The Hidden Value of Bitcoin, Crypto, and Block-Chain Technology
This is part three in the series that began with the article; Universal Basic Income and the Foundation Economy, where I am proposing and demonstrating how to change the monetary system to eliminate poverty, homelessness, and most crime, along with a long list of other major benefits for humanity and the world at large.
Now to discuss how the existing cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology can be the basis for a distributed, decentralized, and global monetary system to provide a living wage universal basic income to every person on the planet, thereby ending poverty, homelessness, and most crime. The other goal is freeing the world’s citizens and our civilization from the chains of the current debt-based monetary system and those that control it, thereby exploiting the planet and everyone that needs money to survive.
Money, as it now exists, is not a positive force in this world. It has been imposed over recent millennia and especially recent centuries, and is a fact of life no one living had a hand in creating, yet it is kept alive by the greed that drives it. Debt-based money causes widespread greed and fear and drives a host of great problems globally and locally, that would not exist in the debt free model I am proposing. The only way to solve the absolutely horrendous effects of this monetary system (wars, suffering, widespread struggle, fear, despair, homelessness, crime, fraud, corruption, etc.) and resulting economies is to end the existence of debt-based money, controlled by central banks and shadowy people. The current monetary model and system purposefully and obscenely enriches a tiny minority of people and corporations as billions struggle and suffer because of the abominable greed and callousness of a relative few.
There is no way to fix the current system without replacing it with a modern, well planned, and technologically advanced system that is engineered, from the ground up, to eliminate poverty, homelessness, and most crime, fraud, and corruption, by design. The current system does the opposite, by design, and is a purposeful source of great fraud, crime, corruption, wars, suffering, and destruction of life, nature and natural systems. It is the source of the struggles and suffering of billions of people and other lifeforms, and has been for centuries.
The very existence of a global monetary system based on debt has created a true hell on earth for many and it and the resulting greed and fear is the root cause of all the damage we have done to all life on this planet. Those who are enriched by it are profiting from great evil and suffering on a grand scale that is directly caused by imposing a civilization where money is required to survive and then making it difficult to acquire for most, while some live like kings.
In a fair and just civilization, this would never be allowed, but since greed, aka the love of (lust for…) money, is the root of evil, our civilization, which is based on debt-based money and the greed, fear, and suffering it causes, is overtly evil in its actions and results on people and on all life and natural systems. The recent shutdowns for COVID-19 produced an unexpected result. Air and water started clearing within weeks. This shows us the great value of changing to a monetary system that will dramatically reduce the efforts, resources, waste, and pollution that the current one causes by its very existence and functionality.
It is long overdue for humanity to pause and ask who controls this overtly evil system and why? Who would impose such a great source of evil upon the entire planet and then jealously refuse to change it, knowing full well what it does and regardless of the struggles and suffering of billions and the widespread destruction of nature it causes, by its very existence. It is obvious that debt is the key feature of this system and it is used to entrap and enslave billions of souls.
To free humanity, our enslavement to debt using debt-based money must end. Human civilization should exist to help and support those who exist within it, yet this global civilization, built upon exploitation using debt-based money, treats everyone like slaves. Any who fail to submit to lives driven by greed and fear face suffering and death, simply because they lack money. This is the opposite of freedom and justice and must not be allowed to continue.
Changing the structure and functionality of the monetary system will deliver dramatically positive benefits for everyone, quickly. It is the single most effective way to change the behavior and results of our entire civilization, from individuals up to nations. It is the single most effective and direct way to end poverty, homelessness, and most crime. As climate change increases and the disasters it is already spawning grow worse and with no end in sight, it is vital to do something dramatically effective, and globally. That single most effective thing is ending the debt-based monetary system and resulting economies and practices that drive human struggle and suffering, pollution, waste, destruction of nature and natural systems, and is at the root of those things and actions causing rapid climate change, for profit.
The current monetary system, because it is based on debt, and other related factors, drives the need for continuous earned cash flow, profits and constant growth. Much of that is ultimately extracted from and/or impacts nature, life in general, and natural systems such as water and atmosphere. It also causes everything to be more difficult and expensive and spawns levels of unnecessary effort just to manage a system that is fraught with inherent unsolvable problems. Its very existence leads to far more human effort, suffering, resource extraction, waste, pollution, destruction, and more than is necessary to operate an effective technologically advanced global civilization.
