*CFP* "ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES TO ALTERNATIVE CRYPTOCURRENCY FUNCTION AND DEVELOPMENT", THE SOCIAL LIVES OF ALTCOINS

There is an increasing number of studies on cryptocurrencies. Although many studies are substantive and vital as Holub and Johnson (2018:119) suggest most works focus on similar topics and there is a need to widen the scope of research areas (Hileman& Rauchus, 2017). Our book aims to enlarge the scope of the field with our specific emphasis and intends to focus on a topic that is understudied: Particular stories/ histories of alt-coins. The number of cryptocurrencies is rapidly increasing although bitcoin remains to be the most popular one in media and among lay citizens. Miners, traders, blockchain-based project startups, financial journalists, amateur investors, financiers, official discourses and other actors all contribute to an emerging industry of cryptocurrencies. A practical materiality (Maurer et al., 2013) emerges out these sets of actors that make up a particular cryptocurrency (and its community). Moreover, cryptocurrencies do have value propositions and initiate new mediators and social ties despite the initial claims in the emergence of Bitcoin.