Is It Possible That Bitcoin Finds Its Practical Use Case As A Currency In Latin America - Part 3

The last part of the discussion throws light on the political and economic crisis faced by Latin American countries. Winding up the discussion this is how Bitcoin is faring in the crypto world.

Think Beyond Bitcoin In Latin America

It was observed that undemocratic socialist governments were tending to replace economic elites where they are connected to sources of power and according to Gomez, people with connections in the government have eventually taken over the Bitcoin mining space. As the Venezuelan government launches its cryptocurrency, the Petro, its value is tied to oil production. Whereas the petro has increasingly met with skepticism from both crypto enthusiasts as well as average Venezuelans having long lost faith that the government responsible for problems capable of solving them. 

While it was previously mentioned that Venezuelans have been leaving the country en masse escaping the entire man-made crisis engulfing their country for more thn130, 000 settlings in Argentina. This is in the occasion where Gomez sees the parallels between Argentina’s current predicament where the one he left behind in Venezuela was even though he feels Argentina‘s crisis that is tame when compared to complete social breakdown that is being suffered in Venezuela. 

While it is often found that the trading Bitcoin in Argentina comes to be much easier when compared to Venezuela as users in both countries use LocalBitCoin.com, connecting with buyers and sellers facilitating converting money to and from local currencies. While the process is that somewhat archaic without risks, unlike in Venezuela, in Argentina many money exchanges also offer Bitcoin exchange services. It is a fact that in the case of Venezuelan buyers and sellers, they face the risk of the government discovering the Bitcoin activities while blocking their bank accounts whereas in Argentina the government is more concerned about individuals not declaring their income or capital gains. 

Currently, it is found that in this scenario there are both Argentina and Venezuela that are offering ideal conditions and whereby developing national Bitcoin communities it also includes the two key ingredients subsidized energy as well as unstable national currencies. Both countries, as a result, has benefitted from the emergence of developer communities focused on cryptocurrencies as well as blockchain-enabled technologies where neither country is likely to be fulfilling those of the like to the Bitcoin fantasy of replacing their national currencies as also nor even overtaking the greenback which is an alternative to unstable national currencies. 

It is found that bitcoin’s ultimate use cases come more likely to appear along the lines of existing power structures as wealthy people in Argentina uses Bitcoin to hide their money as well as corrupt Venezuelan officials find a way to enrich themselves at the cost of struggling masses. Bitcoins becomes to be as stable as the US greenback using as a store of value continuing to increase. 

In the current market Is It Easier For Technology To Co-Opt Power Than It Is For Power To Co-Opt Technology?

The US dollar after the emergence of bitcoins as an alternative will not reduce the need for sound monetary policy nor will the stability promised by the dollar become less attractive for the average Argentine or Venezuelan who are looking o make ends meet rather than speculate away their savings as Bitcoin, in either case, does not replace the need for sound institutions. 

Continuing to tout Bitcoin’s superiority vis-à-vis fiat currencies, though its proponents claim bitcoin’s ultimate challenge that is hard to understand and will, therefore, be defined by stories told about them. The future of Bitcoin, in other words, depending on which narratives become the meta-narrative as will Bitcoin be defined by the Eduardo Gomez stories of individuals escaping systems of tyranny thanks to Bitcoin or corrupt government officials receiving bribes in their anonymous crypto wallet or the drug traffickers evading detection shifting from US dollar payments to crypto?

As it was written 50 years ago by Marshall McLuhan, the new media and technologies by which we amplify and extend ourselves constitute a huge collective surgery that was carried out on the social body as a complete disregard for antiseptics with Bitcoin as the perfect example of a surgery undertaken on the body politic without necessarily understanding the far-reaching consequences as considering that making policy decisions based on the currency’s theoretical promise that may not result in a better world. 

Final Words On The Discussion 

Similar to it we have to be open to rethinking how the world operates for the sake of empowering people through technology challenging democratizing technologies as they must take on an overcome existing power structures as in Latin America, institutions are often weak, that is part of the reason why Bitcoin flourishes there where the poison and antidote spring from the same well. However, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t as powerful as resilient interests fill the voids left by those floundering institutions. 

The ultimate question for Bitcoin in Latin America and elsewhere in the world is the following: in case of technology and power, is it easier for technology to co-opt power than it is for power to co-opt technology? Surely, Argentina and Venezuela are putting that question to the test as the world watches. 

What's Your Reaction?

like
0
dislike
0
love
0
funny
0
angry
0
sad
0
wow
0