From Russia With Love

All around the world – from Canadian truckers to Russian schoolteachers and Ukrainian shop owners – millions are learning BTC is much more than just a tool for speculation

Mar 08, 2022

Virtually every event from the last few weeks has highlighted how important it is for people to have access to decentralized, permissionless, digital technologies:

In Ukraine, ATMs ran out of cash, banks were shut down, and the only way for people to buy food or flee was with cash or crypto.

Those fleeing to Poland and elsewhere were forced to leave most of their physical assets behind, while those with BTC were able to bring 100% of those assets with them.

In Russia, citizens holding rubles saw their country's currency collapse 30% in 1 day. Amex, Apple Pay, and others have blocked all transactions to/from Russian vendors.

So, for many citizens the only way to protect or continue using their assets was by converting to BTC or stablecoins.

In Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau passed the Emergencies Act, allowing banks to freeze or suspend accounts of private citizens, without a warrant, a court order, due process, or any legal liability for the banks.

Then pressured centralized crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe to also censor payments to the Freedom Convoy. Only donations made via crypto were possible.

All around the world – from Canadian truckers to Russian schoolteachers and Ukrainian shop owners – millions learned firsthand that Bitcoin is much more than just a tool to make money or countertrade overzealous central banks.

It's a way of taking the power to weaponize money out of the hands of government and giving financial sovereignty back to the people.

Freedom technology disguised as a get-rich-quick scheme.

Reserve Currency Up for Grabs?
The need for the separation of money and state is clear for individuals, but increasingly countries are questioning the use of the dollar and fiat payment systems altogether...

In Afghanistan, President Biden signed an Executive Order last month to confiscate $7 billion of assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank which were held in American banks.

In Russia, the Central Bank’s balance sheet holdings became worthless overnight as Western sanctions crippled the country.

In China, they’re watching very closely at how this all plays out and have already started looking at non-USD payments networks.

In America, Fed Chair Powell publicly stated in the middle of all this (unhelpfully to his own cause) that, “There can be more than 1 global reserve currency”

The Overton Window is widening fast, and we’re witnessing a realtime shift to a multipolar world where it is very likely that Bitcoin - a payment network that's credibly neutral, politically agnostic, and uncontrolled by any one country - will play a much larger role for both individuals and nation states alike.

DeFi to the Rescue

Ukraine has raised around $50m from 75,000+ donors around the world in less than a week via crypto. (I recently sent a $250 bank wire that took longer to settle...)

These BTC, ETH, and stablecoin donations are being used for critical supplies and food that's helping save lives.

All thanks to a stateless, decentralized, and digital payments network that's much faster and much cheaper than the traditional payments infrastructure.

Similarly, on the exact opposite side of the world, the Freedom Convoy in Canada was also able to raise funds from donors around the world after their bank accounts and crowdfunding platforms were frozen.

In both cases - from Canada to Ukraine - the lesson was the same:

BTC is the only asset you truly own.

Everything else is effectively borrowed from a bank, payment company, or government body who gives you permission to use it and can stop giving permission at any time.

Web3 to the Rescue

Beyond financial applications, Web3 technologies are increasingly being used to combat disinformation and allow the free flow of information.

Web3 platform Arweave, for example, has already stored *12 MILLION* documents related to the Russia/Ukraine War permanently onchain.

These docs will be available onchain to combat disinformation & fake news attempts *FOREVER*

Which will be increasingly important as Russia is now cracking down on the free flow of information within its borders, blocking everything from CNN to Facebook and disconnecting the country from the global internet starting March 11th.

Luckily, decentralized media and Web3 social media apps will enable Russians to continue to see what's happening in the world.

The importance of this cannot be overstated. Web3 tech makes it harder for leaders to lie to their people, restrict access to information, and "control the narrative".

This is anti-tyranny tech.

Conclusion

Bitcoin arrived right on time for when it would be needed most.

The demand for a non-sovereign store of value is increasing rapidly, and the value proposition of decentralized digital tech has never been more obvious.

Just last month, America levied financial sanctions against its political enemy, Russia, while in Canada, Trudeau imposed financial sanctions against his political enemies... Canadian citizens. And since technically we are all someone's political enemy, these political/financial deplatformings should incentivize every one of us to support the separation of politics and money.

Millions in fact are doing this already: individuals & companies are holding BTC so they can use their money when they want & need to, and countries are giving serious consideration to alternative, non-USD payments tech so that other countries can't steal, hyperinflate, or censor their assets.

So, whether this war lasts another 3 days or 3 years, the world will continue moving towards decentralized money and decentralized tech, and M31 Capital will be here to help support the adoption of both.