Breaking the Chains of Permission-Based Economy: How Bitcoin Fixes Banking - #204
TL;DR - Banking is broken, but Bitcoin fixes this. Decentralization eliminates intermediaries & transactions are faster, cheaper & more private.
Dear Reader,
We live in a permission-based economy.
You need permission to deposit, withdraw, or send your money. In some cases, you even need permission to work to earn your money. If you don't abide by the rules, you're punished. Punished for depositing too much, withdrawing too often, or sending over the accepted limit. In some places, if you make too many transactions, you're punished as well. But it's your money; you earned it. You don't need permission, nor should you be punished.
What is money?
Money is the representation of your labor and time.
Banks, money transfer services, and governments abuse your labor and time for their gain.
Bitcoin vs. Western Union: A Case Study
I own a small business, with workers all across the globe, and I offer Bitcoin as payment. Some accept it, others don't. A recent episode: A new international teammate had joined the company. I asked them how they would like to be paid. I told them that the options were either paper check, bank transfer, or Bitcoin. We were no longer doing business with PayPal or Western Union. They took the bank transfer.
Payday comes, we try to issue payment, but it wouldn't go through. Our worker later told us that their bank had closed their account for some reason. We offered to send payment via Bitcoin, they wanted Western Union. We explained to them the issues we had with Western Union, and if they would consider using Bitcoin instead. They said no "it's a Ponzi scheme". We agreed to send it to them via Western Union.
We filled in the details, then the site crashed, not once, but four times. After managing to successfully send, we were notified via email that a transaction was being sent and that it would be placed on hold until further notice. We received another notice asking us to call Western Union. We called.
The service representative then proceeded to lecture us on our business transaction. Told us that the reason they were giving us this lecture was for our safety and to make sure that we understood the risk of sending money. We told them that we understood and that we were authorizing the send. After 30 minutes, the representative finally approved the transfer. Our teammate received their pay five days later.
This is the current state of banking today.
Bitcoin Fixes This
Traditional banking is broken. If you've been paying attention, you understand this.
Bitcoin fixes this in several ways. It's decentralized, meaning you don't need permission from middlemen to transact. Bitcoin is the medium of exchange, meaning final settlement happens in minutes, not days or weeks or months like traditional finance. This makes Bitcoin transactions faster, cheaper and more private than traditional finance could ever provide.
There are no limits to how often you can deposit or withdraw funds from your own wallet, or limitations on who you can send to or now much you're able to send. Bitcoin gives you complete control over your money. It's time to take control.
Few Understand The True Risks of Traditional Banking
Many Bitcoiners still operate under the pretense that banks are safe. It's all they've known. They feel safe, secure, they trust. They see Bitcoin as only for hodling, never spending; a “speculative attack" on fiat while still operating on a fiat standard.
Even with all that they know of how abusive the banking system is, they still hold on.
Many people will never truly understand the risk of being in fiat until it's too late.
The hard way of learning is by having the courage to leave the abusive relationship with the bank. The easy way is to continue to be beaten until you finally realize what's being done to you. Few will do this until it happens to them.
Conclusion
Many wait for some glorious day of financial rapture, "Hyperbitcoinization." But adoption is here, it is now.
Waiting for some day, one day begets more speculation. Adopting a personal Bitcoin standard is not hard. It takes courage. It takes patience. It takes learning. Practice makes perfect. Start with small transactions. Learn to embrace the volatility. Reject fiat. Adopt because you want to, not because you need to.
Don't wait for the world to change, change the world yourself.
Take control of your money, now.
Until next time!