Just think about it, 8.8% of the world's wealth is held by just 0.36% of the population. That is incredible isn't it?
Oh... I mean the population of billionaires. That's right, less than a percent of them are worth almost 10% of the total. Just imagine how hard life is for the billionaires at the other end of the scale in comparison to the top. The class war that is going on, the wealth gap between rich and poor, with the hard done by 99% of billionaires shaking their fist at the one percenters in the of the billionaires club.
And you thought your life was rough....
But, things are changing.
No, things aren't changing in the global economy as we know it today, but the global economy itself is changing and in the not too distant future, we the other 99 percent are going to change form dramatically.
What a lot of people tend to forget that while they get a lot of public attention, the wealth
of the billionaires of the world are not quite what it seems to be. The reason is, that what defines them as billionaires is the centralized description of what it is to be wealthy. They are wealthy by construct based on the current paradigm of money, which is rapidly (as far as economies go) shifting form.
This doesn't mean that these same people aren't going to be wealthy in the new economy as well, but in order to be so, they are going to have to increasingly play the decentralized game, one where the 99% are increasingly going to play too.
Whatever you or your friends think about crypto today, tomorrow everyone is going to be involved with it, like it or not. To predict this, all we have to do is look at the recent past for examples of technological uptakes that weren't "asked for" at the time it was introduced. Mobile phones were ridiculed, internet and email were ridiculed, digital cameras were ridiculed, smartphones were ridiculed... All of the things that you can't do without today were seen as a joke, useless, unwanted. Crypto is just next on the list and is just getting over the ridicule stage, with only the dinosaurs who are actively choosing not to understand it, really against it.
But, they are often the same people who are benefiting from things as they are, the established one percent, not the new entries into the one percent club. This world has shifted a lot already as it is really only in the last few decades that anyone can be a billionaire. I don't mean literally anyone, I mean figuratively speaking, the tech industry has made it possible for all kinds of people to have access to extreme amounts of capital to fund their projects, in many cases, literally people who are working from their garage.
But, while not everyone can create the kinds of products and services that generate this kind of wealth, what people are increasingly able to do is invest into those who can. The future of the 99% is built on the work of the one percent who can create, by becoming micro owners in their decentralized business models.
This gives massive benefits for all involved as rather than a new business needing to convince a venture capitalist to provide 10 million in startup funding, they instead need to convince a million people to invest an average of 10 dollars instead and the blockchain is the only way to not only manage the spread of investment and return, it is also able to provide the transparency and trust needed for investors to make their decisions. Unlike the dotcom era where good ideas got billions but they never built a thing, proof of work is going to be built into the funding model itself.
What this means is that increasingly, people are going to be moving from consumer to investor and owner and while this takes time, what eventually happens is much like what happens on Hive. Investors in significant amounts of Hive don't give a damn about spending time on Facebook, as there is no benefit to do so. Which means, as uptake into the decentralized business models grows, people will increasingly abandon the traditional business models that provide service, but no ownership or return on the investment, unless they start offering more.
What would Facebook have to offer in order to woo me back to producing content I don't own on an account I don't control, for a return that can be counted in thumbs? Ownership. Not just of my content, but also of the platform I enable to exist itself - something that they are not going to be willing to do, as to do so *breaks their monetization model.
Essentially, they are going to have to cannibalize their businesses into a decentralized format for far less that they currently get, or die a death by a thousand cuts as decentralized versions of their model that offer users ownership of experience as well as return on their investment and activity, keep taking away more of their market share. As these models start to collaborate through interoperable processes, they will look very much like a patchwork quilt of Facebook, except each square will be owned by the majority of users of that square. In some cases, users will overlap ownership and usage, in some cases not, creating a very robust network of relationships that both empowers and enables the squares around it.
