Hive is changing lives.
This is something that we often discuss but is this really true? Do We have some examples of the impact we are making?
Fortunately, we have a lot of options to choose from. In this article we will highlight the situation in Nigeria and how Hive is already making an impact there.
We are going to cover some insight provided by one from that country. This is a lesson in how those areas with a low standard of living or ripe for assistance from Hive.
Nigerian Economy
There is little doubt that Nigeria, like much of Africa, has an economy that is stalled. It is lagging much of the Western world. Developing nations tend to face even greater headwinds when the US dollar appreciates. A rising dollar will obliterate their economy.
Many within cryptocurrency talk about helping regions like this. They take to their planes and do a promotion tour of how helps is on the way. This is usually done by founders or public figures tied to a project.
Unfortunately, over time, little changes. This is because after the cameras are turned off, the people leave. Hence, the locals are stuck dealing with the pitfalls of their economy in spite of the grand promises from these people.
To show where the bar is, we look at the minimum wage in Nigeria. This equates to around $38.95 per month (30,000 NGN). This is what an individual earning the minimum in Nigeria gets.
Sadly, this will barely cover a food expense. Hence, any increase off this is of great help.
Here is where Hive enters.
Opportunities To Change Lives
Now that we have a benchmark to work from, what kind of impact can we uncover?
Dealing with the bear market is difficult. However, in spite of this, we can see how there is life changing money available. This is enhances when the barrier is so low.
With Nigeria, according to the minimum wage, we are dealing with approximately $39.
This means that a little over $1 per day can make a huge difference in the income that one is receiving. This level will about double the total.
Here is an example from the article that I use as the basis here.
This is a screenshot of the pending payouts.
According to some rough calculations, this is going to pay out around $8 to the author. There is more than 1/5 the way to topping the monthly minimum wage. This includes no other activity.
Now, let us imagine life in a bull market. What if the value of these votes, in USD, was 5x. This would be equal to the monthly minimum wage in that country.
How many other places within cryptocurrency can make the same claim? Most operate from the perspective of "buy this coin or token". Obviously, without resources, this is not possible.
With Hive, we have a different delivery mechanism.
Just The Start
The key to all of this is feeding the local economies. Whether we are discussing Venezuela, Cuba, Nigeria, or any other developing nation, with Hive, there is the ability to direct financial resources into those economies. This, over time, can have a major impact.
We see the early stages of this in Sucre, VZ. This is a region that started a grassroots movement where Hive coins became a medium of exchange. With HBD, they are using this U.S. dollar denominated asset to pay for goods and services. This is a major step forward.
What ends up happening is parts of these local economies are linked to the overall Hive economy. As that grows in value, the tentacles start to reach these areas.
One of the things we discussed over the last few years is the development of financial services tied to Hive. This will be enormous when we consider areas as we are describing. Being unbanked (or underbanked) entails a great deal more than just not having a bank account. It also means that people are cut off from financial services that are necessary to grow businesses and, thus, economies.
Hive can solve that.
The first stage is to get money flowing into these areas. This can occur simply through activity on Hive.
A second step is for the locals to take initiative of starting to get the Hive coins, especially HBD, utilized as a medium of exchange. We are seeing this in Sucre and the green sprouts in a few other areas.
Our third wave comes when some of the Hive based assets are eligible for financial services such as loans. We can see the value of some of these growing to the point where one can collateralize. This could provide the money required to expand operations and build businesses.
Another piece comes from having funding mechanisms built. Loans are one thing but the big change comes in the form of venture capital. On Hive, there will come a day when we each can be a venture capitalist. As the value of the different projects grows, that can be accessed (through liquid tokens tied to it most likely) and used to fund even more projects.
This is how the baseline keeps growing.
While this is applicable in Tokyo, New York, or London, we know those areas have services that work fairly well. What we are building certainly will be a supplement to what is taking place. It will not be the primary source for a while.
The same is not true for parts of Nigeria. Hive based financial services could be the prominent source of funding for that town or village. People all over the world could become the VC money to help them start up different projects.
Here we see evidence of how Hive is already changing lives and the potential for the future.