The effects on the lives, mental health, and general well being of billions of souls are dramatically negative, and it causes suffering and death on a grand scale. We now have the knowledge and the experience to end the great negatives caused by the current monetary system and the greed, fear, fraud, corruption, crime, wars, widespread exploitation, and the overt harm it causes directly and spawns indirectly, globally and locally. We already have all the technology and knowledge to make the leap to a wiser, kinder, and saner model of civilization. While we still use money, it is the single most important change required to improve the lives of billions and reverse the unceasing destruction of this planet, driven by greed, fear of lack of money, and debt-based money.
The key is ending the debt requirements of money and ending the imposed scarcity for most. The current system uses fear of poverty, homelessness, suffering, starvation, sickness, and more to force people to submit to the control of those with more money. The merger of the concept of a Universal Basic Income with a new system based on the blockchain technology now used to operate cryptocurrencies is the key to making a new system work globally, and without the need for debt or central banks, and freed from the control of those that use debt and greed to rule this world from the shadows.
It is clear by recent events and history that expecting the greedy souls atop the current monetary system to voluntarily stop the evil, struggles and suffering they are profiting from, is a pipe dream. They have created a monster that is beyond their ability to reign in and to cease the harm it causes. Since it is profitable for them and because power comes from great wealth in this world and through the functionality of the current system, they will never voluntarily change. Those addicted to lives of luxury at the expense of all life, can never be expected to voluntarily relinquish that great wealth and resulting great power.
Just like the poor and down trodden, the rich suffer from the same fears of lack of money and lack of control over one’s future, that life in a civilization founded upon debt-based money causes. Thereby, to solve the problems spawned by the current system requires establishing a wiser system that ends the need to fear lack of money, as well as preventing the consequences of poverty and homelessness and the greed and desperation that leads to most crime and to the hoarding of great wealth.
So, to be free of the debt based monetary system, and the greed and fear at its core, the rest of the world needs to simply erect a new system that serves to free and empower people, instead of enslaving them to debt, by design.
I have already discussed the general concept and framework of a Foundation Economy incorporating a living wage Universal Basic Income, Universal Healthcare, guaranteed housing, and other basics. I saved this discussion of exactly how it might happen, and how it could be implemented and managed, for subsequent articles and research, hence this one. That is where the topic of bitcoin, cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology come into play.
Most people involved in the current cryptocurrency markets are there as a way to make money, and mostly through speculation. There are bitcoin miners and other related functions that don’t rely on speculation directly, but they are few. Even they rely on the existence of debt based money and the speculation involved as it drives their activities. The stark realities of the strictures and requirements of the debt-based global monetary system impinges upon and restricts these new currencies. With all of their promise and technological advancements, they are little more than new ways to gamble and raise money, in the struggle to better exist within the current debt-based system.
The true promise of cryptocurrency and block chain technology though is not just to make money in the current system. Instead, it is to serve as a proof of concept for the technology and methods required to escape from and end debt-based money and the current monetary system that enslaves humanity and destroys the only planet we have, for profit and to feed the need for constant growth.
There are already a handful of companies and projects working to use cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to establish a universal basic income. They have served as good test beds or incubators. Further, there are numerous successfully managed cryptocurrencies in a globally active marketplace. The technology already exists and works well to provide a distributed, rules-based system that can be deployed widely and quickly on both small and large scale networks. No central banks are involved and thereby the wealth created is distributed and not so concentrated. Bitcoins and similar are mined and created, also using a distributed and open process. No traditional banks are required, until one needs to work with existing currencies to cash in crypto for fiat money. Thereby, the underlying technologies already exist, as well as several test projects purposely focused on creating a Universal Basic Income.
All the current projects have the same problem that UBI efforts have faced to date, and that is relying upon and being vulnerable to the existing debt-based monetary system, taxes, etc. The current system was designed to enslave people using debt, greed, fear, and more, while also enriching and empowering a greedy and arrogant few. It will never serve as the basis for a reliable living wage universal basic income. Expecting so is delusional and most never consider the need or the methods to completely replace the current system and its debt and terrible effects on humanity and the world in general.
