“Nations are not ruined by one act of violence, but gradually and in an almost imperceptible manner by the depreciation of their circulating currency, through its excessive quantity.” – Nicolaus Copernicus
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” – Thomas Jefferson
Today, world currencies are in crisis. Nation-states are accumulating debt at an alarming rate (See World Debt Clock). A rate many believe is unsustainable. To make matters worse, they are paying their debts by just printing more money.
When this newly printed currency goes into circulation it reduces the value of the existing currency. This leads to inflation where everyone pays more and receives less. Just compare today’s prices with those of yesteryear to see how inflation affects your everyday life. This vicious cycle repeats itself as each new annual budget calls for a higher debt ceiling than the year before it.
When prices for basic goods and services rise faster than wages, citizens lose faith in their currency. They lose faith because the currency fails to maintain its value. Some recent examples are Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Greece, Crete, Georgia, and India.
When that happens, the economy of the country suffers. A recession or depression occurs. Companies downsize or fail, jobs are lost, and the average citizen suffers a drop in their standard of living. With today’s global economy, the problems in one country quickly reverberate to other countries. Imagine if a major currency like the US Dollar, Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen, or EU Euro fails, the economic impact on the world would be catastrophic.
Over 10 years later, the world is still recovering from the Great Recession of 2008. That recession was created when the U.S. government bailed out (with money they didn’t have) some of the world’s largest banks for making bad real estate loans. Many economists believe another recession, of far greater magnitude, will happen again in the very near future.
Here’s a quick monetary fact. NO FIAT CURRENCY HAS EVER SUCCEEDED.
“According to a study of 775 fiat currencies by DollarDaze.org, there is no historical precedence for a fiat currency that has succeeded in holding its value. Twenty percent failed through hyperinflation, 21% were destroyed by war, 12% destroyed by independence, 24% were monetarily reformed, and 23% are still in circulation approaching one of the other outcomes.
The average life expectancy for a fiat currency is 27 years, with the shortest life span being one month. Founded in 1694, the British pound Sterling is the oldest fiat currency in existence. At a ripe old age of 317 years it must be considered a highly successful fiat currency. However, success is relative. The British pound was defined as 12 ounces of silver, so it’s worth less than 1/200 or 0.5% of its original value. In other words, the most successful long standing currency in existence has lost 99.5% of its value.”
Possibly In response to the financial crisis of 2008, a new form of currency was created in 2009 by a person or group of people called Satoshi Nakamoto. It was a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. Bitcoin is produced on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Cryptocurrency is a decentralized (everyone is their own bank, no government/central bank/corporation can manipulate the currency) digital currency. It is secure (cannot be counterfeited or hacked). It is deflationary (there is a fixed limit to the amount of currency produced). It is all-inclusive (everyone can exchange this currency, including the 1.7 billion unbanked peoples of the world). It is easily exchanged at virtually no cost with just a simple internet connection.
This new currency runs on what is known as the blockchain. The blockchain is basically a distributed (located on thousands of computers) public ledger of every transaction ever made using the currency. Verified transactions cannot be modified or deleted. This distributed blockchain is decentralized, encrypted, secure, and virtually impossible to hack. In its 10 years of existence, the Bitcoin blockchain has never been hacked. Not once, not ever.
The following is a short, informative video by Andreas M. Antonopoulos. He is a best-selling author, speaker, educator, and highly sought after expert in Bitcoin and open blockchain technologies.
Using the blockchain to replace our current monetary system is just one of its many uses. Other uses include smart contracts, supply chain logistics, documentation, gaming, voting, and much, much more. There are potential uses that haven’t even been thought of yet.
It is our goal to educate, train, and get our readers to take action on this revolutionary technology. Join us on our journey as we explore the world of cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology.