Bitcoin Fixes This

"Bitcoin fixes this."

You hear that a lot in this space. In fact you hear it so often it's become a running joke.

Bitcoin fixes ... racism, poverty, pandemics, global warming, whatever, you get the idea.

So this got me wondering, "What does Bitcoin fix?"

The first answer that popped into my mind, the easy answer, was that it fixes money. But I don't think that tells the whole story.

For me, I think the better answer is that Bitcoin helps us fix the incentives. And of course by Bitcoin, I'm talking about Bitcoin Cash.

Among the many problems with the US dollar is that it is old technology. But we keep using it because there's no better option. It's like dealing with the DMV. We do it because we have to, not because we want to.

Let's ignore for now all the other myriad of problems with the USD, the Euro, the Pound, the Yuan, etc. How their supply can be manipulated, how their usage can be censored, and so on.

Because on top of all that, the traditional banking system is also very inefficient. The reason it's so expensive to send money from one country to another is because you have different banks trying to talk to one another, to confirm that what was sent was what was received, that it wasn't double-spent. It's a trust issue, among other things.

Bitcoin Cash doesn't suffer from that problem because the ledger is distributed all around the world through a network of computers that provide an unbelievably high level of security and speed. When you send someone BCH, regardless of where they are in the world, they will immediately receive that money, and it will have cost the sender almost nothing to send it, no matter the amount.

So why is this important?

The ability to be able to control our money, to be able to send it across borders, without asking for permission from some bank, or having to wait for their hours of operation, and pay their ridiculous fees, changes everything.

Let me tell you a story. I'm warning you though, it's a stupid story, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

Last year, I went up to Big Bear Mountain with my family and some friends. It was snowing so chains were required. When we got to the base of the mountain, there was a huge line of cars waiting to go up, and since they have to inspect every car to make sure everyone had their chains on, the wait was excruciating. What made it really hard was once I felt like I had to take a piss. I mean I could hold it, and I did, but it would have been nice to have relieved myself and gotten back in the car since we were barely moving. Some people did hike through the snow and find some tree to hide behind to do their business, but I preferred not doing that unless it became absolutely necessary. Anyway, while waiting to get past the checkpoint, I thought, "Man wouldn't it be great if there was a porta potty out here, even just one at like the halfway point so people could use it?"

But of course there wasn't one. Probably not worth the trouble and cost of maintaining it, I figured. But I asked myself what if you charged people? I mean, you could charge 50 cents to use it or something. But who the hell carries around quarters anymore? And if you used a credit card, they probably have some minimum charge that would make it infeasible. On the other hand, if everyone had Bitcoin Cash on their phone, they could just scan the QR code, the door opens, you do your business, and the company that operates the porta potty would get to keep all the money since there is no middleman.

See, I told you the story was stupid, but I hope it helps illustrate the point I'm trying to make.

Now let me take it one step further.

I have wanted to be a professional writer for my entire adult life. But up until now, I've had trouble getting myself to devote the time and energy required to write with any real determination.

But now I suddenly find myself writing more than ever, and it's because of the incentives.

"Blame it on the incentives," I once tweeted.

It's true, read.cash has incentivized me to write.

You might think to yourself, well, if you're so passionate about it, you should do it for free. But it doesn't work like that, at least not for me. I need to be confident that whatever work I put into something, there is a reasonable chance to earn some kind of payoff. read.cash, in conjunction with Bitcoin Cash, has given me that.

There are many ways to earn on this site, and I've done it all. At first there were some big tippers who encouraged me with $50 and $100 tips or more. When that slowed down came the affiliate fees I earned during the whole IFP debate. But that mostly went away as well, and I noticed that whenever the money started to dry up, I became less motivated to write.

I still wrote because I hold BCH and was motivated to promote this site and the use of Bitcoin Cash, but that was only a secondary motivation. It didn't provide the same motive power I got from directly earning through this site.

But now we have this fund and this point system, and what do you know, I'm suddenly writing up a storm again. It's gamification on steroids. Even tipping someone earns me points, so I'm rewarded for reading posts and tipping them if I feel like it. Sometimes those points are worth more than the amount I tipped. Plus tips have the added benefit of sending a signal out into the world. I'm not just giving someone money for nothing, I'm giving it in exchange for the value I see in what they've produced, and I am paying to put a signal out to the world that I want to see more of this, to see more people like this. It's like what I was trying to say when I compared Tipping v. Liking.

Bitcoin Cash fixes incentives by allowing sites like read.cash to exist. And I'm sure part of the reason blockchain.poker is so popular is because of how cheap it is to play there. I'm guessing the rake is so low because they don't have to deal with credit card processing fees, or worry about chargebacks, or fraud.

Some might argue you could do something similar to this site using Venmo. People could post their Venmo QR code and ask for tips that way. But good luck trying to create what read.cash has created. I don't see how it's possible. Try getting Venmo to split a payment received by an author with the author, their affiliate, as well as the site, all while dealing with amounts as small as a penny, and do it non-custodially.

You can't, because you'd be using a system built on USD. USD is old money, it's like those old Nokia cell phones, while BCH has the potential to become the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

I believe that by allowing us to remove the rent seekers, a tool like Bitcoin Cash has the potential to revolutionize the world. Bitcoin Cash might not fix everything, but if you can fix the incentives, I bet we're going to see a whole slew of new possibilities open up.

Imagine if people are given a way to more easily use their energy for profit.

Bitcoin Cash can make that possible because BCH is useful.

Thanks for reading.