Algorithmic Sediment and Registrational Speeds: From the Domesday Book to the Genesis Block

This article advances Registration Regime Theory (RRT) by introducing the concept of algorithmic sediment and by theorizing the competition between different speeds of registrational fixation. While earlier RRT scholarship conceptualized institutional depth as the outcome of long-term historical accumulation, contemporary digital infrastructures demonstrate that trust and stability can also emerge through intensive and continuous verification. Systems such as Bitcoin have achieved global resilience within a short temporal horizon, challenging conventional assumptions about institutional continuity.
This article does not revise RRT but extends its temporal dimension. It argues that modern governance is increasingly shaped by the interaction between slow registrational regimes, characterized by identity fixation and high rupture costs, and fast registrational regimes, characterized by asset fixation and high verification intensity. Through a comparative analysis of the Domesday Book and the Bitcoin Genesis Block, the article shows how verification intensity can compress historical time and produce new forms of authority. The framework also introduces the concepts of digital archival death and the thermodynamics of registration, contributing to social theory, Science and Technology Studies, and digital governance debates.