The Internet of Money Volume Three: A collection of talks by Andreas M. Antonopoulos by Andreas M. Antonopoulos

Author:Andreas M. Antonopoulos [Antonopoulos, Andreas M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Merkle Bloom LLC
Published: 2019-12-14T21:00:00+00:00

7.3.2. An Exit Door

Until 2008, there wasn’t really an alternative, there was no exit.

Holding U.S. dollars as a foreign currency, hoarding gold, or putting it under your mattress, that is easy for a government to stop, to break down and censor. They can confiscate your gold and raid your house. If you are seen exchanging hard(er) currency, like foreign currency, with others, you could get shot. You won’t just have a misdemeanor fine. Countries take entire populations hostage in these hyperinflation spirals.

Then something happened in 2008: Bitcoin. For the first time in modern history, there was another option. That option isn’t just a separate currency. It is a currency that can’t be easily confiscated, that can easily be transmitted across borders, that can be used as a lifeboat by people who can’t physically exit the country. They can exit the economy virtually, trading in another currency right where they are, creating a parallel micro-economy in their community which becomes connected to other little lifeboats. Life can continue past the crisis. They don’t have to go down with the sinking boat of state to be patriotic.

That is happening today in Venezuela, in Argentina and in Turkey. Before that, in Cyprus and other places. It is happening again and again, as people discover they have some other options. Today, too few people can effectively exit. It requires a level of literacy, numeracy, and technological confidence that is not yet present in the masses. But think about what happens in twenty years when some dictator decides to take an entire economy hostage, and 25% of the population says, "Bye! I’m taking my money out now."

Taking their money out isn’t the act of investment like we see here in the United States. People say, "Let’s invest in bitcoin," as if it is some kind of stock. "Let’s buy low, sell high. Let’s make lots of money, get rich quick!"

Instead, the act of exit is to say, "I will take my productive capital, my labor, my services, my products, and I will make them available for this currency. I am simultaneously entering a new economy, trading with other people who are with me, and I have exited. I have withdrawn my participation, my collaboration, from a system that is broken." On that basis alone, this is a technology that will change the world. But that’s not what it’s all about.

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