Imagine the f***ing economies of scale, globally, that could be achieved in banking if everyone just moved to Bitcoin and Lightning. No need for complex interoperability between systems of different countries. No need for expensive remittance fees and currency conversion fees. No financial censorship and a free market of banking apps that anyone in the world can create and use, due to the financial base layer being completely open source and programmable.

It's so frustrating when normies can't catch the vision, so to speak.

I'll be starting Bitcoin education classes in Argentina in the coming weeks with Mi Primer Bitcoin. You're always welcome to come down for a front-row seat for what should be a pretty extraordinary next year or two in the grand scheme of things. You sound like good people if this is what's on your mind after a beer or two.

I tried to send $2K to a buddy in Jamaica and moneygram almost ate my cash—the government blocked it because it was too much money and triggered their AML illogic. I had a nightmare of a time getting the money back from them. I still can’t believe that everyone there isn’t taking bitcoin.

I come from one of those countries and I know exactly what you mean, it's saddening to see. It's also nice to see people doing what you do because part of the problem comes from what developed nations impose on the "global south", and this is allowed to happen by most people because they don't even know what's going on there. When you make documentaries to show how things are you're helping your way to solve the issue.

I'm fully convinced bitcoin is THE tool to make things better for the masses that are unbanked and are outside the financial system.

A friend of mine is doing something alike with his company elegante.co and I convinced him a few days ago to accept bitcoin, he still thinks it's useless in his field. Check out his work, it's beautiful.

Don't sweat it, bro. We can handle all of that and a thousand additional hardships. And everyone down here will find bitcoin soon enough. It's just a matter of time.

I didn't know that was a common problem in developing countries. I had a couple of these exact same problems in Cambodia and Vietnam. Cambodia once it took me I think more than 5 minutes to pay just because they didn't have the change in a restaurant. I would add also for a reason I ignore they don't accept paper money which looks old, only paper which looks nice and new.

"They ALWAYS have very similar, unfair and yet easily fixed basic financial problems."

LOL.

Talking down from some financial privilege pedestal dude.

thanks for sharing Joe - sometimes we gotta just get the negativity off our chest and yell into the ether for a while!

bitcoin is hope, yes, but we've all still got tons of work to do insofar as that means creating general education (you're crushing this one), building useful products & services, and then showing folks how to benefit from such products and services.

I wonder if peer-to-peer markets are an adoption killer app for these places. If they can access robosats on a computer or mobile device they could transition into Bitcoin permissionlessly. It sounds like KYC is keeping many out of the financial system as it is. It makes sense, like in Bitcoin itself, that acquiring Bitcoin should be permissionless. Just a transaction, no gatekeepers. We can't expect these people to be able to access the same financial rails we have in developed nations. (maybe we should ditch these too). We need a completely grassroots expansion. Peer-to-peer markets must take off.

Is the ATM fee for residents too? I ask because I've been to Phillipines as a tourist and they charge to use the ATM each time and have a withdrawal limit like 30/50k PHP, so to withdraw large amounts a tourist must pay the fee multiple times. However, there is no fee for those with local bank cards.

Having said that, credit cards (and sometimes debit cards too) do usually charge a transaction fee, sometimes 5% or more. They use payment platforms such as GCash which is cheaper (and a centralised service). Bitcoin is becoming more widely accepted there as a means of payment.

That's why I'm educating myself on how to educate others about bitcoin.

Wait until you learn just how much the first world needs bitcoin... you can only see how bad the global south has it because you have a reference frame, but you cannot begin to imagine that which is lost in the "first world" due to fiat.

I suppose btc is actually no help here bc standard of living is too low for anyone to take btc in a circular-economy manner, and everyone is so poor that if they sold their labor or products for btc, they'd have to cash it out immediately to make ends meet, miring them in all the problems you described.

Stories like this are useful to keep in mind for the "bitcoin fixes this crowd." Yeah, maybe it would fix it if the country could somehow transform, en masse and instantaneously, to a bitcoin standard. Failing that, what, aside from slow, incremental global change?

When Western Union and MoneyGram cease to operate, it will serve as a clear indicator that those who rely on favors instead of fair exchange are nearing their demise.

This is why civkit...

Great rant!! Most of us sort of know these things, but actually not really, since we're far away and don't know what life is like there on a daily basis. So it's good to be reminded of how bad things are in some regions and how hopeless they can seem.