Thereby, to work well and effectively, the new system must be global, easily used, work for people with and without computers and cell phones, and not rely on the existence of existing currencies and monetary systems, but still be able to live along side them, at least at the start of the evolution away from them. It must integrate with businesses and must transform and ultimately replace the current banking systems. The ultimate goal is to replace debt based money and central banks, and their hierarchical structure, and transform to a distributed and far more democratic and cooperative new system that does not need central banking nor empower the greedy and arrogant, as the current one does.
As described in the first article, the key functionality that must change between the current system and the new one, is the mechanism of creating new money. Currently, this is done through debt and fractional reserve banking using central banks that loan money to other institutions that then loan it to businesses and people. Then there are things like credit cards, derivatives, etc., that have introduced new ways to create money. This leads to a concentration of wealth and power in multiple ways. It also makes access to tightly controlled money sources difficult for most and because money is required to live and survive in this civilization, everyone is forced into servitude and subservience to those with more money.
In addition to the nature of money itself, debt is integrated in daily life to buy homes, cars, and various other high priced items. Then there are credit cards and personal loans. People are enslaved to debt and are then rated on how well they behave as a slaves to debt via credit rating agencies. This is what must end for money to stop being slavery by proxy, as it now is. The current monetary system is the opposite of freedom and justice.
This is where a distributed system, based on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, with agreed upon rules, with no central banking authority, comes into play. The current functions of virtual wallets and vaults are well suited to managing one’s holdings in a global distributed system. It will also need to manage the monthly depositing of an agreed upon sum of the new currency, created as part of this system, so the balance of everyone’s wallet increases weekly or monthly, per an agreed upon schedule.
It should also handle small loans, transfers between accounts, and more, all without the intervention of a bank or other central financial authority, except to handle disputes. Most of those can be rules based as well, eliminating the need for a person to intervene in most cases. But the key features must include rapid and widespread availability, so use of the new currency is adapted globally, smoothly, and quickly, and is thereby able to replace current debt based currencies and central banks. Current banks would likely transform into data centers to keep secure backups of virtual vaults and other accounts.
For complete adaptation, it should also work for people without or who are away from their phones and computers, and this is where a standard plastic card, tied to their personal virtual wallet, comes in handy. A step further should also allow purchases without a card, simply based on a fingerprint and/or eye scan, or similar. For those without accounts, merchants and friends and web sites should allow anyone to create and start using their personal UBI and associated wallet, vault, monthly deposits, and other services.
As with any currency, monetary system, and economy, the key to a global Universal Basic Income is widespread acceptance and the ability to quickly replace debt based currency, as well as integrating with it at the start of the process to allow for an orderly evolution to occur. The target would be to establish a commonly accepted, trusted, and universally used cryptocurrency that creates new money through the mechanism of monthly UBI payments to individuals and public institutions, instead of debt or fractional reserve banking, or even like bitcoin mining.
It would not rely upon current debt-based fiat currencies to exist or use them as a basis for assigning a value, for the purposes of speculation, as cryptocurrencies now do. It will be useful though to assign a starting value based on major currencies to assist assimilation in various places, but then the plan and process would be to replace current fiat currencies by becoming the monetary system of choice for all people because it ends poverty, debt, homelessness, and most crime.
It would also stop feeding the greed and great wealth of those that have used debt-based money via a global monetary system to enslave the world. That would be its core values and purposes and would be backed by the agreement of the vast majority of humanity to cooperate so we can all exist in a saner, safer, and far more just and fair civilization, that eliminates poverty, homelessness, most crime, as well as the ability of some to grow obscenely rich, by design. There would no longer be the need to fear the lack of money, or those who have been driven to extremes because of it, in a civilization where money is required to survive.
The end of fears of lack of money, also ends everyone’s vulnerability to those with more money. This will dramatically change the nature of the workplace since people will not be desperate or fear poverty, homelessness, etc. Establishing a living wage UBI will eliminate the need for most government social programs since no one will be without enough to live. Personal income taxes would go away, the cost and size of government will shrink, and more. It will realize the dreams of both liberals and conservatives while also eliminating the need for those labels and politics.
This article is number three in a series. The next will discuss further details related to establishing a new system, its benefits, and more about how to implement it.
Here is the next, number four:
The Time for New Ways That End Old Evils has Arrived
