Decentralization: The Future Potential of Blockchain
Security and transparency are the two key features that first come to mind when considering blockchain. However, a permissionless state is one of the most notable features of decentralized platforms. To truly understand the implications of the absence of a centralized custodian, we must try to break everything we currently know about our financial system.
The disruption that blockchain technology is making in the financial sector is without parallel. We are in unprecedented times and the vehement opposition to these changes apparent. For many centuries, social classes have been a part of our society and they are not tied to any one political system. The elite class has taken many forms across these political systems, with the neoliberal power structure dominating the west in the 21st century.
My mother always told me that “whoever controls the money controls the people” and this old saying speaks to the impact that the class system has over what is wrongly called a democratized society. As many people around the globe sacrifice their time spent with family and squander away the little resources that they accumulate across their lifespan, the division between the rich and the poor becomes ever more stark.
In the developed world, this control is eased by the distractions that lie at our fingertips, online shopping, video games, and a whole host of convenient little gadgets that stimulate the hippocampus and help us forget about the oppressive systems that weaken our financial security. To the unbanked and overtly oppressed, a free, functional, and reliable financial system will embed a sense of responsibility and ownership for the freedom that it offers.
Both sides of this revolution will see with great clarity, that decentralized financial systems offer the promise of equalizing the distribution of power across peoples of every nation and give the control back into the hands of its rightful owners. No power of this magnitude was ever won so easily and this time will not be different.
As custodians of our finances, the central banking system has become deceptively entangled with our political systems, making the transition from one socioeconomic status to another seemingly impossible. Oppression of this kind is subtle and, like a bird in a cage refusing to fly for fear of what lies in the open skies, the greatest weapon against decentralization is this fear.
Just as in other eras, the fight for equal rights continues and a revolution is upon us. Decentralized financial systems are not only faster, cheaper and more secure, they are the key to reversing the containment of power in the hands of the few and systematically distributing a transparent ledger technology across all people on earth.
This era will most assuredly see resistance to the decentralized financial movement, just as we have seen in other eras. We may not witness great marches and violent attacks by military police. Resistance will come by way of strategic attempts to dissuade participants through fear propagated across various media or, more directly, through purchasing power and market manipulation. This form of market control will dishearten weak hands and cause increased volatility in the markets.
An idea only becomes a movement through the hearts and minds of the people. And, collectively, the HODLer will revive strength in numbers, as the weight of the yoke, the neoliberal agenda, falls. Regaining control over our finances is just one outcome we have to look forward to. Greater economic stability and the equal distribution of wealth will cause great changes in our world and reduce the innumerable sufferings that have plagued the destitute.
Supporting decentralized systems is more than just investing. Support is best delivered through meaningful interactions, such as the one you are reading right now. The power of the people is exercised through free speech and the ideas we share with one another. Go forth, you the giver of new life, and prosper.
