Since 2008, powerful leaders from around the world have regularly attended the G20 Summit. According to the G20 website, at this annual meeting, leaders of 20 of the world's most powerful nations "focus on issues around global economic growth, international trade and financial market regulation."
In addition to elected national leaders including Donald Trump, Theresa May and Angela Merkel, the summit is attended by the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other highly-influential global economic organizations. This small group of world leaders usually meets behind closed doors and makes decisions that do, indeed, affect the majority of the planet's population.
Like clockwork, every time the G20 Summit is being held, violent protests erupt in the host city (most recently this past July in Hamburg, Germany). Most of the protests center around the notion that a small group of powerful people (the G20 leaders) should not be permitted to make decisions that affect not only their entire nations, but the rest of the world as well. Protesters demand that their voices be heard in the name of democracy, and these protests employ whatever means necessary to accomplish that mission.
All of the G20 member nations use fiat currencies that are controlled by central banks and are subject to governmental policies as well as both international influences. This system of fiat currencies and central banks is precisely what the protesters have become disillusioned with. G20 protesters believe that crony capitalism and corporate welfare have spread like wildfire throughout these global superpowers' economies and they angrily speak out.
G20 protesters are demanding the decentralization of global economic power.
Decentralization is defined as "the process of distributing or dispersing functions, powers, people or things away from a central location or authority." In this situation, it would mean taking away the decision-making power of the G20 leaders and giving it back to the people of the world.
Up until now, the only real solutions to this problem have ranged from working within the confines of a seemingly corrupted global financial system to completely destroying the system and rebuilding it from the ground up. But now, thanks to the forward march of technology, there is another way.
The rise of stateless cryptocurrencies, including but not limited to Bitcoin, has given the world's population its first opportunity to create a global economy that is born by the people, and not by a government or central bank.
With the advent of blockchain technology, for the first time in human existence, a global economy can be born by the world's citizens without the permission, blessing or control of any government.
Every cryptocurrency that is created has its rules and governance built into its code. Users can send and receive the currency within the confines of these pre-determined rules, and the rules also determine how future changes to the currency's governance are to be made.
Because cryptocurrencies operate in a completely decentralized and uncensorable way, there is no central point of authority, or failure. Decisions about the currency are made based on a consensus of its users, developers, transaction processors, or other parties as determined by the governance of the currency.
The success of Bitcoin has now shown the world that it is possible to create a stateless global currency and for it to have real-world value. Soon, the world will also bear witness to the relentless power of decentralized technology when governments inevitably attempt to "shut down" or "regulate" Bitcoin and realize that they simply cannot.
Once the true power of decentralized cryptocurrencies becomes apparent to everyone, those around the world who are looking to change the way that the world's economy works will have a new revolutionary path to explore.
Why violently protest in the streets when you can simply build and promote your own undefeatable, incorruptible global economy?
Steemit, do you agree that our definition of "protest" is about to change? Please share your thoughts below.