I’m very interested in small islands. There are officially 58 small island nations in the world called the SIDS. The Small Islands Developing States.
If you ever visited a small island nation you would be mesmerized by the people, colors, food, culture. You would feel in paradise, because you are!
Citizens and businesses on these islands often depend on local banks, correspondent banks to do international payments at often high processing fees.
Now imagine all the businesses and people doing business online on these islands. Lets focus on the online services that can be transacted online. Consulting services, economic analysis, investing and wealth management, accounting, payroll, graphic design, video editing, film script writing, coaching, digital painting, writing and production of music, you get it. Ocean research, solar and wind energy consulting, VR games production, design of real estate, design of ports, design of yachts. Cooking mamas recipe, buying all the groceries and filming it with a phone and putting it online.Software design and python data analytics. You get the picture….let me know if I missed your niche of online services.
If these island businesses and citizens would want to trade with each other on the lightning rails, what is needed?
Can you help me create a roadmap on what is needed, in the chat?
I see a world where thousands of micro businesses on these islands can offer their services online.
I see a world where millions of people can buy services and trade with other islanders.
I see a world where everyone on a small island can download a wallet and promote their services online with say a wordpress site, with a video or some content behind a paywall, hooked with a btcpayserver and receive payments.
I see a world where the is a market place of these island bitcoiners working together. I already see the website.
Now technically. I saw that Africafreerouting has created a node for Kenya and Ghana. To empower African businesses. So I think this could also be done on islands.
So if I have a small umbrel node on my desk and I would like to open a channel to another island how do I proceed? How much sats do I need to put in that channel so that say 1000 USA dollars can be transacted?
And how does that increase if you need 2000 usa dollars transacted?
What calculations do I need to make?
Is one node ok or do I need more nodes per island?
What online resources do you have for me about this?
Ultimately my question is this: how can you create say a million USD of annual transactions between all these 58 islands?
I should be able to send a million USD each year to all the 58 islands. And each island should be able to send a million USD each year to each other island!!
I see a spreadsheet with 58 islands horizontal row and 58 islands vertical column.
But I do not know what to put on the spreadsheet yet.
I see at least 58 nodes, raspberry pi with umbrell on each island. But I don’t know yet what the channels need to be!
I see a step by step set up guide for everyone who wants to set up a node on an island, and a step by step guide how to open a channel, to test it with some sats, close it.
And I see a website with a link to all the official nodes of islands. The list is growing.
I see a website with small businesses like I mentioned before,happily showing their website, showing their services for which island.
I see a lot of small businesses creating wordpress sites, setting up btcpayservers, working for sats for these small businesses on islands that cannot do it themselves.
So I see sats being spend from day one for setting up the nodes, building the websites of businesses. I see sats pulling in when this infrastructure is built.
Then I see content being created, I see traction, did you hear about this new way to do business between all islands in the world?
Then I see some people trying to crack it down. By tring to close bank accounts. By telling it is about illegal activities, financing of terrorists etc.
But I see the happy faces of thousands of people who were first umbanked and now earning sats.
I see young people wanting to learn more about this on islands. So I see youth pulling in.
I see a University and College online. Lets call it the Islands Bitcoin University and Island Bitcoin College.
I see Bitcoin professors from all over the world teaching online on these Universities and Colleges. About financial freedom.
I see businesses getting a business degree on how to start doing business online from an island. A Bitcoin MBA. Thaught by the Bitcoin community.
I see a new global economy appearing between these small islands.
I see Michael Saylor mentioning this, focussing on small island economies that now are connecting the dots. Literally connecting the dots between the big oceans of the world!!
I see small island economies now calling themselves Big Ocean Nations!! Ans they now become more confident.
That is my story. A story I now turn into a dream. A dream I put in your hands! Wherever you are.
I have a dream.
That one day each child on every small island nation can wake up in the morning and live in a new world where it is the normal thing to receive and give stats to all other small island nation in the world
Let that dream be true!!
I think the main thing that is needed is to convince the merchants to accept bitcoin and customers to use it. If you achieve this, then the technology is already there for you to succeed in your mission.
reply
Thanks!!! Will try to convince one islander at a time to accept it.
reply
It does make sense to start with a smaller community (like an island) for sure.
reply
Yes. Island could lead with Bitcoin adoption. Because they are small!! Thanks.
reply
Its almost as though you have not heard of Bitcoin Beach. Give this a read, and be sure to check out their white paper, the link to the PDF is at the top of the page: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com/
reply
Great idea. Use Umbrel and add a dedicated Nostr relay for each island. That will supercharge adoption.
reply
Awesome!! Thanks. So you mean the Nostr will lead the conversations? Like each business can tell about his products, his offerings on his Nostr? And discuss his seevices by publishing content?
That is an awesome idea thanks for bringing in Nostr!!
reply
On nostr people could do proposal and get consensus that benefit the mayority of the 58 island nation
I'm on Oahu Island (Honolulu) I have two websites that might help indirectly. One has a merchant profile sign up, other I'm populating products by buyers and sellers. global merchant.io
Also just started using Nostr can add linking here from time to time. Currently clothing manufacturers in Honolulu. Second site accepts ONLY Bitcoin price shows in USD on product pages but check out is only in Bitcoin (I'm using Ibex Pay on a modified shopify system) sharkenvy.com
I have personally been to many Islands in Micronesia, Polynesia, Asia. The biggest issue has been transportation ocean and air. Honolulu has the blessing of many air carriers going to some remote airports and I have learned through the years which freight forwards go to which areas.
Logically using Bitcoin with goods and services priced in SATS is the foundation of what I'm doing my best to do.
Be glad to help with sending you a few things of what might be on that spreadsheet you vision. Keep in mind at some point there is interaction between Customs in each Country. And Duties are unfair and costly in some areas (in my opinion).
Aloha Rich
My heritage is from smail island. And yes I support your Idea. It is posible. I support your dream. Let see if galoy will also support our idea by let Bitcoin beach wallet brand opensource so that we can use that wallet as a refference wallet for our movement and united all the island under one walled and stand as one That would be only the beginning. Let's make a nostr account " Big Ocean Nations " and lets the dream begin