By Bitcoin Revista - acum 7 luni - Timp de citire: 8 minute
Combaterea corupției: Da Bitcoin Remediați Africa de Vest?
Introducere.
The most recent coup in Niger brings to a head a lot of the challenges that have been happening in west Africa, in Francophone Africa in particular. The French and US involvement in this region was purportedly to help economic development and fight corruption within Western Africa. As the Niger Coup edges towards a hot war, in the West we should consider what our role is in the region and whether we are justified in getting involved militarily. Could Bitcoin do what decades of American and French involvement have failed to do?
Many point to France’s involvement in the CFA (African Financial Community) as a method of controlling their former colonies through their control of the exchange rate. They have been able to devalue the CFA franc against the French Franc, or now the Euro, in a way to increase their purchasing power for raw materials from Africa and then selling back finished goods at an elevated price. This has meant the purchasing power of some of the poorest countries in the world is being diluted by France using monetary policy.
Mulți ar sugera că acest lucru are
Războaiele valutare
Central African Republic was the second country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. A year later the nation backtracked for a number of reasons including lack of internet access in the country.
The Central African Franc has been a dominant currency since the end of French colonial rule and replaces an earlier French colonial currency, known as the Franc of the French Colonies (F.CFA for short). Some have argued that this currency has facilitated better trade between West African countries, oferring increased stability compared to other African currencies. At the same time, many of these countries have not progressed past being just exporters of raw materials. Being dependent on exporting raw materials has also meant they are particularly subject to the effects of price shocks and what's going on in other parts of the global economy, i.e. an oil exporting country loses export income when the price of oil decreases.
Observers have increasingly looked at the CFA Franc as a mechanism for wealth transfer from these impoverished African nations to France. Even the prime minister of Italy has suggested that France's exploitation of raw materials from these countries has been a driver of economic migrants making dangerous trips to Europe for a better life.
Any attempts to move to something like Bitcoin has been tamped down, even as adoption has increased in many African Nations in general.
Fighting Corruption with Bitcoin
Au fost numeroase Bitcoin heists over the years. There have been high profile embezzlement of Cryptocurrency, like the Mt Gox Hack sau FTX Embezzlement Scandal. These problems grab headlines and create a lot of mystery around what happened with these situations. The nature of decentralized networks like Bitcoin has made it more challenging to offer safeguards similar to traditional finance. Bitcoin notoriously got its start with Silk Road, an online marketplace on the Dark Web where people could buy anything they wanted. Transactions usually occurred using Bitcoin and people could buy innocuous items like on ebay all the way to drugs and other illegal items.
A lot of fear has been incited around the use of Bitcoin because of that. But the outcome of the Silk Road raids should give us insight into how Bitcoin is not worse, but probably better than the current financial system when it comes to investigation of its use in crime. The IRS and other law enforcement agencies have used the public nature of Bitcoin’s blockchain to their benefit. The blockchain records the movement of Bitcoin from wallet to wallet. While all the wallet addresses are anonymous, once a wallet address can be tied to an individual, it’s very easy to search the ledger for every transaction linked to that address.
Este o poveste veche ca vremea în care politicienii vor deturna bani din vistieria publică pentru a se îmbogăți. Multe guverne au instituit garanții pentru a se asigura că acest lucru nu s-a întâmplat, dar prea des în Africa aceste garanții fie nu există, fie au existat modalități ușoare de a le evita. Mulți politicieni vor muta apoi fonduri destinate unor lucruri precum drumuri, electricitate și apă curată și le vor pune în conturi bancare secrete offshore. Acest lucru se face adesea în cantități mai mici la un moment dat, pentru a evita suspiciunile.
There are other solutions that have been developed over the years, like Multi-Sig which requires the approval of multiple users to sign off on the use of funds. This could allow Comptrollers and Public oversight boards to be directly notified before any funds are being spent.
Bitcoin could be a major weapon against corruption. If a country uses Bitcoin as their official currency for public finances, there’s a public ledger tracking the spending from the official government Wallet. This ledger is accessible to the Press, political opposition, and to every interested citizen for that matter. This can allow real time tracking of embezzlement and corruption within Governments.
Bitcoin could Also be a double edged sword. We've seen in the US that once a person is tied to a wallet, law enforcement are able to track the amount that's in the wallet as well as the transactions using the public ledger.
Unscrupulous public officials could use this knowledge of their citizens Bitcoin Balance to target individuals or groups for bribery or extortion.
Comerț liber echitabil
One of the challenges that has faced many post colonial nations, but West Africa in particular, has been a failure to capitalize on their natural resources. West Africa has gold, oil, diamonds, and uranium among other resources, but haven't been able to translate this into long-term sustainable growth. Some of this is domestic problems with corruption that hamper development. Heavy regulations make it difficult to conduct business due to licensing requirements;these requirements are often a thinly veiled attempt at securing bribes.
But this isn't the only mechanism at work here. One major problem within West Africa in particular has been the French imposition of the CFA Franc. The French have been regularly devaluing this currency so they have a trade advantage. As the CFA franc is devalued against the euro, the same amount of euros can purchase more African goods. When these nations look to buy finished goods from France, the longer they hold on to their CFA francs, the less they can buy from France as the currency loses value against the euro.
