The Decentralization of Financial Opportunities and Banking the Unbanked

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We all have various reasons for entering into crypto. Many of us arrived here when we heard the promises of untold riches. Others arrived here after being wronged by the traditional financial systems. Others arrived because of the draw of a new technology that could ease the burdens of our favorite daily activities.

What about the unbanked? Why would they use crypto?

I was listening to a talk by Andreas Antonopolous about the unbanked and he started this talk by saying: The unbanked do not ask why they should enter crypto.. rather, they ask how to do it.

The unbanked do not need to be convinced to join crypto.. It is simply a matter of how they can enter crypto and learn how to use it to improve their lives by several orders of magnitude. It’s not that their governments do not provide opportunities to them, it’s that their governments actively steal those opportunities and hoard them to themselves.

Universal access to basic finance. This is and has always been the main goal behind cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin can provide immense opportunities, but I believe STEEM provides a whole different set of opportunities. With hierarchical keys and a (relatively) easy to use online wallet, anyone with internet can access the Steem blockchain and use it for various financial transactions and other activities that can actively create wealth such as blogging, curating, engaging, tracking activity, playing games, etc.

Not only can you create a next-generation “bank account” on Steem, you can also create a windfall of financial opportunity for yourself. As we find more gateways to use STEEM as a currency in the real world, the opportunities for becoming your own personal bank will increase exponentially.

Definition of Unbanked:

The word “unbanked” gets thrown around a lot, but many still misunderstand the exact meaning of it. The definition on Investopedia reads as follows:

”’Unbanked' is a slang term for adults who do not use banks or banking institutions in any capacity. Unbanked persons generally pay for things in cash or else purchase money orders. Unbanked persons also typically do not have insurance, pensions or any other type of professional money-related services. They may take advantage of alternative financial services, such as check-cashing and payday lending, if such services are available to them.” 1

The problem with this definition (and with this entire page on investopedia) is that it only focuses on people in the U.S. who are unbanked. Yes, this is a problem in the U.S. — about 10 million American households (7.7%) are unbanked according to this same page, but there are BILLIONS of unbanked people globally. BILLIONS….

For these billions outside of the U.S., the definition of unbanked is much more extreme. Not only do they lack access to financial institutions, they are also ruled by governments who actively demolish opportunities for financial prosperity through corruption, control and abuse of their citizens.

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While this report states that 1.7 billion adults lack access to a bank account, many claim that this data is skewed lower because it accounts mostly for heads of households, excluding many women and young adults. This number is likely a lot higher than 1.7 billion when you consider all these individuals who are not considered “breadwinners” in their respective households.

Changing the Tides, How Crypto Will Bank the Unbanked:

As blockchain technology and education improves, the unbanked will quickly become banked in this next-generation economy. Educating them will become one of the most important distributions of knowledge in our lifetimes.

By skipping over traditional institutions and centralized corporations in favor of decentralized networks, crypto has the ability to dispel the power of these governments that have a tight hold over their citizens. In the U.S. there is a strong government, but it is nothing compared to what people are dealing with in the rest of the world.

While companies such as Facebook claim to bring banking to the masses, what will be different about it? You’ll still be spied on, lied to and ultimately controlled by a central entity.

Decentralization isn’t a feature or a fun “option”… it’s an absolute necessity going forward.

In the future, I see a decentralization of financial opportunities as an inevitability. We are already seeing it on a smaller scale as people enter Bitcoin, STEEM and other cryptocurrencies in search of financial opportunities outside of the institutional realm. This is just the beginning of a long journey to not only banking the unbanked, but providing a greater level of opportunities to everyone regardless of race, gender, geography and political stance.



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13 comments
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The unbanked theme is why crypto and steem are too big to fail.

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100%. A lot of people still have their heads stuck in the sand about crypto and look at it as merely an opportunity for people to "invest" and make a bunch of money... they don't see that the rest of the world NEEDS crypto in their daily lives.

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To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

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We also have the underbanked which is those who have banking and financial services that exist but are not up to par. Usually, at the root of this, is corruption i.e. a banking system someone would not want to use since it is nothing more than outright thievery.

I saw a video with Antonopolous where he pegs this figure at over 5B. According to his research, there are under 2B will reliable banking.

What you state about it not being an option is why many feel that cryptocurrency's mass adoption will come from the third world nations as opposed to the West. The West as the option, third world nations have none.

Tokens = freedom...this is a point that needs to be driven home.

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Crypto can be the great equalizer for the unbanked but, and it is a big but, it has to be made easier for them to transact. Very few will take the time to figure out all the steps to do a simple Steem transaction. Until then, Uphold and CoinBase will be better options for the average person.

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(Edited)

Almost all of the unbanked have smart cellphone with Internet connection. It means that Smartphone with (crypto) wallet will be their bank accounts for the future unbanked which will provide all sorts of defi.

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Many of us arrived here when we heard the promises of untold riches. Others arrived here after being wronged by the traditional financial systems. Others arrived because of the draw of a new technology that could ease the burdens of our favorite daily activities.

Came for the riches, started getting into the tech and liking the possibilities of it more and more, my bank then froze my transactions and my passion for crypto increased a lot that day... so I guess was a mix of all the above 😂

I'm very interested in the fact that even normal people, unbanked or even those who were previously banked are going to get access to new tools to invest their money for almost no bank fees and taxes! If money is run by code and trough the internet it becomes that much easier and cheaper to distribute dividends, to access new markets, access new investment instruments! Tools that only the rich and powerful had! Our whole bureaucratic system is designed in a way to make it hard for people without money to invest or get any money back! But now everything is changing! Because encryption, decentralized and permissionless money and permisionless and decentralized content sharing like Steem are available for everyone!

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Hi, @khaleelkazi!

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@khaleelkazi, Definitely Steem is real opportunity with the path of Diversification and in my opinion everyone have the opportunity here and that's the unique point and aspect of Steem. Stay blessed.

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100% with you on this. The unbanked understand that cryptocurrency isn’t about making money, it’s about replacing money.

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Day by Day we Will Get There @khaleelkazi, Humanity will be Rewarded with a System that will be Freedom from Oppression.........

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