In October 2020, the Nigeria government shut down the feminist coalition bank account. The coalition was responsible for aiding the treatment and release of injured and arrested EndSARS movement protesters. Immediately after they discovered that this had happened, the coalition switched to accepting only bitcoin, because it is free and decentralized.
The movement had called for the end of constant brutality and illegal detainment of young people and a total reform in the country's institutions. The feminist coalition is, itself, decentralized, with no foreleader, and bitcoin became the only way to offer financial support to the unwavering protesters.
This historical movement became a crowning moment for bitcoin and young people in the country. Months after the protest, the government has tried to use every possible means to discourage the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it has only made it gain more attention.
Emeka, a 25-year-old software engineer at a tech firm in Arizona, always faced difficulties whenever he wanted to send money home to his family in Enugu, Nigeria. When Emeka figured out that he could send bitcoin to his family instantly without them having to wait for days or weeks before getting it from the bank, he was overjoyed. Remittance and cross-border payments is a multibillion dollar industry — despite that, many traditional finance institutes find it hard to make it simple and accessible — bitcoin solves this.
Bitcoin Solves This
In 2020, Nigerian importers opted to use bitcoin as a means of payment for their goods when they noticed that their counterparts in countries like China (exporters) shared the same sentiments with them. Nigeria freelancers and entrepreneurs have now seen bitcoin as a means to bypass the hurdles of global trade issues, like bank transaction limits and border payment restrictions.
You will never read these types of stories about bitcoin emancipation in mainstream media. Traditional media always acts awkward toward innovations and is controlled by the same people who are afraid bitcoin will take away their jobs as middlemen and centralized authorities.
The only thing mainstream media tells their audience is the myth that bitcoin is a fake currency, that bitcoin is a currency used by scammers, bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. They tell all these misinformed stories because this might be what their top subscribers want to hear or, more likely, this is what those who own the media want them to feed the public, but this is not what bitcoin is.
The ideology of bitcoin is not just about something one earns or loses when its price in USD goes up or down in the digital trading market. It is not just about privacy. It is not just about memes. More than anything, it is about freedom.
There have been many revolutions in human history, but none has had more tremendous effect than this. This is not merely a revolution by words or by protests or physical struggles. This is a social revolution powered by mathematics, by codes and by the people. This is a struggle for capital power and financial freedom. A revolution of mindsets.
Governments and centralized institutions around the world are already used to having control ab initio. They are used to controlling every part of the people's life: how they dress, what they eat, what they say and what they do not say, how they love, how they learn and so many other things. In fact, there is so much control everywhere, that it becomes conventional. It became the norm.
This ideology of absolute control has spread into every other institution in society, from family to religion to schools and universities. Freedom in any of these groups is now seen as a form of illness, madness and immorality.
When bitcoin made its debut, it was treated with the same disgust as expected, so it was only used majorly in secret. Until a few years later, when it became mainstream, when the people started questioning their ideology of money, the problems of fiat money and their quest for freedom.
Since then bitcoin has broken all the tantrums thrown toward it.
My message to those who are still waiting to hear that the people lost and bitcoin has totally fallen is that they should wake up from their dilemma and give bitcoin a try. They should open their hearts to changes because bitcoin has come to stay.
Bitcoin is rewriting the rules of finance and the rules of the economy.
Neo-Luddites think that bitcoin is just a made up virtual currency that any super coder can create. But bitcoin is not just a currency, bitcoin is an institution on its own; bitcoin is an ideology, a movement of truth, a movement that takes the economic pains of the people into consideration. Bitcoin is the rebirth of decentralization.
Bitcoin is the new norm, the new economy, the new world order.
This is a guest post by Anda Usman. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.