Real solutions
While we use cryptocurrency mainly for speculative purposes, there are places in the world where Bitcoin offers a solution to a lot of difficulties.
Consider developing countries, where crypto is currently being used for much more then speculation. Like in South America for example where they are losing their value at a lightning pace. They are number one is terms of bitcoin usage since a very long time. But they are been recently dethroned by another continent. Yes, Africa is hopping on as well and starting to reach record levels in developing regions. We see that crypto currencies are providing demanding use cases for the local population so we see Bitcoin communities expanding rapidly. Countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda and especially South Africa are huge leaders in this.
South Africa
South Africa is currently running a wonderful project, where they have the choice of two ways to pay for electricity. Namely postpaid or prepaid. However, there are often problems with the postpaid system. People find it difficult to understand that they need to pay for something that has already been consumed, so the prepaid system is the solution. Then again, the biggest problem is that 80 percent of the population has no access to a bank or other financial services to pay in advance. So the electricity company has to go from door to door in a secure way to receive the payments. This increases the costs enormously.
The solution is very simple. Smart meters are created with a Bitcoin address, this allows you to pay with Bitcoin and gives you automatically the right amount of electricity. A fast, secure and fair way! Another added bonus, is the cost that is significantly reduced for all involved parties!
Banking on Africa
You can discover all this on Prime Video in the beautiful pro-Bitcoin documentary 'Banking on Africa: the Bitcoin Revolution'. It tells the story of a woman in Botswana who earned bitcoins by filling out online surveys. She did this, for raising money for her son who had a birth defect and surgeries were extremely expensive. Unfortunately, her son passed away in 2011, but this woman herself discovered the power of Bitcoin. After the big bull run of 2017, she was able to buy a farm where she also set up her so-called Satoshi centre. She has been travelling around Africa to spread her knowledge, and provides education around crypto wherever needed or wanted. She also makes sure that the poor people don't get caught up in many scams that flood Africa that would me then even more poor.
Nigeria
Finally, let's take a look at the example of Nigeria. According to Google, the term Bitcoin is the most popular searched term in that country. So we see that the market in Africa in growing and will continue to grow. They don't have access to banks but they do have a smartphone. So the way to crypto was easy. We can only applaud this, because it's one of the main reasons Bitcoin was developed. Making money accessible was Satoshi Nakamoto's philosophy. So be sure to keep an eye on the African continent because, a lot will change. There will be a point where we have to follow their lead. The world of tomorrow is at your door. Maybe it's time to open it!