Technology
Episode 33 - Cryptocurrency, the Blockchain and Life: A Podcast by Oi Zephier
In Episode 33 of 'Cryptocurrency, the Blockchain and Life,' host Oi Zephier explores how blockchain technology can empower developing countries and Native American communities. He discusses ...
Episode 33 - Cryptocurrency, the Blockchain and Life: A Podcast by Oi Zephier
Technology •
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Interactive Transcript
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Now this is a story all about how I always like I've been turned upside down and he became
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a winner so sit right there and tune into a podcast by Oizep here.
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I'm a native American born and raised in Shandy County is where I ate most of my
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maize a better rare numeric swallow raise no fool even coached some b-boy left the
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highest full had a couple of plans that's when I understood got a big and
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changes in my brain for good I got my my state by then I'm not scared
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and said you're driving us a bother and I was quite clear I have to
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imagine both are here and then catch from two wives to be a pain in the rare
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if anything you can say that this man is rare but I thought man let's
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spread it so let me your rare I do blockchain talk from a great
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motivator crypto enthusiast trying to make you better build my own thing to
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micro finally check for the baby by life it's Oizep here
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hi everybody this is OZ inspires on Instagram and Twitter my name is OZep here
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and I've been out a little bit so I'm trying to get back into it you know I
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apologize I really tried to do this every week sometimes twice a week but you
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know when things aren't as life life comes at us and work comes at us you know
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we get a little busy so I got a sidetrack but I'm back and this week I want
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to talk about the blockchain and I want to talk about how the blockchain can
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help developing countries build an economy so let's let's get into that in a
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minute but first how are you all doing how's it going you know I know you
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can't answer me back but you know I really I want you all to be successful
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on whatever it is you're doing I want you to be positive I want you to be
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encouraging I want you to lift others up with you and whatever it is you
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doing with your life I that's how I view success success to me is you know
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let another people hit the game winning three-point shot once in a while now
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I was a basketball player long time ago and and I coached some high school
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basketball so I used to call this podcast show you know basketball life and
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everything in between and I sense since changed the title but today we're
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gonna get back into it you know we're gonna talk a little bit about the blockchain
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and and how it can help developing countries apologize about that I forgot
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my phone on the silent so how blockchain can help developing countries build
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an economy you know I scheduled this actually for jeez nearly a month ago
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and so I've been I've been slacking I apologize again so I'm your host always
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after and I like to call this show cryptocurrency the blockchain and life a
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podcast by myself you know I like to talk about cryptocurrency and tell some
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stories about myself because I come from a unique background on the
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Pine Ridge reservation home of the Oglala Lakota people now this is my I don't
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know seventh podcast I lost count I lost count actually but in my attempt to
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bring you more information more often than you know it's it's really it's like
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my 30 second 34th podcast I'm losing track here let me see 32 maybe this
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podcast is dedicated to the insights of cryptocurrencies and investment tips I
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hope that all of you are doing beautifully let's get started with today's
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episode but first you know I got to have that disclaimer because I'm not a
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certified financial planner advisor nor a certified financial analyst nor an
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economist nor CPA nor an accountant nor a lawyer I'm not a finance professional
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at all through formal education I'm simply a cryptocurrency and blockchain
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enthusiast you know this this is for an entertainment purposes only so follow
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your I mean follow my advice at your own risk let's move on shift gears a
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little bit you know how cryptocurrency can help developing countries let's talk
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about that poverty corruption inflation high on unemployment levels are some of
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the problems that are common to developing countries around the world years of
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political instability and poor governance has plundered some nations into
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devastating economic crisis and more modern times we have a president of the
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United States threatening to shut down the government if if his wall southern wall
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doesn't make it into the budget so where we going with this you know with the
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fast-paced nature of growth and advancement and in other more developed parts of
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the world the prospect sometimes do seem bleak for these developing nations
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however the emergency of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency has brought
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renewed enthusiasm about the prospects of arrival in these countries the focus
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of this is to examine possible answers to the big question of how cryptocurrency
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can be of use to these countries and in Indian country or Native America in
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North America so one of those one of those things it can do is reduce
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remittance cost the global remittance system is based almost entirely on the
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activities of citizens of developing countries who are immigrants in the
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developed world from time to time these individuals have to send money back home
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in order to do so they have to rely on in intermediary service like Western
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Union money grant unit transfer etc these platforms collect fees and charges
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with which considerably increase the cost of such transactions according to
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figures released by the World Bank in 2017 the recorded remittance to developing
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countries in 2016 was about four hundred and forty one billion dollars more than
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half of the total recorded global remains the figures also revealed that the
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global remittance for the sub-Saharan was an average of twenty to two hundred
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dollars which was the highest in the world now you know what is a remittance
