Change is inevitable. Like any other kind of technology existing in the world, money evolves into something new. The money we all know won’t stick around long, and if you are not prepared enough for this shift, you will suffer big time in this transition.
Money is a form of technology for exchange and transport, allowing the conveyance of energy through time and space. If you haven’t noticed, the energy you deploy gets transformed into money. The money you have gets transported through time and space to get deployed to purchase energy from someone else.
Sounds complicated? Putting it simply, you work hard to earn money, and then use that money to purchase someone else’s work.
Technological changes in the past have given birth to winners and losers. Now that the version of money (hard cash) we are familiar with is close to its death cycle, an entirely new, unique type is surfacing.
Through this write-up, we hope to assist you in making the most out of the coming change opportunity coming, or at least, not suffer damages brought by the transition.
Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company founder, and chief developer stated that if people would be asked what they wanted in terms of transportation back in the time before automobiles get founded, they would have answered ‘faster horses.’
However, innovation doesn’t work that way— you don’t give people the things they want, but rather the things they need.
Most people often view new technologies as a mere craze and boondoggle. They are quick to call the end of these technologies.
Let me give you an example.
In 1889, a famous cover magazine from New York released an editorial cartoon illustrating electricity as an unrestrained demon who will soon frighten children, take over women, and kill horses. The magazine was launched right after Carl Benz patented his seemingly outrageous idea of having a gas engine power a vehicle.
Despite the doubts and black propaganda going against the idea, the electricity-powered vehicles triumph, and we all know how it turned out.
Right now, vehicles are not the only thing powered by what’s formerly perceived as an “outrageous idea,” but almost everything from stoves to houses— everything we use on daily basis has something to do with electricity.
History tells us that anyone wise enough to leverage technology always comes out ahead.
From bows and arrows to gunpowder, handcrafts to machinery, library info searching to Google-ing: we surely have come a long way in terms of innovation.
Victory comes to those who technologize first.
If you lived before the emergence of supercomputers, you might have also laughed at the thought of PCs in every home as Ken Olsen did. According to the American engineer, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Perhaps, he would faint because of shock if he rose from his tomb and see how the world is going now.
Bill Gates’ idea of the internet got laughed at, too. But it’s clearly visible who won the game, obviously— Bill Gates.
All technology eventually gets superseded by better and newer versions, and it’s now occurring to money.
The Ever-Evolving Money
The government is the one giving value to money, controlling the printing press, and publishing pictures on paper. Historically, money evolved so much. We started off from seashells to marbles, to silver, to coins, and to paper. Now, a great number of people are turning to digital money.
We are witnessing the world’s shift to a cashless society. But is there anything more to this change?
Money has been the gold standard since 1971. The United States brought its military might into play to deploy itself as the world’s reserved currency. Prominent commodities like raw materials and oil get traded in US dollars, and a lot of countries hold US dollars in their reserves.
America proved its power by crushing Iraq when Sadam Hussein, an Iraqi politician, tried to push selling oil in Euros.
The United States was sneaky when it comes to money.
Since more than 65% of the US dollars circulate on the outside borders of the United States, the number of money they print affects the purchasing power of countries that hold US dollar reserves as well.
Each time the United States prints more money, they bring inflation, stealing its citizens and other countries of their wealth. This is how the United States become the world’s superpower.
In early 2000, different countries had about 80% of their reserves in US dollars. However, this dropped down to nearly 50%.
Some countries are pissed, so took a stand to not let their economies be led by the diluted US dollar. After all, why would anyone be willing to work if someone else is diluting their pay? This removed the gold standard, losing about 90% of its purchasing power.
Today’s generation is fated for debt and consumerism. Most teenagers are very unlikely to buy a house throughout their whole life. Even those who aren’t starting their life yet are sinking in debt.
The modern economy is founded on consumption and the repeated need for brisk innovation. To keep the entire travesty alive, you must spend more money than you the previous year, or things will go out of hand.
Many countries around the world are in debt, and citizens are unhappy getting robbed by their governments, who are uninformed with things that are happening beyond their bubbles.
With the advancement of the internet, more and more denizens are displaying digital-first behavior. These people are those who learn online, work online, and take delight in entertainment online. This generation is ready for the digital era, while money is an analog, old technology.
The Birth of Money 3.0
People around the globe are preparing for the first digital economy that steps up to multi-planetary. The door to digital money was trailblazed by Bitcoin, which skyrocketed so much in the past few years, and an enormous amount of money is getting thrown into crypto projects.
Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies are on the rise and are regarded as the money 3.0. What’s happening in the digital world is something that we are seeing for the first time in history.
For the first time, people can own and control something that the government and other central authorities can’t mess with. At the time of writing, this new age of money is still in its infancy, but the time of its maturity is surely coming.
Those who won’t understand and deny the potential of digital currencies will be left behind by early adopters. One example of a country that got left behind in other technological adoption is North Korea. On the population level, they are a century behind in terms of adoption.
In the following five years, countries around the globe will beat a hasty retreat away from their native currencies to shift into a stable digital coin that has its own blockchain. All things you can do with the money now will be available in this new money ecosystem.
There’s a saying that states, “Time in the market, always beats timing the market!” Although digital currency’s future still seems to be blurry, spend time in the market to thrive in this new world.
By 2030, you will possess more than enough store of value that will outweigh anything central authorities would try to do to the currency of your country.
