How the Block-Chain Boom Will Revolutionize the News (Steemit Exclusive)

It has now been almost a decade since the global financial crash of 2008, and still today economic stagnation and unemployment have in some way affected every nation on the planet. Hyperinflation and the overburden of government taxation and regulation have strangled and markets from Venezuela to Japan. Spain’s youth unemployment rate currently sits at around 40%, and Greece is not looking too much better. The value of the of the United state dollar has has lost 94% of its value over the past 76 years. Quantitative easing increased debt have made the dollar worth significantly less than it was just a few decades ago. Understanding devaluation is essentially recognizing that a currency is worth significantly less than what it used to be. This happens for many reasons like when a country is not letting its currency trade in the markets or otherwise essentially sets how much its currency is worth.

Devaluation occurs when a country's government ( or its central bank) announces a big change in the country's exchange rates. It is usually a conscious process of controlling currency in a fixed rate regime. Central banks and governments can also limit or prohibit the trading of their currency at any level not set by them, however, this type of intervention is not that popular since looked at negatively by the market players. Bitcoin operates on a sorta Managed Float System. In a managed float system the currency floats against other currencies. In traditional managed float scenarios the monetary authorities may still seek to increase or decrease the value of the currency by performing interventions, this is not possible with block-chain technology.

Block-chain technology now allows us to send money in a direct peer to peer manor, anonymously without the risks of government intervention. As the corrupt older systems are beginning to fail, there is no surprise to many to see Bitcoin’s value skyrocketing. The important thing to note at this point is that Bitcoin was not meant to be a long term investment strategy it was meant to give people the advantage of a peer to peer decentralized means of exchange. Meaning that the inventors of Bitcoin originally intended for it to be used, not stored on drives and held as an investment. While many are justifiably thrilled by cryptocurrencies recent meteoric rise, it is important that we take this market value, this wealth that have obtained, and invest it back into our communities, and into infrastructures and business that empower alternatives. Bitcoin is still young enough to to take advantage of as simple economic principles as influencer marketing. Influencers and activist like Derrick Broze, Sterlin Luxin, and Jeff Berwick have been able to literally create hundreds of thousands of dollars in value by simply lending their names and informing their communities of the value of decentralization. Bitcoin’s total market cap struck $40 billion recently, with over $1.6 billion in trading over a 24-hour period, and as the current market leader in cryptographic currencies it has been able to catapult itself into the mainstream limelight as the predominate federal reserve replacement. Even multinational corporations and hedge funds are investing into the blockchain technologies and looking to protect their assets from government overreach.
In the book Blockchain Revolution: Alex Tapscott writes “Governments that wish to repress the citizens voices everywhere and have captured technologies like the internet to silence dissidents and block outside media, will find blockchain technology significantly more challenging to stop for several reasons. Citizens and journalist could use a public key to conceal their identities from would-be-censors and attackers. Where governments discourage and deprive good and honest journalism of funding, journalist could raise funds on the blockchain, casting a wider net for investors sympathetic to their cause, especially investors who preferred to remain anonymous. Finally, governments could not destroy or alter information recovered on the blockchain; therefore, we could use it to hold governments and other powerful institutions accountable for their actions.”

Consider crowdfunding journalist on the blockchain. If they were released from the financial grip of state-controlled media, they could then cover politics freely while preserving the anonymity of their donors. With the unprecedented rise in the value of the alternative currencies, it’s important that those looking for alternatives use this increased wealth to invest into other alternative markets as well. That is we can use the surging value of Bitcoin to grow other alternative markets such as alternative energy, news, music, construction, and fashion. We now have at our fingertips an opportunity like never before to siphon financial power away from the bankers and plutocrats, let's continue to push the value and the appeal of blockchain tech to the elite class and then use that value to build counter institutions. If you are one of the well informed and subsequent beneficiaries of the Bitcoin boom consider investing some of the wealth that you have earned back into the communities that continue to promote and help free-market and counter-economic alternatives grow.