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you might be asking yourself well it's just that fee you pay whenever you send
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money you ever send a Western Union you pay ten dollars thirteen dollars thirty
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three dollars or you know whatever it is with cryptocurrency the cost of
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remittance can be drastically reduced as well as the hassle required to
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receive it international money transfers already there are a number of
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platforms in Africa and Southeast Asia that are offering such services sure
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remitt a Nigerian based blockchain powered remittance system that well that
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will offer zero cost cross-border transactions launched their ICO in January
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of eighteen in the Philippines there is a platform called rebit rebit that's
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our eb it which offers more efficient remittance services uses of rebit
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platform can send money out of much lower rate than conventional money
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transfers now a second reason developing countries or native America would
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benefit from the blockchain is to improve the financial inclusion lack of
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financial inclusion is a massive problem in many low income countries around
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the world or around the United States according to the world bank there are
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more than two billion unbanked people worldwide and I have to admit I was one
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of those people maybe ten fifteen years ago you know I was banking with someone
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I was having some some trouble managing my own finances and I was getting
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hammered with the fees and you know you know there was a bank recently in
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last year or two that has hit the news because of their their mal practice I
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was with them and well I got away from them and I just use debit cards prepaid
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debit cards to get my paycheck on so that's how I manage that problem but there
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are more than two billion unbanked people worldwide the majority of this
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number live in developing countries around the world and countries like
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Pakistan Chad Burundi Niger Yemen Cameroon less than 15% of the adult
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population have bank accounts even the ones that do have bank accounts are said
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to be underbanked meaning that they don't have access to premium banking
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services this lack of access to banking instruments precludes them from being
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able to participate in global commerce with cryptocurrency services like
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M Pesa and Bit Pesa millions of unbanked people can finally get access to
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banking services and financial instruments throughout crypto-crisis these
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platforms are offering cryptocurrency banking services to mobile phone
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apps telecommunications has been able to achieve a much greater market
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penetration than banking services these crypto banking platforms are using
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the reach of telecoms to take financial emancipation to the door steps of
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the unbanked and underbanked the end result is greater financial inclusion
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there is also the added incentive of empowering small and medium-scale
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businesses local merchants can begin to think global in terms of imports and
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exports banks in developing countries like Nigeria are notorious for the
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unwillingness to give loans to small-scale businesses even when suitable
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collaterals are provided this is very common in Indian country and some of
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you who are from this area know what I'm talking about I will stop there with
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cryptocurrency platforms like M Pesa that's MPESA M Pesa I'm sorry if I'm
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saying it wrong M Pesa and Bit Pesa and Nebius Nebius and EBEUS can offer
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crypto-backed loans to small scale and medium scale merchants now there are
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there are cryptocurrency platforms that will you can do like peer-to-peer
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lending and lend cryptocurrency to other people but you really want to be
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careful when you're doing that because there have been lots of scams where you
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will stake your money and whenever you get on those websites you learn what
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staking is basically is you invest your money and you lock it in place you
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know kind of like a certificate of deposit a CD and you lock it in place for
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certain time and you make a certain percentage of interest off that and then
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so some of these businesses or websites they shut down like your money's
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locked up and they won't let you withdraw well your cryptocurrency they won't let
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you sell it so you know with cryptocurrency you do have to watch out for
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peer-to-peer lending sites if it sounds too good to beat you it's probably too
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good to be true use your common sense there okay so another aspect of
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financial inclusion that many places in Africa and the rest of the developing
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world lack is access to international payment systems global commerce is
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largely dominated by the US dollar and it requires specialized systems for
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payments and receipts this is often a challenge for many merchants in
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developing countries as they have no access to foreign exchange as well as the
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means to pay and receive money and foreign currency bitpassa is leading the
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charge and providing solutions to these problems especially in the sub-Saharan
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Africa and Indonesia there's a service called 10X that provides a digital wallet
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which allows users to receive Visa card payments that's interesting I'd like to
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really look into that 10X that is so you know one of the other things that one of
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the other reasons the blockchain can help developing countries and native
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communities across the United States fight against corruption corruption is
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one of the major bans of low-income countries and inden nations around the
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United States and the world lack of economic democratization and corrupt
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government officials have events that design has left the collective commonwealth
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of these countries in the hands of a very few people the 1% the middle class has
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all but disappeared and more than 70% of the population live below the
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poverty line and developing nations miss the appropriation of state funds by
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corrupt government officials is a big problem non-inherents to project contract
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best practices results in capital projects being handled by CUP
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I don't know CABALs CABALs who divert state funds for their own personal
