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Disruptive innovation such as Bitcoin is usually bottom up, with initial traction from people who are not concerned with legality. However for Bitcoin to become mainstream it does require some top down legislation; most people are concerned with legality. El Salvador and other jurisdictions making Bitcoin legal tender are giving the people some legal certainty. […]
The post Part 5. Bottom up innovation protected by top down legislation appeared first on Daily Fintech.
Quick recap; the Salvadoran Colon currency failed due to inflation, then they switched to the US Dollar and then they added Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021. El Salvador’s new Bitcoin law requires every trader who is technically able to do so to accept the cryptocurrency. People are also able to pay their taxes in […]
The post Part 4. Bitcoin is working for the people of El Salvador appeared first on Daily Fintech.
Bitcoin is the disruptive third wave of Fintech: Wave 1 was adding a better front end UX to legacy systems, with a natural exit to legacy finance for not big sums. Wave 2 was a full stack regulated threat to legacy finance. Once again the natural exit was to legacy finance, but for much bigger sums than […]
The post Part 3. People who are motivated to use Bitcoin as a currency will drive innovation appeared first on Daily Fintech.
On one day in April I ran a simple experiment. I typed Fintech into a search engine and hit News and looked at the top 10 news items through a West or Rest lens. Among the top 3 results, 2 have a Rest slant with one being an Indian company and the other being a […]
The post Part 2. A round up of recent news about FinTech innovation from the Rest. appeared first on Daily Fintech.
West is short for wealthy developed economies, historically mostly America and Europe but now also many in Asia ie East; it denotes mindset and wealth more than geography. Rest is short for Rest of the world. First the Rest then the West is a bit of fun rhyming with a serious idea that the flow […]
The post Part 1 Introduction to the idea of First the Rest then the West appeared first on Daily Fintech.
We know how that is supposed to end after “then they fight you” but that is only one of 4 scenarios that could play out. First, let’s look at who is attacking El Salvador with words. A lot of people who should not care a damn about a country that represents 0.02% of global GDP, […]
The post Bitcoin in El Salvador Part 4. Then they fight you (first with words). appeared first on Daily Fintech.
El Salvador’s moves in bitcoin align to the main job job of an economy – to put money in the pockets of the people – in 3 ways: Tourism money. Bitcorati (people who made money from Bitcoin) want to have some fun when not talking crypto innovation and El Salvador has lots of fun things […]
The post Bitcoin in El Salvador Part 3. Voters call the shots with regulators leading to jurisdictional competition appeared first on Daily Fintech.
If you want to annoy a Bitcoin fan, talk about the electricity cost of mining killing the planet. El Salvador is showing why this is lie by using renewable volcano energy to generate electricity to power Bitcoin mining. Whether the renewable energy source is volcano, or sun or wind or tides or geothermal geysers, the […]
The post Bitcoin in El Salvador Part 2. Sustainable Electricity from volcano to sun appeared first on Daily Fintech.
El Salvador is getting a lot of attention for a little known country whose GDP in 2020 was only $24.64 bn (0.02% of the world economy). After El Salvador announced the stunning move to make Bitcoin legal tender on 25 June 2021, Daily Fintech opined 10 reasons El Salvador President made the right call on […]
The post Bitcoin in El Salvador Part 1 First the Rest then the West appeared first on Daily Fintech.
TLDR. Analog Bitcoin fans (aka Gold Bugs) like to talk about domesday scenarios where there is no Internet and so Bitcoin will be worthless. In the real world (as opposed to the talking heads circuit) it is not Bitcoin or Gold it is Bitcoin AND Gold. However nobody wants worthless Bitcoin. This update to The Blockchain Economy digital book describes Blockstream satellites and Locha mesh networking . These ventures and technologies ensure that you can still use cryptocurrencies even in the domesday scenario.
This update to The Blockchain Economy digital book covers:
Domesday scenario without Internet
The Chapter entitled Why BTC = USD1 million may be possible, but not desirable even for those with Bitcoin describes 4 scenarios that investors plan for, the 4th being what we refer to as the domesday scenario:
Bitcoin can go to zero because a) it was always just a mirage or ponzi scheme or b) it becomes impossible to use because it requires Internet access and there is no Internet.
There are three ways we can be deprived of Internet access:
We look at the two technological solutions to this domesday scenario – one from above (satellites) and one from your neighbours on the ground (Locha Mesh networks).
Blockstream satellites
The Blockstream Satellite network broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain around the world 24/7 for free, protecting against network interruptions and providing anyone in the world with the opportunity to use Bitcoin.
Blockstream is a private venture funded business with a lot at stake in Bitcoin. The theory is that even if the Internet is not available, you can still use Bitcoin via satellites. The problem is that as a centralised venture funded business, they are susceptible to pressure from Government.
Locha Mesh networks
This is a more ground up initiative coming out of Venezuela. The best introduction in the English language is this podcast interview. There is a lot about the political situation in this interview; if you want to skip to the tech, go to around minute 15.
101 on mesh networking: Traditional networks rely on a small number of wired access points or wireless hotspots to connect users. In a wireless mesh network, the network connection is spread out among dozens or even hundreds of wireless mesh nodes that “talk” to each other to share the network connection across a large area. Mesh networks use publicly available radio frequencies.
In short, wireless mesh networking is a decentralized, open permissionless network like Bitcoin ie nobody can shut it down.
This is an example of why this chapter describes The Path To Mainstream Adoption Of Bitcoin Is Not Through Legacy Finance Institutions, It Is Through The Excluded
Context & References
Why #GetOffZero Gets Sensible Investors To Look Seriously At Improbable Bitcoin Based Solutions.
Why BTC = USD1 million may be possible, but not desirable even for those with Bitcoin.
Bernard Lunn is a Fintech deal-maker, investor, entrepreneur and advisor. He is CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy.
I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
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The post Blockstream satellites, Locha mesh networking and the Bitcoin domesday scenario appeared first on Daily Fintech.