Understanding Bitcoin As A Tool For Social Justice
Is Bitcoin a tool for social justice? Read this article if you question if this digital asset is a tool for social justice.
Since the creation of Bitcoin, people have been dismissive of this digital asset with declarations that the technology has links with white supremacy and groups aspiring to spread hate and division. However, this article highly opposes this wrong message and wants to help people appreciate why Bitcoin is a tool for social justice. No monetary tool can help eradicate the effects of discrimination. However, this digital currency offers immigrant, black, brown, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ communities the promise of a fair and impartial financial system.
Sealing the Black Wealth Gap
For a long time, black Americans have faced systematic exclusion from building wealth and guaranteeing property rights. Thus, they inherit a legacy of disadvantage that affects their finances today. The institution of brutal thrall slavery in which humans got the same value as the property was America’s first economic system. The system turned America into a financial powerhouse and cultivated millionaire enslavers whose white decedents enjoyed these gains. Black Americans would also have property seized under the Jim Crow era laws confiscating over 12 million acres.
Decades later, the New Deal would formulate the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which remains the foundation of America’s current real estate market. And this new mortgage market provided White American families with a route to wealth through homeownership; however, this American dream was unavailable to black families.
For Black Americans, this digital money pledges a fair financial system untainted by America’s legacy of racial intimidation and strong certainties of the property rights they have for a long time being in denial. Additionally, this digital asset can be self-studied. Therefore, black Americans no longer need to wholly depend on banks, institutions, or intermediaries.
What’s more, Bitcoin allows Black Americans to take immediate agency control and custody of their financial assets. Thus, they can build generational wealth.
Aiding Latino Communities
The Latin communities have also experienced social injustice, thus deterring them from attaining the American Dream. During the 2008 financial crisis, Latin borrowers earned costlier subprime mortgage loans. Most Latino families forfeited homes, setting them back in their undertakings to build generational wealth and savings.
The subsequent financial losses and past discriminatory practices from banks have fueled distrust of the finance industry in the Latino community. As a result, 27% of Latino Americans use this digital asset to store value. In the end, Bitcoin empowers the Latino community by providing access to a fair economic system. Also, it offers a path to prosperity via enhanced financial tools.
Entrusting First Generation Immigrants
Immigrants built America as a country, and they continue to be a cornerstone of the economy. Out of the country’s nearly 5 million business owners, 900,000 are immigrants. This population is because first-generation Americans are breadwinners for family members abroad. America also accounts for almost 24% of all remittance trades. However, remittance services are pretty expensive, and the U.S is among the least costly countries for people to send remittances, yet the average fee is 6% per transaction.
The majority of immigrants are endorsing Bitcoin to avoid remittance fees. With this virtual money, immigrants can convert dollars to
Bitcoin and send this virtual currency to family members abroad using platforms such as bitcoin revolution. Bitcoin transaction fees are minimal compared to transacting using a traditional remittance service. Lightning wallets, a developing technology running on top of Bitcoin, are a step further, with average fees of less than one cent. Those savings eventually add up.
The Bottom Line
Bitcoin has created an escape hatch for a generation of marginalized Americans and made them excited about saving and investing. This digital asset is, therefore, a tool for social justice.