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interests is probably just a corrupt government official the use I'm sorry I
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don't know how to say it the use of cryptocurrency especially those built upon
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smart contract protocols will allow for a more transparent contract system with
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records on the blockchain being public being public so citizens will be able to
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monitor the way in which state funds are being utilized another area of
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interest in the fight against corruption by cryptocurrencies is in developing
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countries is the election process one trademark of the political landscape of
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the less developed nations is the fact that electoral bodies are largely partisan
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and hardly ever neutral as such elections are fraught with discrepancies and
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they undermine the fidelity of the process we've seen that recently in the
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oil in our own United States election cryptocurrency and blockchain
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technology can be used to make elections in these countries to become free
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and fair with the citizens being able to really exercise and franchise these are
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just some of the ways in which cryptocurrencies could benefit developing nations
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around the world cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies continue to be a
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heart of public consciousness all over the globe it will surely be interesting to
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see what extent developing countries apply to cryptocurrency solutions and
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their problems you know I said this before and I'm saying again the limits of
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the blockchain are really up to you in your imagination Amazon is putting out a
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blockchain product and it is going to be marketed to the common person who can
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build a blockchain software off of this product that developing you know this
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trademark to pamphlet product that they're developing
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cryptocurrency is really a more reliable form of currency especially when it is
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decentralized you know centralized currency that is a currency that is ran or
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organizer built operated by one company is really just that you know what happens
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if that company fails what who has to say about inflationary to has to say about
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interest rates etc so decentralized currency is certainly a more beneficial
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type of currency in my opinion a key motive behind the formation of Bitcoin was
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to create a currency that was invulnerable to the effects of inflation this would
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be massively welcomed in countries like Zimbabwe and others where hyperinflation
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has decimated the economy and I believe I read an article a while back that you
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know Zimbabwe had a I don't know billion percent inflation and you know some
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ridiculous inflationary cryptocurrency will also help job growth and it's already
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doing that creating jobs because developers are needed and where developers are
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needed it's creating it's creating new economies and it's creating a new
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digital industry the blockchain will disrupt dozens of industries outside of
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financial services in the next few years in my opinion that's why you hear
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banking exact same crypto is a scam crypto is this blah blah blah blah
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crypto you know don't don't put your money in crypto it's too risky you know
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the money is made in risky investments when you have a volatile market that's
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where people make the most money who are investing ups and downs and ups and
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downs because you buy low sell high buy low sell high that's the the basic
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just of investments so you know blockchain is going to disrupt dozens of
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industries outside of the financial services in the next few few years and is
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expected to create thousands of jobs while doing so in 2017 the blockchain
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job market grew 200% across the United States well you know what does that mean
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I don't I don't have the figures right now there's no reason why a similar job
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explosion can occur in developing countries to or on Indian reservations 200
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percent now you know we have to have quality trained people we have colleges in
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Indian country why not develop blockchain development programs within Indian
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country they're online finding them is easy bringing in people you know maybe
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not so easy for finding the right people so you know those are just some ideas
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and again your mind is the the limit here so there another thing you could do
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with the blockchain and developing nations or Indian reservations is develop a
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more reliable trust model it has been suggested that the decentralized nature of
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blockchain could create more reliable trust model in countries where there is a
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distinct lack of trust in the government smart contracts could be utilized in
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such a way that there's no fears about dishonest middleman corrupting transactions
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there's an exciting future for blockchain would you agree?
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Now blockchain remains in its infancy but there are plenty of signs pointing
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towards a future where it's utilized all over the world if this does occur
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developing countries have a lot of prosperity to look forward to and
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native nations guys really need to start looking into it and if you if you don't
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know where to start hit me up and I'll point you in the right direction so you
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know that's what I got for you guys today on how the blockchain can help
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developing countries build an economy what are some of your questions?
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I'm gonna ask you something you know what are some of your ideas what
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what can the blockchain do for you?
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The blockchain it's a technology and the blockchain is a technology that
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created cryptocurrency it's man it's I wish I could just explain it to you but
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it's like explaining I'm not the best best at it what do you think what are
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some of the things we can do to make this happen in in native nations across the
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United States or developing nations across the world? Hit me up send me a
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message you can find me at ozinspire on Instagram and Twitter I like Twitter
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Twitter's good for cryptocurrency and blockchain stuff so you can find me on
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there I'm always there for you guys later I'm out doksha okay we'll see you
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again I am the God of hell fire and I bring you fire