Crypto Biz Magazine—July, 2014/Issue.02

A PERSONAL JOURNEY DOWN
by PHOENIX
THE BITCOIN RABBIT HOLE OLIVIA
I first heard of Bitcoin on a Sunday afternoon while
walking along Kitsilano Beach (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
with my friend Sebastian.
He asked, “Ever heard of something called ‘Bitcoin’?”
I hadn’t, so Seb proceeded to sketch out the basic tenants
of the bizarre-sounding idea. At first I was bewildered,
but the more I heard the more I became fascinated and
intrigued by the concept. His understanding of it was
elementary, but it was enough to spike my curiosity and
desire to do more digging.
The following day I asked a few of my friends if they had
ever heard of a digital currency called ‘Bitcoin.’ No one
had, but another friend mentioned she knew someone
in her network who told her years ago he was mining
Bitcoin—his name was Frankie. It turned out Frankie
was someone I’d met several years back during my
early DJing years in Vancouver, and he’d even fixed my
computer once.
I quickly tracked him down online and sent a message
saying I wanted to learn more about this mysterious and
baffling thing called ‘Bitcoin.’ He responded immediately
and the next day I was at his downtown office.
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Crypto Biz Magazine
What Frankie explained to me that day blew my mind.
At first I was confounded. It didn’t make sense—how
it could be possible for this idea not to be a scam of
some sort—or, if not, then to even be accepted by the
“powers that be,” the people who own and control
most of the financial systems of the world.
The idea was too beautiful to survive in a world designed
from the top down to be unfair. Nevertheless, as Frankie
told me more about Bitcoin, I started to catch a glimpse
of its potential and power. Being a firm believer that
the world is long overdue for a major upgrade of many
of its old, antiquated systems, I became hopeful, and
excited, and left the meeting with four bitcoins, with
a determination to continue studying the crypto cur -
rency phenomenon.
The idea that ‘The People,’ not financial institutions,
could determine exactly how their money was spent,
who their money went to, how payments were made,
all done within minutes and costing mere pennies,
was stunning. Bitcoin was essentially cutting the
parasitic middlemen such as PayPal, Visa, MasterCard,
and Western Union from the equation and turning
the existing money exchange paradigm on its head,
by shifting the power balance into the hands of
individuals. Even more exciting for me, however, were
the ramifications this new paradigm would have on the
world outside of North America and Europe.
The people of the developing world have forever been
cut out of the world of money, and fair access to the
wealth of the developed world.
Family members in the West attempting to send money
back home to relatives are faced with fees and charges
from the current institutions that are unjustifiably high.
By the time the money gets to where it’s going, it’s
significantly less than what was originally sent. Most
people in the developing world have no bank account,
so reliance on these systems for money from the West
is absolute. Until now they had no choice.
PayPal charges from 0.5% – 3.9% on every person-toperson
transaction; Western Union charges 0 – 5% to send
money; the credit card companies place limits and
restrictions on who can get a card, while charging
outrageous rates; and bank fees eat away at people’s
hard-earned money. Bitcoin is practically free and takes
minutes to complete transactions around the world.
The majority of people in third world countries have no
bank account, nor the means to get one. Bitcoin requires
no bank account, no credit checks, no social status; it’s a
truly non-prejudicial platform that places financial power
in the hands of the people on a global scale, instead of
only a privileged few.