Bitcoin Promised, Steemit Delivered
First of all, I'm going to donate the SBD I get from this post to @steemgh for being such a great ambassador for Steemit and a blessing to his local community. Thank you.
When I first got into Bitcoin -- I guess it's been about 3 years ago now -- one of the most inspiring things about it was the idea of economic privilege that Bitcoin would eliminate.
You see, the idea was that there is a banking infrastructure that exists in the first-world nations that doesn't in "developing" nations (I've never liked that term, but it's what we have I guess).
Those of us who live in modern Western nations take for granted that we can get a loan to do things like buy a car or a house or go to school or start a business. We often lament the fact that we have to make payments on these loans with interest. But the reality is that if we didn't have access to these loans, we wouldn't even have cars, houses, educations, or businesses to call our own in the first place (assuming we eventually pay off these debts).
The fact is that debt is an economic privilege of the first world. It allows advancement of production and innovation with a mitigated risk.
What Bitcoin was supposed to bring about was a COMPLETELY NEW STRUCTURE. One that would allow people in poorer countries with with less economic privilege access to lending and payment infrastructures that would allow them to innovate and develop without having the baggage of our legacy banking infrastructure and corruption.
Andreas Antonopoulos has been the best proponent of this idea.
And this is one of the things that got me excited about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
But, sadly, I haven't seen these developments happening. In fact, it seems like Bitcoin is moving further away from this.
Steemit is the gateway crypto
Although the barrier of entry into Bitcoin might not be as low as I would like it to be, the barrier of entry to Steemit is absolutely nothing.
With Steemit, all you need is some sort of device that can connect to the internet -- a cellphone will do, as I prove in my post Steemit Mobile App For iOS NOW: 🚀 Steemify Plus Browser Settings, which I did completely from my cellphone -- and it just so happens that developing nations are bypassing the sluggish infrastructure of Western nations and skipping straight to agile mobile technology.
Technology has the potential to lift people out of poverty. All signs point to the developing world skipping past the eras of landlines and desktop computers and going straight to mobile. That potential for two-way communication is changing the face of international development. “For the first time ever, we’re able to have a clear line to people who are in the middle of nowhere to give them a sense of a future, information, opportunity and choice,” says Chris Fabian, co-lead of UNICEF’s Innovation Lab.
How Mobile Phones Are Changing the Developing World
What this means is that people who are very poor but have access to a cell phone can use Steemit for absolutely no cost and start earning cryptocurrency.
THIS IS THE PROMISE THAT BITCOIN MADE BUT STEEMIT DELIVERED
Example: @steemgh
@steemgh is a very positive young man from Ghana who is an ambassador for Steemit to his local community.
He uses Steemit to share the goings on of his daily life and he's also very passionate about the platform and what it's been able to do for him and his community.
As he says in his post, ON MY WAY TO WORK... PROMOTION OF STEEMIT FULL TIME.:
Steemit pays me 2times my monthly salary every week and have helped not only me but those around me. I pay even those who support me in my outreach and able to send my mother money weekly. I depend completely on this amazing platform. My life never same.
I looked up @steemgh on SteemWorld.
He says that he earns two times his monthly salary every week on Steemit. Well, it looks like over the last 7 days he earned $179.17
And his pending payout for the NEXT 7 days is $268.90 -- looks like you're growing!!
What that means is that this young man went from earning $90 - $130 PER MONTH at his local job to earning $720 - $1040 per month here on Steemit.
Because of Steemit, @steemgh is not just able to increase his income.
No, it's much greater than that.
It's greater than double his income.
It's greater than QUADRUPLE his income.
@steemgh is able to increase his income by EIGHT TIMES simply by being a great contributor to Steemit.
And the thing is, his account is still very modest. He is well on track to growing his channel into something that could potentially support a whole community.
That is such a beautiful thing that it truly warms my heart and brings a smile to my face.
Cryptocurrency is NOT just some money laundering scheme or a gateway for criminals to trade on the dark web. At least with Steemit, it's a completely open and free-to-use platform that has the potential to LIFT real people OUT OF POVERTY.
Steemit could change the world in this way.
What do you think?
Steemit has saved my ass financially at least 4 times that I can name.
It is lifting people out of poverty and giving hope to the world.
What do you think about this platform? About this gateway crypto called Steem?
Let me know in the comments below, and go show @steemgh some love over at his page.
Images from http://pixabay.com
I've said all along that Steem and Steemit can change lives and it can make a much bigger difference if wages are really low where you live. I met someone from Venezuela at Steemfest who said wages were $5 a month there! I can make that with one post and so can many other people. For me it's beer money, but for others it's the rent.
So true. It really enables content to be created and rewarded anywhere.
This is a really inspiring article that gives me perspective on another side of Steemit. To me the small rewards are a fun encouragement for me to write the things I've always wanted to write, but for some its a real income.
I earn a good amount of money here too . A financial freedom is provided to all at this platform ..
Its like a drug to me. A mental drug of which the highs are not only empowering but contagious.
I share the same notion with my fellow countrymen and Steemians @branlee87 on his podcast on whether regular steemians are able to make a living off the Steem blockchain. Many a times first world country cryptocurrency pundits talk about how payouts on Steemit are negligible therefore it has failed didnt realise they are not looking at the bigger picture. Steem aims to change the world and the change aren't hitting the well-to-do first.
It boggles my mind that something so astounding as the Steem Blockchain manage to stay under the radar for so long.. A real literal no-joke life changing opportunity and so far only less than a million people has taken up on it.
Hey thanks for the tag. What a great post. Had a similar conversation the other day with @maverickfoo about how some communities in certain less fortunate countries are purely dependant on steemit for income. It still blows my mind to hear things like this.
Highly rEsteemed Bruv!
All points... especially,
Steemit is the gateway crypto
Following @steemgh.
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvote this reply.
Great post, love the direct example of how Steemit changes lives. This type of content is encouraging, amazing and helps to #GrowSteemit, which is something I am very passionate about.
I have a high paying job by most of the world's standards, but even still I am convinced that Steemit is going to be more and more my main source of income as the months and years pass. I expect BIG things from this platform and am very excited to have found it.
I tell everyone, who will listen, and even those who wont :), that Steemit is worth their time, and attention. Most dismiss it, but a couple have joined.
Thanks for this post. I followed @steemgh as a result of your post. Have an awesome day everyone!