How often do you run into people asking you what good crypto is going to do you during a power outage or an internet outage?
I know I do.
I've started asking people how many dollar bills do they have on them or in their house. Most people have very few. They might say "I can get some quickly".
I ask them how.
It usually involves an ATM machine and their debit or credit cards.
Then I point out that those things require power and internet too...
Often you can visibly watch when understanding manifests upon their face.
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At that point it will often go to Gold, Silver, and other Precious metals. I tell them it is actually a good idea to buy some things that you know how to exchange without power or internet that will retain value regardless of what currency is being used. If they choose precious metals then that is fine. If they have a nice collection of Magic The Gathering cards that can also be quite valuable depending upon the condition of the cards and how long they have had them. Then there are comic books. There are pieces of art that you might be able to trade. Bullets and ammunition are also potentially quite valuable depending upon the circumstances.
One thing that is a stupid idea...
Savings accounts with banks. You save nothing. If they give you interest that interest is less than inflation. Thus, while your dollars may go up due to the interest from savings the inflation is going up faster so even though you have more money in terms of number in the account it actually can purchase less goods than when you first put it in. Savings accounts are a scam if the interest they offer is less than the inflation of whatever currency the savings is in.
The way I described it to my son today...
If you have $100 and can purchase a bottle of water for $1 then you could purchase 100 bottles of water (ignoring tax/vat, etc.)
If the annual inflation is 3% then the next year you will only be able to purchase 97 bottles of water for that $100.
If you put that $100 into a savings account that was offering interest of 0.5% then you will have $100.50 after a year and you can buy 97 bottles. That is less than the 100 you could purchase at the time you put your money into the savings account. In fact buying the 100 bottles of water and selling them later is more likely far more of a savings account than the bank savings account.
A savings account at a bank is a Losing account with a nice label and the fact the number increases making you think you are gaining.
The CPI which is always lower than actual inflation was 5% in May of this year. I already wrote about this a couple of days ago but what that is a sign of is potentially huge, especially if you have your money in savings accounts, CDs, etc.
I am attacking the paradigm that has been pushed upon us for a very long time. It is a scam.
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Hard assets are always the best. Silver gold, land supplies. Etc. Crypto is an alternative for precious metals. Thanks.
Historically so far the crypto has been way better than precious metals. In fact it has done so well that if you were smart you could use the profit from crypto to buy more of those hard assets than you ever could have initially purchased, and likely have crypto left over.
However, if for some reason crypto crashes at the same time you need to use some of it for something that can hurt.
Gold and other precious metals are a great hedge against inflation but if society reaches the point where there is no electricity and no internet then even gold bars won't help much. I mean, you can't buy food with gold if there is no food... Bullets and gun are probably your best bet at that point. Maybe use silver bullets so you have the option...
Haha... I have two silver bullets but they won't do any good because they are solid silver so don't actually have any usage as actual ammo. :)
Food and water that is storable also are VERY valuable in that situation. Perhaps devices that can charge simple electric items.
I remember reading a big article written by someone who survived when Argentina went from 1st world to 3rd world nation status and during a time people getting shot at on the highways was not uncommon.
He recommended:
Crypto currency is way better to save and investment on as every investment on it made wisely will yeild a double interest than having it seating in a saving account while bank charges reduce your balance monthly.
When their questions come up to know what good is crypto currency without internet and power, I will turn back and ask them what benefit return do their bank deposit yield after using it to make another man richer in the bank.
Banking system is a Ponzi scheme....robbing peter to pay Paul in circles.
Oh my! The number of times I've heard that from people. I'd usually reply: So you keep all your money in an old sock? No, of course they don't. And I always think of it like this: As long as you keep your keys safe, even if the internet and electricity shuts down, once it's all back on, you still hold all of your crypto assets. However, if the banks shut down, they can legally just take your money. No questions asked. It happened before, and it can happen again.
But I guess the best, and safest way to go would be to become completely self-sufficient.
Very well put...its hard to get people to grasp those ideas
Good points, and the Bitcoin Lightening Network makes it even better. Read this post by @shortsegments https://leofinance.io/@shortsegments/because-of-el-salvador-now-the-world-will-see-if-bitcoin-and-the-lightning-network-are-ready-for-real-life-adoption
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Yeah I've been aware of the Lightning Network for some time. A couple of years now at least. It will definitely help out.
How long does everyone think we have until the power goes out?
I don't think it will go out unless it is solar flare related, or perhaps terrorists.
I do not fear Russia or China taking it out until they are at a state where they see the benefits of us not having power as outweighing the benefit that access to all the compromised internet connected machines in our country give them.
Right now I kind of think it'd happen only in response to one of the following from them:
Of all the potential dangers I'd say solar flare and/or terrorist actions are the biggest danger.
The big problem is we don't manufacture some of the important parts in our country anymore. Thus, we would take some time to repair the outage. If at all. If the country we can get what we need from is whom we are at war with or they see benefit in not helping us then we'd be kind of screwed.
I know some states are trying to take steps to make this threat go away but, it is a very few number and I don't think they are that far into the process.
The benefits of cryptocurrencies for the global economy are thought to range from lower transaction fees for the online exchange of money, to increased protection from identity theft due to the secure nature of cryptocurrencies.
Some of them have higher transaction fees. Sometimes the transaction fees can be quite high depending upon the crypto in question and what is going on in the market.