The personality of Satoshi Nakamoto is still unknown. But here is an interesting fact: the hash of the Bitcoin genesis block contains the title of the article “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” from the British edition of The Times.
So Satoshi’s motives can be guessed. The global financial crisis of 2008 and the policy of buying out the debts of large banks by the states pushed him to create an alternative monetary system without a single point of failure, reversibility of transactions and total surveillance.
“The main disadvantage of traditional money is that they need trust. We need to believe the central banks, although they have repeatedly betrayed this trust and devalued fiat money. We have to trust banks in keeping our money and electronic transfer, however they constantly borrowed them, creating credit bubbles and leaving almost nothing in reserves,” — Nakamoto wrote.
Why is the crisis to happen?
Remember Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the crisis of 2008? He also said that in 2020 a global recession would begin. In his opinion, this crisis will be much tougher and longer.
He says that this will be affected by the tightening of monetary policy in the United States, the Trump administration’s trade wars, the unresolved EU debt situation, and the “bubbling” US stock market.
There is no reason to neglect the fame and influence of this economist — many people listen to him precisely as to a person who predicted a crisis.
For many decades, large banks have been pursuing a policy of consolidation, constantly absorbing smaller institutions or carrying out mergers. Top management of such giants is sure: when there are serious problems, the government will buy out their debts, since they are too large to break down. That is what happened in 2008.
How will Bitcoin help?
However, sooner or later, the economy will indeed face a crisis, and it is foolish to deny that. By the way, over the past ten years, it was Bitcoin that helped people in countries with a crisis to insure savings. For example, in Venezuela and Argentina.
In the short documentary “Bitcoins in Argentina,” published in 2013, the Bitcoin trader told about the total nationalization of the business, thirty percent inflation and severe currency restrictions.
In Venezuela, amidst the hyperinflation, the trading volume on LocalBitcoins speaks for itself. Similar phenomena were observed in Turkey and Iran.
It is hard to say what exact role will Bitcoin have in the coming crisis. But it has already proved its effectiveness in times when banks and governments could not be trusted.
Thus, over ten years, in spite of the prohibitions and ardent criticism, Bitcoin worked its way from anarchist origins and illegal digital markets to hearings in the US Senate, unicorn companies and the most powerful lobby.
It may be assumed that the probable financial crisis will cause severe damage to the cryptocurrency business, which also uses bank accounts and operates with fiat funds.
In one of the interviews, the leading Bitcoin Core developer Jonas Schnelli emphasized:
“UX in Bitcoin is far from ideal; it is extremely difficult to understand for people outside the geek community. And I am glad about it. We have time to solve technological problems, after which we will focus on user interaction. Let’s make Bitcoin as simple as Whatsapp. If all the people come to Bitcoin right now, it won’t stand it.”
Bitcoin and blockchain technology are rapidly changing the world. Ten years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto could not even assume that his invention would be discussed at the G20 and in the White House, because before that, the cypherpunks had been in the shadow for decades.
What will happen in ten more years? It seems to us that it is worthwhile to monitor the dizzy rise of cryptocurrency. It is the only option that we have now.
