Bitcoin Promotes Financial Sovereignty

 

More than half of the global population lives in a country with some form of financial repression such as capital controls. Even in so-called economically free countries, ordinary citizens increasingly must grapple with the risk of bank failures or politically motivated financial restrictions.   Bitcoin provides individuals with control over their assets, independent of traditional banks and financial institutions. This empowers people to manage their wealth without third-party interference.   As an "unstoppable" form of money, Bitcoin protects both

unstoppable" form of money, Bitcoin protects b individuals and society from all manner of financial repression, making it foundational to peace and prosperity itself. Read our essay on the importance of censorship resistance here, or watch a dramatisation of the power of Unstoppable Money below:

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2. Bitcoin Promotes Financial Inclusion

The World Bank reported Bitcoin  that 24% of adults globally still didn’t have a bank account in 2021. While bank accounts are still notoriously difficult to obtain in many regions, Bitcoin enables enables anyone with a connected mobile device to gain access to the global economy. For the unbalanced or undertaken population, this is a game-changer. Whether it’s a freelancer getting paid from clients around the world, or a migrant worker sending money home (with lower fees than via traditional remittance services), Bitcoin fosters economic growth and reduced poverty in marginalized communities.

3. Bitcoin Promotes Free Speech

Fifty-four percent of the global population lives in an authoritarian regime as defined Bitcoin  by the Human Rights Foundation. Restrictions on freedom of speech are one of the primary autocratic features of authoritarian regimes, who use such restrictions to suppress opposition.   When people organizer to resist authoritarianism, money is inevitably required, so it is money that often serves as an easy lever regimes pull to clamp down. Dissidents and opposition groups routinely have their bank accounts frozen and their assets seized.   There are many examples  of dissidents turning to Bitcoin to fight back against tyranny, such as the over $2 million in Bitcoin that was raised to fund opposition of the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lookalike in 2020. Censorship resistant money can thus serve as an important counteracting force to authoritarianism.

4. Bitcoin Reduces Corruption

Nobody controls or owns the Bitcoin network, and there is no CEO. Instead, the network consists of willing participants who join voluntarily. Changes to the network must be made by the consensus of its users, and there is a wide array of contributing voices. This is in stark contrast to government currency which is issued by fiat and typically controlled by a tiny minority of elites. And in the fiat system, those closest to the money printer often benefit the most.   As a decentralised currency with a decentralised governance structure, it’s impossible for Bitcoin to benefit insiders. Furthermore, because Bitcoin transactions are publicly viewable, it’s extremely difficult for the network to be used to facilitate corruption.

5. Bitcoin Promotes Economic Stability

For most of human history, gold has been the preferred store of value. By enabling today’s savings to have the same or greater purchasing power in the future, gold freed people to focus on providing value in their trade or business rather than constantly worrying about what to do with their savings. In the digital era, gold’s utility as a store of value is severely hampered by the difficulty of transacting with it. Because it’s effectively impossible to use gold to buy anything directly today, hardly anyone uses gold as a store of value anymore either.   Instead, most people rely on fiat currencies like Dollars, Euro, and Yen. We are paid with these government-issued notes, and we are forced to use them to transact with each other. The problems is, these currencies are constantly decreasing in value (by design).   High inflation is now a global phenomenon, with rates doubling in 37 of 44 advanced economies between 2020 and 2022. The global average sits at 7.4% Bitcoin and now billions live in countries where inflation is in the double digits. Because the money we earn is constantly being devalued, we are forced to speculate in the financial markets. Yet few us of are experts, busy as we are with our day jobs, which leads to irrational investments and wild speculative bubbles.   Bitcoin, by improving on gold in several key ways, has the potential to bring back the concept of money as a long-term store of value. If it is successful in doing so, the result will be more stable and gradual economic growth with fewer speculative bubbles.