What this means is that the largest income channel for the average person, is going to be investments, except these investments are going to be quite different to the ones now, as people will be incentivized to invest into what they actually use, not just what they think is going to go up in value. This means that there will be more invested into what people use daily, by people who use it daily, which fundamentally changes the flow of capital in the economy, as consumers who are the driving force are not just users, they are owners too, meaning they are also syphoning off profits. Even in what might individually be small amounts, all of this compounds and shifts the dynamics of the economy, which ultimately shifts everything on earth, including what is considered valuable and therefore, what makes people wealthy.
This not only increasingly improves wealth distribution, it also shifts the paradigm of what makes someone valuable and wealthy. As I have mentioned many times before, blockchain and crypto together are creating a growing shadow economy and through increasing usage will change the demographics of wealth and redefine the markers of wealth.
What makes the billionares billionares, is the evaluation of their wealth in dollars, but that is not the only way to evaluate something. For example, how rich is Jeff Bezos in Bitcoin?
He is worth 200 billion dollars so you would be forgiven for saying, that with the price of Bitcoin at 40,000, he is worth 5 million bitcoin, but you'd be very, very, very wrong. Because, he doesn't and cannot hold 5,000,000 bitcoin, which is over 25% of the entire supply. This means that he isn't worth that, as he can't *own that. If he was to try to convert his many billions into Bitcoin, just imagine what would happen on the markets from just him making the move, Then, all the other 2755 estimated billionaires in the world with a combined evaluation of about 14 trillion dollars will be forced to make their move too.
Oops... Bitcoin hits millions per coin, because holders gonna hold.
What this means is that for the centralized wealthy in the world to convert their wealth into decentralized tokens that have value, they are going to have to convince the 99% to support them and their new tokens, since they aren't going to want to put all their eggs into the decentralized basket. Does Amazon still hold the power at that point, or are there 1000 decentralized versions that are doing similar? Does Microsoft and Google offer enough ROI to keep using them? Are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram still the major content communities online, or are people more interested in using what they can own and earn upon?
People are worried about the growing wealth gap and rightfully so - if we are going to continue on supporting this clusterfuck of an economy. However, if we are going to increasingly shift into a decentralized future of the 99% being the investment class, it is just a matter of time until that wealth gap, is irrelevant. Not because it doesn't exist in dollars, but because dollars are no longer the way we mark wealth.
Do you see where we are headed yet?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
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Never underestimate Agent 99:
https://getsmart.fandom.com/wiki/Agent_99
A boyhood crush. I still like a bit of Mod :)
Hey @tarazkp ; it's not about dollars or any kind of currency fiat or crypto, it's about assets. It doesn't rly matter what currency to count their wealth in, while their wealth are in assets. So their companies and other fundamental part of their wealth can worth more than the total supply of Bitcoin.
The wealth gap is growing everywhere, because of the fundamental equation: with money you can make more money...
Not quite. You are seeing crypto as a simple currency, not something that is a marker of ownership itself. Crypto is an asset. If their business models don't start factoring it as such, the people will use what does, meaning that the businesses they have that generate their wealth, will be increasingly demonetized through decreasing usage in favor of those that offer more.
With Bitcoin, can you make more Bitcoin?
Yes you are right, i see it as a currency, and i see NFTs as assets.
With staking, i would say: we can! The staking is perfectly fits in the equation. Just like here, with more HP you are able to make even more. I don't say money lay eggs on its own, you have to use it to get more.
NFTs are cryptos. Tokenization on the blockchains, whether stable coins or NFTs are all cryptos, which is why seeing crypto as a currency is only half the story. Yes, cryptos can be currencies, but that is only part of their usecase.
No, we can't. We can potentially collect more from what is available, but there will only ever be 21,000,000 Bitcoin printed. We cannot make more. What we can do is introduce different tokens and add value to those however and we can now do this globally with no central backing, which is valuable.
You are not making more HIVE though, you are collecting more for yourself to add to your stack. The equations for how much is in the pool doesn't change.
because dollars are no longer the way we mark wealth.
It's interesting. What makes someone valuable and wealthy is changing.
