In 2021, Bitcoin went to the mainstream. Wall Street has set its sights on the crypto world, with hot investors like hedge funder Paul Tudor Jones leading the pack; The Economist left by playing cryptocurrency “useless” in 2018 arguing that it is in many places; Senior management executives Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk crossed the swords on the benefits of Bitcoin at a conference hosted by the asset management company. Popular opinion is a bit slow: Many people still believe that cryptocurrency is the largest, fastest-growing giant in the world. Some simply ignore the whole point as if they were somehow obsessed with getting the best out of life, the worst crime. But in the midst of noise, curiosity, and hype, we can lose a very important issue: how cryptocurrency is changing lives in developing countries.
For example, Cuba, a country where internet penetration dropped from 40 percent in 2015 to 70 to 80 percent today. Like most people, Cubans want to buy and sell things online — but, unlike most people, they cannot buy anything online using a credit card or credit card. As a result of US sanctions, ordinary Cubans find themselves exempt from the global economy: They may not sign up for Spotify, buy a brand name, or pay for online services using a card. This means that if Cubans want to get involved in online trading, especially with another country, they have to use crypto currency. And when there is a need, there is a way. Cubans have found answers such as Bitrefill, a charity that sells gift cards from Spotify and other cryptocurrency companies. Data from Bitrefill of June 2021 shows that four times as many people buy digital Cuban products (such as Cubacel top-ups) using cryptocurrencies such as buying the same US goods, on social change. Crypto has infiltrated the country deep into the Communist Party in Cuba, a Marxist organization unknown for its technical expertise, has ordered the Central Bank of Cuba to directing the use of cryptocurrencies and learning how to use it to help the government avoid US sanctions. Surprisingly, U.S. State Department officials are said to be looking at how crypto currencies could be used to set up remittances that go beyond the high taxes imposed by the Cuban government.
Although the introduction of crypto in Cuba has been underway, in El Salvador Bitcoin has been declared legal and the president of this country, Nayib Bukele. President Bukele says the government-sponsored Bitcoin wallet already has more users than the entire Salvador banking system, which could throw in ways to help thousands of people without a bank. These Bitcoin wallets work a bit on the Lightning network, a method that allows for a cheaper and faster cryptocurrency. You can pay instantly with Bitcoin in Salvador McDonald’s and any Starbucks, which sounds like the future and the fun. However, Bukele is accused of reckless action to turn the country into a hub for rich Bitcoin traders or real criminals, and polls show that many Salvadorans are worried that their pay is being paid in unstable bitcoins. Whether Bukele’s crypto gambit will go down in history as a technology or autocrat idiot has not been determined.
In southern Venezuela, Bitcoin is slowly becoming a major part of the economy. Due to financial management, Venezuelan banks are not affiliated with the rest of the world, so Bitcoin is used to move prices abroad and through international markets where people can easily exchange Bitcoin with currency. The popularity of these markets was demonstrated by a natural test in 2019 when, with the great power outage in Venezuela, the volume of Bitcoin trading in Latin America as a whole declined sharply. Today the peer-to-peer crypto markets have become known as a major part of the Venezuelan currency exchange market.
But the real leader in Bitcoin trading is not Latin America, but sub-Saharan Africa. UsefulTulips, the world’s leading Bitcoin trading platform, now claims that the trading volumes in Sub-Saharan Africa here are similar to those in North America and will soon pass. The average volume is $ 20 million a day, but the actual numbers can be much higher. In countries like Nigeria, the government has set strict monetary restrictions, and moving the price across the border may be impossible. It is not surprising that Africans are increasingly using crypto currencies in global events.