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HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS |
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The Book That Washington's Been Waiting For. |
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Boy, did I get feedback after last week’s column.
1) Bitcoin is not a threat, it’s an investment opportunity. Since Warren has spent much of her career helping middle-class families get on sound financial footing, I recommended making it easier, not harder, for them to invest in bitcoin.
2) The U.S. should create its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) ASAP. The move toward digital money is inevitable, China has an enormous lead, and the time has come to issue a blockchain-based “digital dollar” -- which will help with financial inclusion.
3) The U.S. should offer clean energy incentives to bitcoin miners, which would attract more of them to the U.S. (along with jobs and technology). The idea is to leverage bitcoin’s insatiable energy consumption to build our nation’s clean energy grid.
These simple, common-sense proposals need to get done. And who better to do them than Warren, who serves on both the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Finance Committee? (It was her remarks on bitcoin that jolted me into action.)
With all the feedback I received from readers, I knew I was on to something. So this week I wanted to be absolutely sure that she saw the letter. Here’s what I did. |
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Then, I printed it and mailed it to her office. |
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Finally, I went to her office in downtown Boston, where I had printed up a poster-sized version of the letter, large enough to be seen from her high office window.
After thoughtfully arranging it in a place where she and her staff could see my letter and reflect on its meaning, I decided it needed some flowers. So I included a few hydrangeas, which I hear are Senator Warren’s favorite. |
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Who knows what will become of this letter? Perhaps a golden shaft of light will fall upon it, illuminating and inspiring Warren’s staffers, who, reading my missive from their perch high atop the federal building, will make these her top legislative priorities. Or maybe the wind will knock it over.
The important thing is that we get involved with our politicians, helping educate them about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. They can’t make good decisions until they have a good understanding.
Write your local politician in support of bitcoin. Just Google their name, visit their website, and send them feedback. It takes less than five minutes. Someone reads the emails (usually a staffer), but they do take note of the topic. In time, those notes add up. Persist.
Even if it doesn’t look like you’re getting any response, even if you have to leave an enormous poster outside the office, persist.
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Health, wealth, and happiness, |
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John Hargrave Publisher Bitcoin Market Journal |
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Hi Everyone,
People often ask me: as an Israeli citizen, what are my thoughts on Iran or Gaza becoming more crypto-friendly?
It's a great question no doubt, but for me, it isn't that complicated.
Even though our respective governments are sworn enemies, I really hold no grudge against most of the people who live there, and I sincerely pray for their prosperity.
Of course, it's very difficult for authoritarian governments to adopt open-source cryptocurrencies, which are generally a mechanism for freedom.
This is why countries like Iran, or even China for that matter, are all gung-ho on private blockchains and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), while they shun the censorship-resistant ones.
The local government in Israel has long been a proponent of innovation, and the business scene in Tel Aviv is often referred to as the startup nation.
However, similar to the dynamic in Australia, even though the government is open to change, the banking sector is not.
Accordingly, the top banks in the country formed a crypto-proof blockade making it very difficult for blockchain companies to get banking services and near impossible to deposit shekels onto any crypto exchange from 2017 until very recently.
This is why I was so excited to hear this week that the Bank of Israel is now experimenting with a digital shekel on the Ethereum blockchain.
Of course, it's just a very early-stage pilot at this time, but the fact that they're experimenting on Ethereum, as opposed to a private solution, is extremely encouraging.
Another country, whose blockchain plans are much more eminent, is Paraguay.
To get a better understanding of how blockchain can impact the local citizens, we need to get a better understanding of the South American nation's economy, seeing as how an estimated 40% of its GDP comes from illicit transactions.
This article really put things in place for me. In short, the small population of just 7 million makes the country seem like a smuggling/tax haven for its larger neighbors Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
Further, Paraguay is a country that suffers from severe economic inequality. One figure makes this perfectly clear: 90% of the nation's wealth is held by only 161 individuals.
So, even though Carlos Rejala, a Paraguayan congressman and the backer of the soon-to-be-proposed bill, has added laser eyes to his Twitter profile photo and has been putting out very bitcoin-friendly content on social media, we still have no clue how much support he may get from his fellow lawmakers. |
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In short, blockchain, and particularly bitcoin, contain transformative potential for economies and people under stress.
The path to adoption, however, is not always clear-cut, and those who are content with the status quo may likely try to hinder its progress.
Not to worry though, on a long enough timeline, freedom and equality have a tendency to propagate, and now that the tools exist, change is inevitable.
Have a wonderful weekend. |
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