Bitcoin is Humanitarian Money - Regarding Bitcoin

Hey everybody, my name is Jonathan Lege, and my path from cult survivor to crypto trader to Bitcoiner taught me what I needed to know about sound money and why the world desperately needs it. Despite how it's presented by the news media, Bitcoin is very good for the world. In fact, it's humanitarian money. So let's talk about it. I've teamed up with the Consensus Network, a Bitcoin-only enterprise which publishes and translates books about Bitcoin from a variety of respected Bitcoin educators. The link to Consensus is in the video description, and if you decide to make a purchase, you'll be supporting this channel as I receive a small percentage of each sale. Thank you in advance for your support. This is my Substack where I write articles about Bitcoin, and I discuss them in these videos. And the article that I'm going to discuss today is called Bitcoin is Humanitarian Money: How Secure Decentralized Money Is Changing the World. So let's get right into it. I open the article with two quotes: the first from Malala Yousafzai, "When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful," and the second from Santosh Kalwar, "All our wisdom is stored in the trees." Alersa Millenario is the largest tree in Chile's Alersa Costa National Park, and quite possibly the oldest tree in the world, being at least five thousand years old. and perhaps almost 5,500 years old. To put that into perspective, the first agricultural settlements are thought to have appeared in the Norte Chico region of Chile around 3,500 BC. That's about the time Alersa Millenario would have begun to grow. Since then, approximately 10 different civilizations and cultures have come and gone in Chile, with Alersa Millenario standing in observation of them all. It reminds me of a famous scene in the classic movie The Time Machine. Alexander Hartdegen, the machine's inventor, sits behind the controls watching the years fly by, the time machine fixed in place. The sun passes through the sky, flowers bloom and shrivel, stars circle overhead, and buildings rise and fall as Hartdegen travels into the distant future. If trees could talk, I'm sure a Lirsamilenario would have many tales to tell. As human beings, we tend to think of history as demarcated by our own deeds, achievements, or failures. We stamp dates on those events and store them away in books and on computers. We imagine they'll be remembered forever, though that same history teaches us that whatever civilization we belong to will eventually fade out of memory, perhaps sooner than we think. This happens because nations are made up of people filled with the hubris of their own self-importance. It's a natural property of our evolution. We're tribal by nature, and our ego is designed to soothe us into believing that we and our tribes will live forever, even though our intellect knows this to be a lie. Because of this, humans tend to put all their eggs into the basket of their country of origin. When that country is conquered or collapses, as they all eventually do, that heritage is lost, eventually becoming a footnote or maybe even a whole paragraph in some digital history book in some dusty corner of the internet. The internet is the first real breach of this behavior, being spread throughout the world, all points accessible from the browser of any phone or computer. Even so, this universal connectivity is imperfect, with many websites blocking access to people residing in specific countries due to a web of restrictions and laws placed on them by their own country of residence. In Bitcoin terms, the web is decentralized but not permissionless. Your access can be denied. Like the countries they're born from, currencies also come and go. The oldest currency in the world is the British pound, clocking in at 1,200 years old. But most currencies don't last anywhere near that long, especially fiat currencies, whose average lifespan is a meager 35 years. The pound left the gold standard in 1931, when it became yet another unbacked fiat currency. The US dollar has been a fiat currency since 1971, having lost most of its value since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. Fiat currencies die quickly because they're susceptible to manipulation. When there's no physical restraint on creating more money, history shows that those in charge of the money printer can't resist the temptation to use it. Hyperinflation follows, and the currency collapses and fades into the sands of time. Productivity and output are lost as the currency inflates, pitching people into poverty and scarcity. The European Central Bank put out a paper in 2010 attempting to estimate the damage caused to output by a national currency collapse. It says, by using different and complementary methodologies, we find that currency collapses are associated with permanent output losses relative to trend, which are in the order of magnitude of 2 to 6% of GDP on average in the medium term, i.e., after 3 years. Moreover, we find that currency collapses tend to be preceded by a substantial slowdown in output. We also find that following the currency crash, growth tends to pick up, but still remains at a level below that which would have prevailed in the absence absence of a currency collapse. Just how many currencies have collapsed through the history of humanity is anyone's guess, though I found an infographic that lists 152 such failures. That's an enormous amount of lost productivity and potential for technological and social advancement over the centuries. Imagine the benefit to the world if we had a sound, decentralized currency that was not