Chapter 3: The Distributed Ledger Technology Revolution: Overcoming Old-World Governance Through Technology
Bitcoin, which was born in 2008, was a revolutionary event in the history of currency that could be called a technological singularity. (Reference: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System) The invention of a "trustless electronic cash system" by Satoshi Nakamoto brought, for the first time, a non-political existence to currency, which had been inseparable from political power for thousands of years. This is not merely a technological innovation, but a fundamental challenge to power structures themselves.
The core innovation of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) lies in its ability to solve the double-spending problem while eliminating centralized credit institutions. Traditional electronic payment systems necessarily required credit institutions (banks, governments, payment companies), and these institutions guaranteed the validity of transactions. However, DLT ensures the certainty of transactions without relying on trust in third parties through cryptographic proof and decentralized consensus mechanisms. This is a technological breakthrough that fundamentally transforms the nature of trust.
Consensus algorithms with Byzantine Fault Tolerance can maintain the integrity of the entire system even if a certain percentage of participants act maliciously. This means that even between politically opposing nations, a common payment system can be operated. The UNIT white paper also explicitly states that it adopts a "variant of a Byzantine Fault Tolerance-based Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol," demonstrating the technological foundation for a payment system that does not rely on political trust.
The revolutionary potential demonstrated by the initial design of the Bitcoin protocol is significantly limited in the current BTC. Due to the fixation of block size limits, BTC has lost its practicality as a payment currency and has strengthened its character as a speculative asset. This is not a technical constraint, but the result of a political choice. Through a centralized development structure, BTC has had its character transformed from its original "electronic cash" to "digital gold."
This transformation is not accidental. For the existing financial system, the existence of a practical, non-political currency poses a systemic threat. By intentionally limiting the scalability of BTC, existing financial institutions have succeeded in incorporating distributed ledger technology into their own control structures. It is now positioned as a speculative product exchanged for fiat currency through centralized exchanges and is subsumed into the existing financial system.
However, the revolutionary potential of DLT technology itself has not been lost. In a properly designed system, the scalability problem is completely solvable. Technical solutions that realize large-scale transaction processing on-chain without the need for layer separation already exist. The problem is not technical limitations, but obstruction by existing power structures.
The design philosophy of UNIT is an attempt to apply this technological potential to an international payment system. The white paper defines the role of the IIO (International Intergovernmental Organization) as a "non-profit auditing body based on the principles of international law" and aims for a system that is "not governed by the financial regulators of any nation." This signifies the construction of a new currency system that transcends the constraints of national sovereignty using DLT technology.
The mathematical certainty of DLT technology eliminates the arbitrariness of political judgment. The automated execution function of smart contracts minimizes the room for human intervention or interpretation, operating mechanically according to pre-programmed rules. This is an attempt to technically implement the rule of law, making arbitrary policy changes by political power technically impossible.
Particularly important is the censorship resistance realized by DLT technology. A decentralized node network makes control by a single power technically difficult. Even if Iran or Russia are subject to SWIFT sanctions, a properly designed DLT system can continue payments. This means the neutralization of the political weapon of financial sanctions, and it has the potential to fundamentally change the balance of power in the current international order.
The reason the UNIT white paper sets a goal of "a level of robustness sufficient to continue functioning even in scenarios of extreme chaos and conflict" is precisely because it places importance on this censorship resistance. Building a system that can continue economic transactions without being influenced by political confrontation or military conflict makes the transition from a war economy to a peace economy technically possible.
Furthermore, DLT technology provides transparency and verifiability. All transaction records are recorded on a distributed ledger and stored in a form that anyone can verify. This is in contrast to the opaque decision-making processes of traditional central bank systems and international financial institutions. In the UNIT system as well, "public broadcasting of the UNIT basket composition and the number of issued UNIT tokens" is mandatory, ensuring complete transparency.
This transparency enables democratic control of monetary policy. In the current central bank system, monetary policy is decided by a small number of experts, and its effects are only known after the fact. In a DLT-based system, all operations are disclosed in real-time, and the effects of policies can be verified immediately. This is the technological realization of financial democracy.
DLT technology also brings efficiency improvements by eliminating intermediaries. In traditional international remittances, multiple banks, payment companies, and regulatory agencies intervene, requiring high fees and long processing times. In a DLT system, these intermediaries are technically eliminated, realizing direct peer-to-peer transactions. The UNIT system also explicitly states that "transaction costs, infrastructure requirements, and the speed of clearing and settlement are equal to or better than bilateral transactions or transactions in global currencies."
By combining these technical characteristics, DLT technology has the potential to overcome old-world governance systems with mathematical inevitability. It technically prevents arbitrary intervention by political power and autonomously operates a transparent and efficient economic system. This is the transcendence of politics by technology, and it is a non-political governance system that has become possible for the first time in human history.