The more often we get reminded, the more it penetrates our awareness and consciousness and the more we can help think of solutions.

Bitcoin will fix the broken system. LFG! keep going, keep learning, keep educating, keep building. /o/

It's stupidly insane. I dig your frustration fren. I guess this is because all these countries are tied up to the IMF, who are the ones to impose the rules and fees to be charged in every banking transaction. Yes, bitcoin is the solution to this, but not until the governments of these countries decide to cut ties with the IMF (which is not beneficial for them politicans because they are as corrupted as fuck) and move onto the Bitcoin solution... the way I see it, it will take years for this to change which will keep these countries in poverty... yes, there might be someone who comes and tells me I am delusional by thinking that a government will come and change a nation; however, let's take a look at Argentina. Javier Miley is running for president and his whole agenda is all about Bitcoin and maximum freedom for the people. His plan is to cut ties with all the Socialist parties, as well as the corrupt banksters who have drown the countries' economy over the last decades. He believes in Bitcoin and its ecosystem because he understands Bitcoin. He understands this is the only way out to a bright future which will get Argentina backi nto the tracks for a successful and rich country. So yeah I do believe in people who can become great leaders for a nation. While BTC is a personal endeavor, it doesn't make much sense to live under a bankster regime.... the world we live in sucks... Excellent post my fren

Friend, I completely understand your frustration. As someone from Latin America, I can relate to the challenges you describe. The financial systems here are often designed to benefit the banks and card companies, not the people. But you're right, Bitcoin has so much potential to help everyday people by removing the power from big institutions. I'm optimistic that as Bitcoin adoption spreads, it will make financial services more accessible and affordable. We just have to be patient. These things take time. I know it's hard to see people struggle with unfair systems in the meantime. But staying positive is important too. More people are waking up to the need for an alternative. Grassroots efforts to spread crypto education are growing. Things are slowly changing.

Sometimes I feel that impatience, maybe I got in too early, or maybe I'm just too excited about the change it could bring, but realistically I think it takes a lot more time. I use South African Rands its the best shitcoin on the continent, going to places like Egypt, Zim, Tanzania, and Kenya you quickly realize you're not doing too badly as them and even their people are still willing to take that punishment.

If you are trying to preserve something, using USD is your next step and is growing in popularity because of its network effect, its trust, US culturealexports, US export markets and its relative performance vs a local currency in most global South countries, holding USD not even paying interest outperforms any savings account or stock market, not that many people invest in those assets

I think for Bitcoin to take hold it needs to be in the trillions market cap wise where very few actors or news can drive the price down, if your vol range is like 15% then its not too different from a 3rd world shitcoin in terms downside + it has potential upside.

Another key point is having methods of transfering it with a very low cost without as much custody risk, if thats covenants, if thats fedimint, I don't know yet, but if you can show people a product that is cheaper, quicker and accepted at the places they want to spend at, like the local taxi, the local shop, the local money changer guy, then you got something.

There's a lot of margin available to disrupt payments in the global South and im sure as bitcoin tech improves, companies and people will come in to capture those margins with better experiences

Some people in the thread have correctly pointed out that, from the perspective of the poorer populations in some of these countries, Bitcoin's price volatility makes it impractical for them to use in day to day life.

However don't dismiss the value proposition it holds for remittances, and especially international transfers of various types.

Generally people don't have appropriate documentation, don't want to pay extortionate international banking fees, wait inordinate amounts of time and, most of all, suffer the risk of funds freezing. Yes I am not only talking about the poorer half of the population here, but these issues plague everyone in different ways, unless they never do anything non-local in their lives.

A counterpoint being raised is stablecoins and it's a good one, but the most fundamental appeal of Bitcoin in the above situations is its censorship resistance, and stablecoins don't even come close on that metric. That's why Bitcoin is always in the discussion here, even today, let alone in future.

The tension between people's preference for the stability of USD denomination vs the rug-risk and censor-risk of the stablecoin platforms they're being offered is going to be a story for several years I think.

You can not win a game on the same level where it was created.

Right on

I know "Bitcoin fixes this"

But I actually think Jack Maller's model of using Bitcoin rails to send fiat currencies probably has the highest chance of success in these countries.

Yes!! That's the way 👍🏻

I've had a beer as well. Cheers 🍻

𝐇𝗼𝐰𝐝𝐲 𝐝𝗼 ? 🤠 👋