In Search of a Global Currency, Why Only Bitcoin Fits the Puzzle
Today, we can confidently say that the world has become a global village or, if you like, a global bedroom. Unlike the organization of social life in the 20th century where access to information and commerce is restricted, technological innovations has made the 21st century a smaller world than we've ever seen in modern history.
A very good example is the novel Corona virus which took off in the Chinese city of Wuhan only a few months ago. The humans who lived about a century ago in Europe may care less about the disease but the story is different today. In just a few months, the virus has spread to all the continents of the world, claiming lives in its wake and crumbling the global economy. Can there be a better way to emphasize the globalization of the world?
No doubt, the Internet has facilitated the globalization of the world. Through the internet, it is now possible for total strangers living in different continents of the world to do business, build social relationship, and exchange cultural values. Not only that, an enviable consciousness of global citizenship has emerged among the peoples of the world - such that people are not only interested in events happening around them but in the events happening in faraway continents.
Information technology has also transformed the face of the banking industry, heralding a new era of financial evolution. In this regard, the traditional banking sector has given way to a more robust banking infrastructure that makes electronic banking and cross-border payment possible.
Nevertheless, globalization has not done much to the evolution of money as a medium of exchange. While the US dollar has become the most widely adopted currency for international trade, it is still not a legal tender for everyday transaction in sovereign nations of the world.
At the surface level, it is easy to think that the search for a global currency is needless since the USD has already gained international acceptance. However, the USD is still far from being a true global currency because adopting it as a legal tender will mean that nations of the world will have to give up their freedom to print their own money.
There is no problem with world governments giving up their power to print their own money and unanimously accepting the USD as a legal tender until they start to realize that the US can print money from thin air, distribute it to their own citizens, and then spend it lavishly in developing countries - a move that will bring prosperity to the United States while rewarding the vanquished with poverty.
This is why the only currency that best fits the enigmatic puzzle of a global currency is Bitcoin. This is no joke because Bitcoin is fully decentralized, owned and controlled by nobody. Unlike the USD or any other paper currency for that matter, Bitcoin is completely resistant to the monetary manipulations of the central banks as well as government interference.
Furthermore, unlike fiat currency, no central bank in the world can print Bitcoin from thin air. New Bitcoin can only be printed, at fixed rate and through proof of work, by miners who are the custodian of the Bitcoin network. This makes Bitcoin far more valuable and reliable than many fiat money on the international scene today.
Lastly, the transaction fee involved in transacting with Bitcoin is extremely cheap when compared to what it presently cost to use the USD for cross border payment. I must also not fail to mention that Bitcoin has no colour, allowing it to make more acceptance regardless of religious or ethnic beliefs and sentiments.
Although I hate to say it, the truth is that the idea of money as we know it today cannot serve the commercial life of an increasingly globalized audience. It is high time we changed the gears to Bitcoin, so that we can prepare ourselves for the most unforgiving challenges of globalization.
I am @gandhibaba, the young man who goes about carrying his magical pen, not his gun, in his pockets.
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Gif courtesy of @artzanolino
Agree with you. + only 21 000 000 Bitcoins will be available ever after the last Bitcoin is mined in 2150... The value of Bitcoin will grow in the next years due to this fact and growing demand.
Thanks for sharing. I agree that USD or any other Fiat currency cannot best serve as a global currency. Bitcoin is a possibility, but transaction cost are comparatively high compared with other cryptos and transaction time is slow at 10 minutes. I think Bitcoin Token (BTCT), Ecoin and Initiative Q are at least some other possibilities, given the right governance. I speak about the latter two and about dentralised governance in my post of today:
https://steempeak.com/hive-114105/@atma.love/crypto-mass-adoption-and-a-peaceful-and-abundant-world
Your feedback would be appreciated.
Namaste
Atma
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'll see your post too.
Hi @gandhibaba
I agree that cryptocurrencies are the future and that fiat is limited. We need to move to a global system that is not controlled by governments who can print money. When they do print money, they are literally stealing from us as they are making our money worth less and giving themselves more.
Bitcoin has a big brand and a lot of investors but has a scalability problem. I believe we will see next-generation cryptocurrencies battle it out with eventually one dominating everyday transactions. That doesn't mean Bitcoin will disappear any time soon but will perhaps become more of a collector's item due to its very limited supply.
Great post - upvoted.
Hi @awah very good points made above, except that being first means a lot in this space. I don't see any token displacing Bitcoin for now. It's decentralization mechanism will continue to awe many in this space for the years to come. However, you made many good points. Cheers!
Being first helps a lot but remember MySpace was first before Facebook. Technology and ideas develop and some times the initial ideas, although good, can be greatly improved upon by others. I agree there is no obvious candidate yet but usability, utility and transaction speed have to be key success factors.
A do believe though Bitcoin will be around for years to come, perhaps not as the everyday currency for transactions.
Thanks for sharing these sound thoughts. I am compelled to agree with you, especially with the logic of arguments.
Very good post. Fully agree.
Since the end of the Bretton Woods system, fiat currencies are no longer backed by gold. However, many countries still continue to peg their currencies with the USD and also hold USD as reserves. As a result, the USD remains as the world's reserve currency.
Rightly pointed out the problem with using the USD as the world's reserve currency. As we stand, the world is being "held hostage" by the USA. Many of the debts in the world are denominated by the USD and many other countries hold US treasury bonds (though the amount of foreign US treasury bonds holdings is declining). As USA prints more money to repay their future obligations, there will be inflation which will hurt all these debt holders.
Hence, Bitcoin is the neutral currency that is primed to be a global currency. Perhaps not directly used, but becoming a standard where government issued fiat currencies are pegged to.
Sure, the downfall of fiat started, as you already stated, from the day it stopped being backed by gold. This was done to quell the appetite of the central banks who were just interested in printing and printing of money to finance the federal budget. As @Majes.tytyty would say, death awaits the dollar if the US monetary policies remain the same. The question at this point is not how but when. Bitcoin could be the solution that rescues us the the looming chaos. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Never loose sight of sovereign-driven digital currencies.
Sure!
If only bitcoin could be widely acceptable then situations of the economy will definitely be in a better condition, but my fear is that, if our greedy governmental bodies get into the system, I hope there won't be any problem for users.
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
The importance of widely accepting the idea of digital currency will definitely help the current economic situation. Great job
Hi @gandhibaba
Reading this suggests a very finite and fantastic future, I don't want to be a bad omen but it is a very long way to go.
but I am very honest with you everything you mention would be great for everyone.
Hopefully we can all break those financial barriers that banks have.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, friend.