Why I Remain Optimistic About Crypto
I'm at home in Ghana right now. Just used crypto to buy a weekend at this resort.
I traded USDT on Binance P2P for mobile money and paid with that
(mobile money = emoney account on your phone number, eveyone here uses it).
"Kofi", I hear you ask, "why couldn't you have just transferred money to a Ghanaian bank account and paid with that? Why use crypto at all?"
Three reasons:
(1) The value of the Ghana Cedi is in freefall. Over the past year, the exchange rate has gone from 11GHS:$1 -> 15.5GHS:$1. I don't want to hold Cedis. I want to buy the exact amount I need at the moment that I want to spend it.
(2) To avoid holding Cedis, I could open a dollar account at a Ghanaian bank. The problem with this plan is that I don't trust Ghanaian banks. Our financial system has too many failings to summarize in a tweet. And there are horror stories of folk having their dollar account spending restricted right when they really needed it.
(3) On top of that, wiring money to a Ghanaian bank account from a foreign one takes days and the fees are high. So tradfi transfers aren't a good fit for my "buy small batches of Cedis when I want to spend" strategy
Because of these reasons, I act as my own bank when I'm home. I hold dollar stables in my crypto wallet. I swap those stables for mobile money as the need arises.
I don't get disillusioned because crypto solves a day-to-day problem for me: Securing my cash in a country where I don't trust the institutions.
That said, I understand why the CT crowd gets disillusioned. Most of you reading this are based in the West (US, Europe). When I'm in the West I don't spend crypto day-to-day the way I do at home. I just use my Western bank card like a normal person. Because I'm pretty sure my Western bank won't fuck me.
You're disillusioned about cryptos' usefulness because it genuinely isn't that useful to you right now 🤷. To make it useful you need to build new things, novel and exciting consumer apps.
Sadly, I think you'll understand what I mean soon. It feels like the world is hanging on a thread. The US is in a $34T debt crisis. Europe had a brief recession this year. There might come a day when you don't trust your institutions either. If that day comes, crypto will let you work around the system.
I'm at home in Ghana right now. Just used crypto to buy a weekend at this resort.
I traded USDT on Binance P2P for mobile money and paid with that
(mobile money = emoney account on your phone number, eveyone here uses it).
"Kofi", I hear you ask, "why couldn't you have just transferred money to a Ghanaian bank account and paid with that? Why use crypto at all?"
Three reasons:
(1) The value of the Ghana Cedi is in freefall. Over the past year, the exchange rate has gone from 11GHS:$1 -> 15.5GHS:$1. I don't want to hold Cedis. I want to buy the exact amount I need at the moment that I want to spend it.
(2) To avoid holding Cedis, I could open a dollar account at a Ghanaian bank. The problem with this plan is that I don't trust Ghanaian banks. Our financial system has too many failings to summarize in a tweet. And there are horror stories of folk having their dollar account spending restricted right when they really needed it.
(3) On top of that, wiring money to a Ghanaian bank account from a foreign one takes days and the fees are high. So tradfi transfers aren't a good fit for my "buy small batches of Cedis when I want to spend" strategy
Because of these reasons, I act as my own bank when I'm home. I hold dollar stables in my crypto wallet. I swap those stables for mobile money as the need arises.
I don't get disillusioned because crypto solves a day-to-day problem for me: Securing my cash in a country where I don't trust the institutions.
That said, I understand why the CT crowd gets disillusioned. Most of you reading this are based in the West (US, Europe). When I'm in the West I don't spend crypto day-to-day the way I do at home. I just use my Western bank card like a normal person. Because I'm pretty sure my Western bank won't fuck me.
You're disillusioned about cryptos' usefulness because it genuinely isn't that useful to you right now 🤷. To make it useful you need to build new things, novel and exciting consumer apps.
Sadly, I think you'll understand what I mean soon. It feels like the world is hanging on a thread. The US is in a $34T debt crisis. Europe had a brief recession this year. There might come a day when you don't trust your institutions either. If that day comes, crypto will let you work around the system.
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