dsbatten on Nostr: Here’s what I share with people who say “Bitcoin has not valid use other than ...
Here’s what I share with people who say “Bitcoin has not valid use other than speculative asset”
My first assessment of Bitcoin was "Speculative asset that does nothing useful but uses lots of energy."
Sound familiar?
What I learnt was that it was only my ignorance combined with me inability to imagine the lives of others living outside the West that had me believe this.
The reality is that Bitcoin is in the same pantheon as the smartphone and the Internet itself in terms of its utility. But unlike its predecessors, it helps people in the global South first - the West last.
That's probably why most people (like me) in the West initially fail to see its utility TO THEM, and therefore assume it has no utility TO ANYONE.
Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo estimates there are 100Million+ users of Bitcoin, rising exponentially. Here's a demographic snapshot of who they are and why they use it:
There are 1.2Billion people who are unbanked - 57% of them are women, 90% are people of color.
There are 4Billion people living under autocratic or semi-autocratic regimes, where the financial system can be used against them (eg: state freezing of bank accounts, censoring and surveillance of how you spend money)
There are 8.1M adult women in Afghanistan who are prohibited by law from opening a bank account, starting a business or receiving an income because of their gender
There are >300M people who's economies are experiencing hyperinflation (including Turkey, Lebanon, Argentina, Venezuela)
These are the people who see the utility of Bitcoin first. Not us in the West who take for granted our privilege, human rights, functioning banking system, 99%+ access to banking, and relatively low inflation.
You may be thinking "so what - how does Bitcoin help these people?"
It helps the unbanked, because you don't need a bank. A feature-phone (yes, like the one you had in 1999) plus some basic Bitcoin education is all you need to receive, save and pay. There's a financial revolution happening in Africa right now: the poorest in the world are leapfrogging the banking sector and going directly to Internet-native money (Bitcoin). This is why the continent of Africa is adopting Bitcoin faster than any other continent.
It helps people in autocratic regimes because they cannot be surveilled, censored, de-platformed or frozen by the State. This is why Nigeria is one of the biggest adopters of Bitcoin. It's driven by human rights activism.
It helps women in Afghanistan, because they can (and do) adopt bitcoin Lightening Wallets, which means state discrimination cannot deny them financial equity.
It helps those living with hyperinflation because it allows them to avoid 10 years of life saving being reduced to 1/2 its value inside a year.
That's why of the top 10 nations adopting Bitcoin
1. Top 2 nations are experiencing hyperinflation
2. 7 or the top 8 countries were colonised + have heavy IMF/World Bank loans
3. 8/10 are autocratic or semi-autocratic regimes
4. 7/10 from Africa, Latin America or SE Asia
To more than 1/2 the world, Bitcoin is the most useful technology in a generation.
My first assessment of Bitcoin was "Speculative asset that does nothing useful but uses lots of energy."
Sound familiar?
What I learnt was that it was only my ignorance combined with me inability to imagine the lives of others living outside the West that had me believe this.
The reality is that Bitcoin is in the same pantheon as the smartphone and the Internet itself in terms of its utility. But unlike its predecessors, it helps people in the global South first - the West last.
That's probably why most people (like me) in the West initially fail to see its utility TO THEM, and therefore assume it has no utility TO ANYONE.
Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo estimates there are 100Million+ users of Bitcoin, rising exponentially. Here's a demographic snapshot of who they are and why they use it:
There are 1.2Billion people who are unbanked - 57% of them are women, 90% are people of color.
There are 4Billion people living under autocratic or semi-autocratic regimes, where the financial system can be used against them (eg: state freezing of bank accounts, censoring and surveillance of how you spend money)
There are 8.1M adult women in Afghanistan who are prohibited by law from opening a bank account, starting a business or receiving an income because of their gender
There are >300M people who's economies are experiencing hyperinflation (including Turkey, Lebanon, Argentina, Venezuela)
These are the people who see the utility of Bitcoin first. Not us in the West who take for granted our privilege, human rights, functioning banking system, 99%+ access to banking, and relatively low inflation.
You may be thinking "so what - how does Bitcoin help these people?"
It helps the unbanked, because you don't need a bank. A feature-phone (yes, like the one you had in 1999) plus some basic Bitcoin education is all you need to receive, save and pay. There's a financial revolution happening in Africa right now: the poorest in the world are leapfrogging the banking sector and going directly to Internet-native money (Bitcoin). This is why the continent of Africa is adopting Bitcoin faster than any other continent.
It helps people in autocratic regimes because they cannot be surveilled, censored, de-platformed or frozen by the State. This is why Nigeria is one of the biggest adopters of Bitcoin. It's driven by human rights activism.
It helps women in Afghanistan, because they can (and do) adopt bitcoin Lightening Wallets, which means state discrimination cannot deny them financial equity.
It helps those living with hyperinflation because it allows them to avoid 10 years of life saving being reduced to 1/2 its value inside a year.
That's why of the top 10 nations adopting Bitcoin
1. Top 2 nations are experiencing hyperinflation
2. 7 or the top 8 countries were colonised + have heavy IMF/World Bank loans
3. 8/10 are autocratic or semi-autocratic regimes
4. 7/10 from Africa, Latin America or SE Asia
To more than 1/2 the world, Bitcoin is the most useful technology in a generation.