When mineral deposits are strictly the yardstick of assessment, Africa is arguably the richest continent on the planet. Ironically, Africa is home to the largest number of people living in poverty in the world. Having a long history of slavery that spanned over thirty decades and colonialism that carted away her resources, Africa is now probably the least developed continent on earth.
A bumpy ride on the horseback of history will clearly reveal that Africa did not quite enjoy the undue advantage at the disposal of Europe and America in the race for development. Rather, as Walter Roodney puts it in his groundbreaking book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Africa was underdeveloped so that Europe can become developed.
Africa did not profit from slave trade, Europe and America did. Africa did not profit from colonialism, Europe did. Africa did not profit from cultural imperialism, Europe and America did. In short Africa, no African was present during the Berlin conference of 1864/65 when Africa was scrambled for and partitioned by the European colonial powers of those days. Africa has not profited anything on the global scene. It has always been the drum that must be beaten hard for others to dance and merry.
Unfortunately, over four decades since the end of colonialism in most part of Africa, the continent is still yet to find itself on the path of progress and economic prosperity. Bad leadership and imperialism have found the continent still struggling to realize its potentials. One begins to wonder why Africa has the gold reserves and yet its currency is inferior to the Dollar, Euro, and British Pounds. The answer is that Africa has been shortchanged in the game of who controls the global banking industry, enslaving even the unborn generation.
Interestingly, as most Africans drink beer and pepper in their huts, the future of money is gradually evolving, shifting from fiat to cryptocurrency, Bitcoin being the commander in chief. It is stunning to see how Bitcoin rose from the ashes of obscurity into a thing that now catches the eyes of some of the most powerful people in the world. If the Bitcoin experiment as a digital gold succeeds, it is clear that it can sometime in the future become the currency for international trade and a store of value.
Shockingly, the awareness of Bitcoin in Africa is still very low among the elites. The vast majority of those who have the knowledge of Bitcoin, it would seem, are students, students who do not have sufficient savings to buy a reasonable chunk. Most African business moguls are still completely ignorant of the existence of Bitcoin and its potentials. How then can the African continent not be shortchanged again in this evolving global financial order?
As stated earlier, if the Bitcoin experiment succeeds, it will clearly result to a redistribution of wealth and a new era in human history. Yet, it is saddening and mindboggling even that majority of Africans are still slumbering like their ancestors were when the European launched into the sea in search of a new world. The truth is that African cannot again afford to miss this new opportunity of leveling the generational lopsidedness in the global wealth distribution. For every African, therefore, owning Bitcoin is not an option ─ it is a duty that must be done to save the generation yet unborn.
Image sourced from Pixabay