It is going to get quite fragmented before people start really organizing well.
Cryrptocurrencies are still ridiculed by many people. They say that you buy a virtual thing, a dud money. Those who are in loss due to buying at peak think that cryptocurrencies are scams.
People are going to be moving from consumer to investor, right, but, many are just to investor. Likewise, a turner at stock market. They don't know what they buy or sell, they just care the percental increase. Even, they don't know what is the Blockchain.
I think people should consume the blockchain technology at first, they should be learnt about it. I can say that most of the sources about it is superficial. An image of the blockchain can be drawn in order not to remain virtual in people's mind.
Always the way. People don't look at the decisions they make. This is all opt-in. Many would have wanted quick gains and then sold out of fear of losing it all. When it hits ATH again, they will buy again....
This is just the early phase - it changes the further it progresses.
Only when you google "how to make money fast in crypto" :D
I can see a time where there will be so many tokens people won’t know what to do with them. The average person does not own stocks. Yet, most of these billionaires fortunes are tied within this construct. Having an abundance of tokens/coins that the average person can earn will bridge people into the new blockchain system. The Forbes 100 will be replaced by Top 100 Game leader board. Gaming will bring in the masses to crypto. Abundance will keep them onboard.
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Will be interesting to see the shift over to tokenized funding models, where things like new construction projects are crowdfunded and owned by a global pool of users.
ForUsAll, a retirement investment platform for small businesses, has introduced the Alt 401(k). The retirement investment platform allows employers to provide alternative investment options within 401(k) plans.
This is going to be a game-changer for people. Wait until they see how it grows or tanks.
I think you are right and they are all headed that way once they realize the potential. It will be interesting to watch and I am a little worried about anyone who is left behind. I am not sure how this calculating wealth is going to be easy at all.
That will be interesting to keep an eye on long-term. Are you involved at all?
Me too. I have tried to bring people into the loop to at least do their own research, yet most never will, until they are forced.
That was an absolute pleasure to read. I enjoy pretty much everything you write, but I found this one particularly interesting. The way the world looks at worth is definitely going to change with DeFi.
Rest in peace, Facebook, dead of a thousand cuts.
Good luck buying up all that bitcoin, Jeff.
Those poor bastards.
The other funny thing that will happen is that many of these "old" companies will introduce their own crypto and then, fail to get support as their users realize that they can't make an ROI on it. Most business models con only sustainably support a small percentage of investors in ratio to users.
Yeah, they'll certainly try, and probably fail. I seem to recall Facebook attempting to launch its own coin and then getting threatened by the government from basically every direction. But even if companies like that do try, and pull it off, it's still centralized and returns won't be anything like DeFi.
i think soon forbes magazine will realease billionair people list on the base of Bitcoin holdings .all the latest technology is ridicule in starting phase but later same population dying for benifiting those.
will be interesting to see the difference in the top ten.
Sounds like it could be the title of an old (or retro style XD) spy movie :D
It feels a bit like a lot of shifts are happening as there doesn't seem to be quite as loud screaming something about devils you know.
Get Smart was one of my favorite shows as a kid :)
Adoption is moving rapidly now, and even the media are starting to spend more time on both the FOMO and FUD, as they know the average person is starting to click the bait.
Well, at first we, small creative businesses, were able to monetize the attention we got on Facebook ourselves. We were there for the advertising space and connections with potential clients or unconscious word-spreaders. The model was good until they began cutting off that attention unless you paid to get attention from a random "targeted" audience instead of the organic audience we "worked so hard" to build for years. Being disappointed, I withdrew and I had less audience. I was learning about how to play the new business model, pay for my attention and still make profit...and while learning, I learned about social networking on the blockchain.
As a result, some time later, I separated my passion from my business aspirations. Still in transition but I got so much new knowledge and training that I'm looking to find out the thousands of new ideas that will work for me.
In short, instead of the need to constantly adapt to the old model, I can afford to spend time and look for a better position for the future.