Andreas M. Antonopoulos: ‘Korea doesn’t need cryptocurrency.’
#contexto
Just around the start of the month, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, a well known author, programmer, and educator, ascended the stage to commence this year’s Deconomy (2019), a cryptocurrency conference held in Seoul, South Korea. His message: ‘Korea doesn’t need cryptocurrency.’
Some members of the audience expressed that they were initially surprised and disagreed with the statement upon hearing it. However, into the speech, context further clarified what Andreas meant by the word need —that in places within ‘South America, South Africa, and parts of Southeast Asia’ where financial systems have failed or are failing people right now, people there need cryptocurrencies.
#‘kimchi premium’ ain’t got nada en la prima de arroz y pan
In an early anecdote, Andreas shared a story of the last time he visited Buenos Aires, Argentina. After arriving at the airport, he noticed a sign at about the baggage claim section which read ‘Today’s exchange rate is 48 pesos to the dollar.
‘And that sign had been erased and rewritten so many times. That’s what inflation really looks like, and this is an alien concept in Korea. It’s an alien concept in the United States. The idea that prices change every day doesn’t really exist. The idea that you can’t write the exchange rate with permanent marker because you’d have to replace the sign tomorrow, that doesn’t make much sense.’
While exchange rates do fluctuate in countries like South Korea and the U.S., and can noticeably upon electronic signage, a cent, or percentage of a cent at a time, reality pegs that most people under such financially stable societies are not paying much attention.
Andreas posited that the primary motive for people adopting cryptocurrencies here in the ‘first world’ is speculation. In Argentina and Venezuela, however, cryptocurrencies are being adopted because government backed fiat currencies there are rapidly failing as a store of value.
Now, because of unrelenting Bolivarian hyperinflation, for some Venezuelan individuals, families, and companies, despite worldwide market volatility, purchasing bitcoin with bolivars and then hodling bitcoin performs better as a store of value than simply holding bolivars, or petro. People there still need to trade back into bolivars to buy food and basic necessities, but by stabalising purchasing power out out of necessity, Venezuelans are learning and innovating out of necessity.
No one else addressed such needs or trends on the stage of this year’s Deconomy, a conference named for the terms decentralised and economy. Just our luck, Bitcoin Center Korea (BCK) asked Andreas to do an interview while he was in town for the conference, and he said yes :D
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#An Interview with Andreas, en dos partes
Thibault, one of BCK’s mentors, came to the interview prepared with a slew of questions apt in follow-up to Andreas’ speech. Check out his article here: https://medium.com/bitcoin-center-korea/thoughts-on-the-future-of-programmable-money-30964007b6b6
Marissa, BCK’s current advisor, brought a bottle of water and forgot how to read her own handwriting. However, the following ought to be legible enough: [LINK:COMING:SOONISH]
