It's true that bitcoin makes it possible for virtually anyone in the world to access money and financial sovereignty. It's also true that the vested interests of the state and central banks don't care, no matter how much empty praise they may pile on. The real power of bitcoin is not to let everyone into your wallet, but to keep the bad actors out.
Fuck 'Financial Inclusion'
When it comes to crypto, feel-good talk abounds: “banking the unbanked,” “financial inclusion,” “blockchain-based digital IDs for the poor.” These vapid buzz phrases pouring from the mouths of big bankers, politicians, corporations and so-called crypto-friendly financial institutions seem to never cease.
It's funny, though, how uncomfortable these same people become when the originof their supposedly beloved revolutionary technology comes up:
A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.
Without going through a financial institution.
You see, there’s so much empty praise of cryptocurrency and “blockchain,” but when it comes to what it actually is, true colors are revealed.
“We just need sensible regulation,” drone on the statists. Well, of course regulation may have a place in a civilized society. But regulation must be made by private individuals freely consenting to it, not by government force.
For example, let's say a community of legitimate private property owners (self-owners) decide that transactions involving the sale of cocaine for bitcoin may not be made on their properties, and mutually agree to uphold said policy/regulation. This is entirely different than a blanket government restriction, mandate or law backed by force. After all, the property owners in the first scenario came to ownership of their property via body ownership. Government just waves a magic wand, scribbles some things on paper, and claims to own vast swathes of land and the lives of billions of people.
The governments of the world are not talking about this type of voluntary regulation when it comes to crypto. They are directly applying brute force (laws backed by guns) to tell you how you may or may not transact. The non-violent individual's right to his or her own money is always non-negotiable, in the same way one's body ownership is, so this practice is clearly violent, immoral and illegitimate.
After all, the only valid application of force is in self-defense, and not forcing a non-violent person to do something at the point of a gun.
The Power of Bitcoin Is Exclusive
What brought me to bitcoin was a feeling of ownership over my money for the first time in my life. The potential of the currency not to include everyone in the world, but to exclude the state and other bad actors from my wallet. To exclude the state from extorting me (taxation) to pay for bombs murdering innocent families in the Middle East, for example.
I want the power to exclude the banks that delay my transfers and transactions and charge me exorbitant fees for simple economic operations. I want the power to exclude silly mainstream exchanges asking me to provide highly sensitive personal info just to make a transaction.
It is no shock that governments, mega-corporations, big banks and international think tanks are attempting now more than ever to commandeer and destroy the freedom that bitcoin brings. It's a direct threat to their massive crime syndicate Ponzi scheme.
Parasitism has no place in a civilized society. Nor does statist warfare, licensing rackets, or arbitrary regulations whose true aim is really just to increase the power of the smiling shit on TV and in positions of political influence.
I'll believe financial inclusion when I see it. Right now all I see are saccharine smiles and incessant talk about how more financial surveillance is needed to help the poor.
You know what the poor really need? Money. Food. Financial freedom to act in the free market and emancipation from the very states that have systematically kept them down for centuries. Who honestly believes that suddenly they care? I sure as hell don't. It's time to kick them out.
-GWS