With the fires if Australia exacting such a heavy toll, the tensions rising in the Iran US drama and the recession on the doorstep that is going to make the GFC of 2008 look lame, it is a good time to consider where crypto fits into this space.
While many people think it is alarmist in nature to consider global calamity is imminent, history should have taught us that it is never very far away and a seemingly small even an snowball into much more under the right conditions. When we look at the past, those conditions are generally tied to economic insecurity, which then is leveraged to create political unrest, which is then leveraged to generate fear and conflict.
I have theorized before that if the Jewish people in Germany prior to the war had crypto instead of physical wealth, many more would have survived as they would have simply walked away due to the potential mobility. However in all likelihood, if that was the form of wealth people held, the whole situation would have been different as due to the security of the keys, taking by force would not be possible to the same extent. And, because of the independent nature of something like Bitcoin, it can travel securely across borders and be welcomes anywhere.
These three things; mobility, security and independence, are key to the functionality of crypto and the ability for it to become a valuable security for ownership and wealth storage. In a world where the average person used these kinds of currencies instead of centralized fiat, the impetus for governments to actually service the people and keep them happy and healthy would increase, because if they didn't, their citizens would simply leave or extract all wealth out to friendlier nations.
One of the most controlling components of centralized currency is the inability to move it. Sure you can take a bit here and there, but once the value goes over a certain amount, declaration is mandatory and transfers are tracked. Kilos of gold don't travel well either, unless they are formally minted into coin that can be declared at their face value, rather than their weight in precious metal.
The parents of my sister's partner lost their home today as it was razed by bushfires in Australia and of course, they lost pretty much everything they own, even though they were likely somewhat prepared. You can't move livestock easily and not all that has sentimental value can be secured at short notice, but you can be somewhat prepared, at least financially. In a case like this of course, an ordinary bank will be fine, but things aren't always ordinary.
What happens if war breaks out in your region, or if for some reason your life is under threat due to political change, what are you prepared for? Who knows what situations will arise when economies collapse and superpowers make their grabs for control. When it comes to your assets, how much of them are liquid - and that means not in a bank as they can freeze that in an instant? I am guess that like me, not much.
Well, that kind of isn't true anymore as I do have some assets that can run with me and my family and provide value along the way, my crypto. Not only that, since I am on Steem, I may even have support from the inflation pool along the way through my own stake and the community. This is of course a worse case scenario kinds of event, but the saying is, prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
What is the best? Well, I do no think it is merely the absence of the worst and that means that it has to be much better than the current normal, the status quo, as currently we are never far away from disaster. I think that in a better world, in currencies, there would be those three aspects of mobility, security and independence that crypto can provide, as it means that we as individuals and communities are not bound to requiring control.
The main tempering effect however will come through the demand dynamics that this creates as it allows people to make their own decisions to afar greater degree as to how and very importantly, where they spend their wealth. This means that in order for a government to operate, it would need to attract investment from its citizens, something that is going to be very hard to do. I can't see government in its current form surviving that, but I do see that governance is possible in a similar way that Steem operates, granted with a little more development.
This shift changes all kinds of economic considerations and variables as it changes how we as consumers behave. People talk about having a free market economy, but that is only possible when the consumers who driver every aspect of the economy at the core are using a currency that can freely move, and that requires complete ownership. The money in your wallet is not yours, it is the state's.
I believe that going forward into a world that looks to be getting more unstable and conflicted, these considerations need to be made at the individual level. It isn't only war that will drive the need though, as more and more people are automated out of the workforce or into much more temporary positions. This will change demand also and I believe that we are heading toward a renaissance of the creatives and away from the engineered for mass consumption content. It will start as a groundswell.
We are part of that groundswell however, a pebble in a still pond that will send ripples outward from the source. Steem is slowly shaping into a place where creative of all kinds can connect with consumers of all kinds and trade in various ways to generate multiple kinds of values. Just like the token that rides upon the blockchain, the entire ecosystem is one of mobility, security and independence due to the decentralized nature of it. In time, this is going to be seen as highly valuable.
In time.
When it comes to that time, I do not believe the mainstreaming of Steem is going to come through marketing efforts and brilliant applications, it is going to be when the world economies collapse and people are looking for anything to provide some financial stability, as well as cheaper ways to fill their entertainment needs.
Consume and earn, earn and invest, invest and consume.
No matter where you come in on the chain, you are part of the supply and demand cycle that drives Steem. And here you are independent, secure and mobile as no matter where you are in the world, you own what you own and can take it anywhere with you or shoot it anywhere across the blockchain in 3 seconds free.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]