It’s my opinion that the most insidious institutions on the planet are banks, lenders, mortgage companies, and the governments that profit from them and allow them to prey on individuals and turn us into ‘consumers’ and other financial products. I can see a way out of this human caused mess – the way is called cryptocurrency.
Banks exist because of the need of humans to have a trusted third party confirm our financial and business transactions. (Personal as well, which is why there is a witness necessary at weddings). The trusted third party is witness to loans, transfers of property, etc.
The problem is that the trusted third party is not trustworthy. People cheat for profit. Simple as that. Maybe not all of us, but enough of us. It’s why government, finance, and other institutions are corrupt – that’s what corruption is.
Blockchain eliminates the need for trusting a third party. A blockchain is a ledger or record book which is immutable – that is, it cannot be changed. Transactions of any kind are encrypted using the most powerful encryption tools available and then encrypted with all previous transactions to form a chain of blocks that are distributed far and wide to every ‘node’ in a network. Bitcoin, for example, has tens of thousands of nodes (more on Nodes here from Jamison Lopp)
In short, blockchain and cryptocurrency create a decentralized immutable ledger that is distributed widely and cannot be changed. Cryptocurrency is the payment for the extremely costly math that creates the blockchain. It can be traded and has real value to create new blocks and to take away power from banks and governments.
There is much more to all of this and here are a few links to get you started buying, selling, and learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Robinhood Crypto Trading Platform
If you want to buy or sell cryptocurrency you will need a couple of accounts:
Binance: https://www.binance.com/?ref=13319173 (I get a little bit from your transaction fees if you use this link – thanks)
Cryptopia: https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Register?referrer=captainvapoor
Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/join/52d742c6c60a61f2a6000033 (Use this link and we both get $10 in BTC)
Bitify is the Ebay of Bitcoin: https://bitify.com/?referral=5a736365dfed6
And for trading stocks on your iPhone and soon crypto:
RobinHood: https://share.robinhood.com/christd2392 (use this link and we both get a free stock like Ford or Apple)
Finally, here are a couple of fun links to some newbie experiences:
A Noobs Guide to Blockchain, Bitcoin, and Cryptocurrency
A Noobs Guide to Alt-Coins and Cryptocurrency Speculation
A Noob’s Guide to Investing in the Stock Market