# Emerging Economies, Digital Version

By [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2) · 2023-01-16

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I don’t know when it was that US investors got excited about and became aware of the opportunity to invest in “emerging markets.”

My gut says it was the ‘80s, but I don’t know for sure.

What happened, was that some countries were opening themselves up to foreign investment and creating more opportunities for capital to get deployed.

So, you saw people rush to invest in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and other places like Vietnam and Thailand.

Sometimes these investments worked out. Sometimes they didn’t, but they offered the promise and potential for higher returns than more established economies.

Part of the reason they offered higher returns was that they entailed more risk. The legal and political systems in many of these countries were not as robust as in the advanced Western economies. Of course, that is how risk/reward works.

Today, the “emerging market economies” aren’t countries, they are Layer 1 smart contract platforms and decentralized applications.

Some of these “digital nations” are a little less risky, like Bitcoin. Some are extremely risky, like Terra.

However, as we move full on into the digital age, the thoughtful investor would be wise to consider how s/he can participate in this inevitable transition.

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*Originally published on [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/emerging-economies-digital-version)*