Things can look a bit different from Central America. Writing it down will help you and me understand us better. #HN
Things can look a bit different from Central America. Writing it down will help you and me understand us better. #HN
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ACCESS TO DIGITAL ASSETS
Cryptocurrencies brought many things to the developing world. However, I’d like to focus on a few.
A. Retirement Saving
Whereas people had to rely on traditional instruments to save such as Certificates of Deposits offering a low yield, one can now save in Bitcoin or Ethereum.
This is a big deal! Why? Previously people did not have easy access to an asset such as bitcoin. While many individuals in Latam can purchase stock, the process to sign up for a brokerage account can be complicated, cumbersome, and is mostly reserved for middle-upper economic class of a a LATAM country, specifically in Central America.
Now with Bitcoin, anyone who has Whatsapp on their phone can have access to bitcoin. However, some people do lack access to a phone with Whatsapp capabilities specially in the poorer regions of the Central American countries. The number of phone holders is quickly growing and places like Africa are pioneering wallets in cellphones that aren’t smartphones, (see here)
Back to Bitcoin, for the average person who works as a delivery driver, security guard, watchmen, plumber, electrician, etc, the majority of these can now hold one of the scarcest asset on earth. Bitcoin at the time of writing hovers around 28,706 USD per coin has had a 3,189,555,455.5556% (over 3 billion percent) increase since the transaction a Finnish computer science student sold bitcoins for 0.0009 each.(https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-price-history/)
Nonetheless, back then obtaining bitcoin was not as easy as it is now. It might’ve been less cumbersome than opening a brokerage account, but it did require some technical know-how. Nowadays we have easy to use wallets such as Muun Wallet https://muun.com/
B. Free and Open Access
Now, however, Bitcoin has become popular and not only does it present itself as an asset in which to save but also as uncensorable money that can be transferred almost at the speed light with its implementation of layer 2 technology known as lightning. All of these are new opportunities that prior to bitcoin did not quite exist and we were all subject to fiat and its centralized banking decision making. This means Central Banks from around the world decided the economic and monetary policy for the paper currency that circulated within its borders. With Bitcoin this power is taken, and it is non-violently decentralized and now anyone can participate in the open economic network of bitcoin.
Anyone can access this network. The need to ask for permission is no longer needed as the network is open source and what will determine it’s progress is how much a good use can one propose
C. Uncensorable money.
Bitcoin cannot be censored. That is members in a country can transact freely with money despite their political beliefs or alignment. One party cannot prevent the other of sending bitcoin to another. This transference of value is governed by the bitcoin code and rules that inherently make it an open and accessible network.
There’s a lot more that can be said but we’ll leave this blog entry here for this moment.
See you on the next one!
Juan Mayén
ACCESS TO DIGITAL ASSETS
Cryptocurrencies brought many things to the developing world. However, I’d like to focus on a few.
A. Retirement Saving
Whereas people had to rely on traditional instruments to save such as Certificates of Deposits offering a low yield, one can now save in Bitcoin or Ethereum.
This is a big deal! Why? Previously people did not have easy access to an asset such as bitcoin. While many individuals in Latam can purchase stock, the process to sign up for a brokerage account can be complicated, cumbersome, and is mostly reserved for middle-upper economic class of a a LATAM country, specifically in Central America.
Now with Bitcoin, anyone who has Whatsapp on their phone can have access to bitcoin. However, some people do lack access to a phone with Whatsapp capabilities specially in the poorer regions of the Central American countries. The number of phone holders is quickly growing and places like Africa are pioneering wallets in cellphones that aren’t smartphones, (see here)
Back to Bitcoin, for the average person who works as a delivery driver, security guard, watchmen, plumber, electrician, etc, the majority of these can now hold one of the scarcest asset on earth. Bitcoin at the time of writing hovers around 28,706 USD per coin has had a 3,189,555,455.5556% (over 3 billion percent) increase since the transaction a Finnish computer science student sold bitcoins for 0.0009 each.(https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-price-history/)
Nonetheless, back then obtaining bitcoin was not as easy as it is now. It might’ve been less cumbersome than opening a brokerage account, but it did require some technical know-how. Nowadays we have easy to use wallets such as Muun Wallet https://muun.com/
B. Free and Open Access
Now, however, Bitcoin has become popular and not only does it present itself as an asset in which to save but also as uncensorable money that can be transferred almost at the speed light with its implementation of layer 2 technology known as lightning. All of these are new opportunities that prior to bitcoin did not quite exist and we were all subject to fiat and its centralized banking decision making. This means Central Banks from around the world decided the economic and monetary policy for the paper currency that circulated within its borders. With Bitcoin this power is taken, and it is non-violently decentralized and now anyone can participate in the open economic network of bitcoin.
Anyone can access this network. The need to ask for permission is no longer needed as the network is open source and what will determine it’s progress is how much a good use can one propose
C. Uncensorable money.
Bitcoin cannot be censored. That is members in a country can transact freely with money despite their political beliefs or alignment. One party cannot prevent the other of sending bitcoin to another. This transference of value is governed by the bitcoin code and rules that inherently make it an open and accessible network.
There’s a lot more that can be said but we’ll leave this blog entry here for this moment.
See you on the next one!
Juan Mayén
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