Timp de multe decenii după independență, aceste națiuni au fost obligate să-și păstreze rezervele de numerar în Banca Centrală Franceză. Acest lucru a fost un avantaj pentru Franța, dar beneficiile au fost marginale pentru aceste națiuni. Deși ar putea exista unele motive pentru a face acest lucru, inclusiv accelerarea reglementărilor internaționale și combaterea corupției, în cea mai mare parte aceasta a fost o pierdere a puterii în luarea deciziilor sau dezvoltarea infrastructurii bancare locale. Acest lucru a însemnat, de asemenea, că banca centrală franceză a putut percepe comisioane de tranzacție acestor națiuni, ducând și la o pierdere de avere.
Bitcoin fixes this. Independent of Central Banks, Bitcoin allows international transactions easily without an intermediary. With relatively low transaction costs as well, this would allow West African nations to engage in commerce with any country in the world without having to go through the intermediary of the French.
Țările din Africa de Vest ar putea să cumpere mașini, precum și produse finite din alte țări direct, fără a fi nevoie să treacă prin mai multe schimburi valutare. Acest lucru ar putea facilita, de asemenea, aducerea de bunuri parțial finite sau alte articole care le-ar permite să-și construiască propria infrastructură și industrie locală. Acest lucru ar putea fi sub formă de echipament minier uzat sau nou, echipamente de rafinare a petrolului, ferăstrău pentru recoltarea și prelucrarea lemnului, mașini de fabricare a sticlei etc. Acest lucru devine mult mai ieftin fără ca un procent mare să fie scos din partea de sus pe tranzacție.
Bancar pentru cei nebancarați
One great advantage for individuals is that Bitcoin is open to anyone. Many people within Africa and the developing world tend to have challenges with banking that we often don't think about in the first world.
The first is access to identification. When you bring your kid down to the local bank to open their first savings account they will ask you to show their social security card and birth certificate in the US. Many people and the developing world don't have either. They are often born at home with a local midwife and it can be expensive or not worthwhile to register the birth with local officials. This means that millions around the world don't have access to banking as we know it.
Mulți din Africa au putut să participe deja la activități bancare, într-o anumită măsură, prin telefoanele lor mobile. A existat o proliferare și o adoptare largă atât a smartphone-urilor, cât și a telefoanelor flip în întreaga Africa. Pentru a cumpăra date sau minute, oamenii vor cumpăra carduri SIM cu numerar și vor pune o nouă cartelă SIM în telefon. Mulți oameni vor cumpăra o nouă cartelă SIM în fiecare săptămână. Acest lucru este foarte diferit de multe locuri din vest, unde trecem prin verificări de antecedente și apoi ne plătim factura la sfârșitul lunii.
Telefoanele mobile au dat
people limited access to Mobile payments, but it's still somewhat limited and is generally in local currency with high transaction costs. Bitcoin allows people to use their money on their terms.
This has been more significant in times of chaos. As some nations have faced sanctions, individuals can use Bitcoin as a way to sidestep sanctions. Banks are often uncomfortable transferring funds to and from uncertain areas. Bitcoin has and could continue to give people access to goods and machines they need for their business to grow.
Provocări cu Bitcoin
In timp ce Bitcoin would work great as a drop-in replacement to bad currencies, that doesn't mean this is a perfect solution.
While there are some solutions to using bitcoin without access to the internet, most Bitcoin transactions require access to the blockchain and the internet to verify the transaction. This won't always be the case, and many bitcoin users and advocates have been working on systems which will allow people to use Bitcoin without having direct access to the internet.
Volatility within bitcoin is also something that makes it challenging to use day-to-day as a currency. The wild price fluctuations might make it better as a method of international settlement, but might make it difficult for day to day use.
Another not very pretty element to currency markets is that Bitcoin doesn't have an army or global bureaucracy. This is something that many people like about Bitcoin, but conflict with international organizations and nations like the International Monetary Fund, France, and the US have bristled at the idea of having a new global currency that isn't directly controlled by them.
De asemenea, ar putea exista alternative mai bune pentru țările din Africa de Vest. Ar putea fi mai bine să folosească un coș de mărfuri ca garanție pentru moneda lor. Multe țări din Africa de Vest au suficient aur pentru a le permite să emită bancnote cu aur, inclusiv una care utilizează un blockchain pentru a verifica depozitul de aur și a urmări transferul acestuia. Unii economiști au sugerat utilizarea mai multor mărfuri pentru a evita volatilitatea oricărei mărfuri care afectează valoarea monedei. Aceste valute bazate pe mărfuri ar putea fi mai apreciate la nivel internațional, blockchain-ul oferind mai multă credibilitate acestor valute.
The Central African Republic has been trying to issue their own Cryptocurrency, and an effort a few years ago to involve all of West Africa, including French speaking West Africa and English Speaking Nigeria, has fizzled out as people viewed it as slowly became co-opted by France. Could Bitcoin succeed where those efforts failed?
This is a guest post by Phil Vecchio. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Revistă.
Sursă originală: Bitcoin Revistă