I originally came to Crypto about 5 years ago after looking for alternative vehicles for microloans and microfinance in general as I was a huge fan of Kiva and its ability to allow people access to financial instruments they might be unable to qualify for through traditional banking systems.
Empowering people on the poorest areas of the world and giving them the ability to start small businesses, directly, has always been the goal. I have always been an advocate for direct, person to person action when it comes to supporting others, huge charities have their place but when action becomes personal, it means more to both the helper and recipient in my opinion.
So, my search led me to the now seemingly defunct Mannabase which had created a cryptocurrency to provide a simple form of Universal Basic Income and that in turn led me to Hive, 4 years and 2 days ago.
Crypto I felt was the key to creating instantaneous, almost zero cost, borderless transactions, peer to peer and should solve many of the problems associated with the huge global money transfer companies such as Western Union whom I detest with a passion and keeping it safe from the tax-grabbing, nosey control-freak central banks and governments. I want to send $20 and for someone to receive $19.99, or even sending just $1 dollar, even better, being able to use crypto to buy something for someone a million miles away but that's local to them. The amount doesn't matter but small amounts are all that are needed for the most important of needs I find.
I wrote about Kiva and mentioned these same issues all that time ago and how I saw blockchain technology as the perfect solution for microfinance and direct-action charity but somewhere along the way, blockchain technology feels like it has been almost exclusively used for first-world cash generation and as nothing more than another level of investment vehicle, as though the technology cannot find enough real-world solutions. The blockchain should be the primary focus, it's incredible technology but it seems the majority care more for the 'tokens' than the technology.
Instead of blockchain technology creating a more distribution of wealth than the one we have already, it amplifies it. Look at Hive, this is a wonderful global community that tries so hard but still, reward distribution is organically biased towards users from the middle socioeconomic classes, 'the haves' and geographically centric users from first-world nations. They have the education, technology infrastructure and finance to be able to produce the most professional content so this absolutely not a whinge, simply an observation. I would like to see more mentorship and support given to members of this community from less-developed nations. Not easy, I know sometimes...
Charitable projects seem to be few and far between, especially my longed for blockchain-based Kiva alternative but on a positive note, the level of general altruism, honesty and general friendliness on Hive is a joy.
So, back to microfinance and whilst looking a little more deeply into Solana, which is a very interesting chain and well worth a look if you haven't read-up on them already, I found an India based project called Dassi Finance which is looking very promising. Currently in development, they use Dassicoins to provide small, self guaranteed loans directly to applicants.
I was quite impressed with Solana so I bought a few tokens and they appear to have a number of projects, many in their infancy, being created on this very high-speed, low cost and scalable blockchain. It was whilst I was fighting my way through the pile of NFT and Defi Dapps that I came across Dassi Finance, there seems to be a buzz about their chain at the minute, although the same could be said for many others!
For the investors amongst you. I know you like charts!
Anyway, I will continue to study the whitepaper tonight and set-up yet another wallet, Phantom Wallet so I can pull my tokens off Binance.
