periods of global tension. This is the brittle illusion that the market cap conceals. Price alone cannot defend against systemic infrastructure failure. A high valuation is no shield against third-party threats when the network itself is physically and politically vulnerable.
The good news is that we now have the technology to mitigate our reliance on global connectivity and bring true sovereignty and resilience to users.
How do we do it? It requires innovation beyond hard-money principles tethered to rigid global consensus mechanisms. Real sovereignty means having infrastructure that can operate as locally as required when the global network is severed, and as globally as possible when conditions improve.
It means choosing our preferred trust models and how we share our data.
Building sovereign financial infrastructure on rigid, inflexible, one-size-fits-all global consensus systems won’t cut it. We need anti-fragile, freeform systems that can adapt dynamically to changing conditions, requirements, and geographic contexts, keeping in sync with the global network even when connectivity is disrupted. We need more intelligent networks with the flexibility to take on many shapes and evolve with their users.
Each domain is then capable of operating independently or as part of a larger network as nodes connect across domains for collaboration. Zero-knowledge membership proofs let nodes prove valid membership across overlapping trust domains privately and securely, enabling dynamic, secure interoperation that preserves both local autonomy and global coordination.
Data protection and settlement parameters then become configurable by users, enabling sovereignty not as an abstract ideal but as a concrete technical feature.
The brilliance of Bitcoin’s innovation as a globally shared ledger cannot and should not be denied. It catalyzed this entire industry and propelled the vision of decentralized money into reality. However, crypto’s reliance on connection to a monolithic global network remains a nagging blind spot in a world of dynamic conditions, fluid social systems, and changing needs.
It’s one of the last remaining challenges to overcome in our quest for sovereignty.
To fully realize this vision, we must continue to move forward with ambitious new approaches to blockchain infrastructure. We now have a massive opportunity to rethink our fundamental assumptions about what sovereignty is, explore locally autonomous systems, and embrace novel architectures that can meet these goals. The challenge is monumental, but the stakes are nothing less than the future of digital sovereignty and financial freedom.
