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Using Crypto in disaster areas

Using Crypto in disaster areas

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CoinTelegraph had a very interesting article on this very thing – see here:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/unicef-fund-manager-cryptocurrency-could-revolutionize-humanitarian-aid

You probably won’t remember but this is something I spoke about and highlighted some considerable time ago as being a perfect use for crypto in disaster situations. UNICEF has now embraced the idea. In the interview their Program Funding Manager Sunita Grote has given, other unique and extremely important facts are mentioned, notably – and I quote:

  • It lets us tap into a new resource base for UNICEF and expand our network to receive contributions 
  • Blockchain can improve efficiency and transparency by tracking the flow of resources and transactions in a more transparent way. Blockchain makes us more accountable and has the potential to reduce the amount of resources we need to do our work. We’re a $7 billion global organization that conducts a lot of transactions between various parts of our organization, so we are looking to see how blockchain can help us manage and track these in a more efficient way. 
  • We are exploring how blockchain can disrupt and improve systems that deliver programs for children. Blockchain may allow us to make payments in a new way and improve how cash transfers are made. 

The other point she made was that they were not going to just take in crypto and resell it. She specifically rules this out, and also simply handing the crypto to governments in affected areas. The digital currencies, she says, are specifically going to be used as currency within affected areas.

That is an enormous step forward and a real life use of crypto that transcends anything it has been used for before.

Twenty years from now

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do

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I’ve had a number of interesting meetings with random people over the last couple of weeks. They were all related to different business aspects, but the one thing that came across quite clearly was the growing realisation that blockchain – and by extension, cryptocurrency – was going to be THE future.

At least two of the people I was talking to had had virtually no knowledge of blockchain until very recently, and one of them only started to look at it when I arranged to meet him a couple of days ago. If anything he was the most evangelical about it.

One of the most important aspects is how people are perceiving digital currency. I have already argued that it is now another asset class alongside stocks and shares, art, fine wine, bonds, gold, commodities and so on, and this idea is already taking hold. I had a very interesting conversation with a Polish lady who had never even heard of blockchain, but knew of Bitcoin. As soon as I explained about the asset class ( ok maybe you should only have 1% of your wealth in it) she rushed off to talk to her business manager, and splurged on a basket of cryptos. I’m not sure she has all the right ones, but hey, that’s her business. As an aside she’s already made money on them.

It remains true that if you had that 1% just in Bitcoin 5 years ago, your total portfolio would have out-performed nearly all others. Far be it from me to say it but if you had included Scotcoin in that same portfolio, you would have outperformed ALL others.

The countries, ecosystems and companies that embrace the possibilities of blockchain and crypto now are those that will inherit the future.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

It is a misconception that Mark Twain said that (along with lots of other things he said)

Mark Twain did NOT say that.

The quote belongs to H. Jackson Brown’s mother. See page 13 in Brown’s 1991 book: P.S. I Love You: When Mom Wrote, She Always Saved the Best for Last.

But Twain DID say “Denial is not just a river in Egypt”

Have a great future.