From markets to platforms. The rise of Technofeudalism

In an age dominated by data and digital platforms, renowned economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis proposes a bold hypothesis: capitalism is dying. Not because of revolution or collapse, but due to a silent mutation. One that has transformed our economic system from within.

At the heart of his argument is the concept of “command capital”, a new form of capital extracted not through wages and production, but through our behaviors, movements, and clicks. Every time we use Google Maps, shop on Amazon, or scroll through Instagram, we unwittingly contribute value to corporations that neither pay us nor ask our consent. We have become digital serfs, laboring invisibly for the benefit of cloudalists, Varoufakis’ term for platform-owning oligarchs.

From Capitalism to Technofeudalism

To understand this shift, Varoufakis reminds us of what capitalism once was: a system in which private profit and competitive markets governed economic life. Power lay with those who owned capital goods such as factories, tools, infrastructure, and could compel those without capital to sell their labor.

But today, that engine has stalled. Since the 2008 financial crisis, central banks have taken over the role of profit as the key driver of economic activity. Companies like Uber, Tesla, and Airbnb can trade at astronomical valuations while generating minimal profits, propped up by a steady flow of printed money and speculative investment. In other words, profits no longer matter.

Markets, too, are fading. When you visit Amazon's site you are not entering a marketplace. You are entering a centrally controlled digital estate, where an algorithm determines what you see, what you can buy, and at what price. It is not a free exchange; it is an experience curated and controlled, and that control is the source of immense new power.

The rise of a new ruling class

This shift has created a new hierarchy. Traditional capitalists such as the industrialists and financiers of the 20th century, are being relegated to vassals. Above them are the cloudalists, whose control over data, behavior, and access to digital infrastructure grants them a power no capitalist ever had. They do not need to exploit labor through wages. They extract value directly from our participation in platforms, not by paying us, but by surveilling and shaping our choices.

A threat to democracy?

Perhaps most worryingly, Varoufakis argues, this new system is flattening not just labor markets but democracy itself. With economic power concentrated in a few platforms, decision-making is removed from public debate and handed over to algorithms and boardrooms. The once-vaunted free market is replaced by digital fiefdoms, while public institutions are hollowed out.

Unlike capitalism, which at least required labor, this new system does not. The danger is not just exploitation but is irrelevance. Varoufakis does not lament the end of capitalism out of nostalgia. He merely points out that a new system is already here, and we must name it, study it, and learn to confront it. If capitalism was defined by markets and profit, this new age is defined by platforms and central bank liquidity. What will happen next, whether people resist, adapt, or reinvent democracy for this new landscape, will determine whether the future belongs to citizens or to digital lords.