dependent on any single nation, could not be manipulated or inflated into collapse, and would continue to persist as global money despite the rise and of any country in the world. Bitcoin was designed to be the Alercia Millenario of currency, built to persist, survive, and thrive regardless of the fates of the nations that come and go in the world. It has all of the properties necessary to succeed at this, including being decentralized, permissionless, and secure. If you find it difficult to imagine a digital currency persisting for hundreds or even thousands of years dependent on machines and electricity, remember that at its heart, Bitcoin is just a set of rules for the production, verification, and transfer of digital money. It doesn't matter what programming language Bitcoin software is written in or what hardware it runs on. It doesn't matter how or where the Bitcoin ledger is stored. As long as the transactions follow the rules, all of the computers, called nodes, that handle the transactions can work together. This allows Bitcoin to easily persist through time. As technology changes and improves, the Bitcoin rule set can be transferred onto the new tech. Since it's not dependent on any particular nation's persistence, even if a world power collapses, Bitcoin will continue to operate until the nation is rebuilt or replaced. During the reconstruction process, the former citizens aren't left high and dry with the worthless currency of the nation. They have Bitcoin and can continue to trade and function within the local and global economy. while their government gets reshaped. The lack of monetary chaos is likely to prevent a lot of personal pain and hardship as the restructuring takes place. However, having Bitcoin as the world reserve currency could prevent many nations from ever collapsing at all, since many of these countries meet their end due to the corrupt manipulation of the money supply. Bitcoin is not just a currency, it's humanitarian money. It's designed to be a global reserve currency, immune to the manipulation and inflation that plagues fiat currencies. It's permissionless, meaning anyone can use it regardless of the nation of origin. It's secure, meaning no one can steal or counterfeit it. And it's decentralized, meaning no single entity can control it or take it away. Bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize the global economy, and its long-term prospects are strong. By providing economic stability and the opportunity for economic growth, Bitcoin can help lift millions or even billions of people out of the poverty created by corrupt manipulation of currency and the theft of inflation. Without these ills, Bitcoin can usher in a new era of economic prosperity, free from the boom and bust cycles of fiat, protecting against the kind of global financial crises fiat has brought upon the world today. Bitcoin is a powerful tool that will make a real difference in the lives of people around the world. In many places, it already is. With its ability to bypass traditional financial institutions and governments, it can be used to facilitate economic transactions in a way that is both transparent People in countries with unstable or corrupt banking systems, such as Nigeria, are already using it for this purpose. El Salvador and the Central African Republic have both adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, and Brazil has legalized Bitcoin as a payment method. The benefits of Bitcoin for people in developing nations are numerous. Bitcoin allows users to send money quickly and cheaply across borders, which is a huge advantage in countries with unstable currencies and weak banking systems. Additionally, Bitcoin transactions can be made without having to rely on third-party intermediaries, such as banks or money transfer services. This can save users both time and money, as it eliminates the need to pay costly fees to use these services. Bitcoin is not subject to the same regulations and restrictions as traditional currencies, which make it easier for users to access funds without having to worry about government interference or currency devaluation. Finally, Bitcoin's decentralized nature makes it resistant to censorship, which can be a great advantage for people in countries with oppressive regimes. Bitcoin also promotes financial inclusion. It can be used to facilitate transactions in areas where access to traditional finance services is limited or even non-existent. By enabling individuals to transfer funds quickly and securely over the internet, Bitcoin can help to bridge the gap between those with access to traditional financial services and those without. Given these benefits, it's just a matter of time before other smaller countries begin to use Bitcoin, either officially as legal tender and accepted means of payment, or unofficially as the citizens bypass traditional corrupt financial institutions. This will put pressure on ever larger nations to conform or lose the financial benefits of adoption. Bitcoin is the El Erso Milenario of currency, The proverbial money tree. Its branches spread far across the globe, providing shade from the oppressive heat of inflation and corruption. Its roots run deep, anchoring it firmly into the world economic system through decentralization and permissionless security. Bitcoin has the ability to stand tall through the ages as civilizations and cultures come and go. It's the present and future of money. And it's time to start using it. Well, that's all I have for you today. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to click like. Be sure to subscribe to my channel, and I will see you next time.