Traditional financial system and the efficiency of electronic payments based on cryptographic proofs

Hello dear and faithful readers, in this opportunity we will develop some points that since the origin of the Bitcoin network protocol has been touched, this in relation to how the trust betrayed by the banks, restored in the Bitcoin code.

While it is true that society seems to be immersed in a culture of acceptance or resignation to the multiple problems and excessive control of the traditional economic and financial structure, it is also true that the Bitcoin network protocol has offered a clear alternative of decentralization that solves these problems for more than a decade.

It is necessary to point out that the first words of the Bitcoin White Paper contain in themselves a solution to a problem that tends to be invisible to most people. The problem of who owns the money we use and how we have, as a society, ceded its control to entities that represent nothing more than their own interests, should concern us today.

However, for some reason, this is not a subject that most people reflect on. I have the impression that a certain culture of acceptance or resignation (or even comfort) prevails among us. This is the manna of states and institutions that encourage people to cede responsibility for their actions to trusted third parties. In exchange, people lose a share of power that allows these institutions to have some control over their lives.

The fact is that people are, for the most part, unwilling to do without banks because they do not want to sacrifice the illusion of security, or the comfort, they are sold about managing their money.

Financial institutions of various kinds (amalgamated among themselves, governments and states) impose identity controls for Internet commerce, under the pretext of banking security. A security that can be violated.

The background of all this hides, like an elephant in the room, the message that people's fulfillment lies in the supposed benefits that these entities offer. For example, loans that only feed people's indebtedness, tying them to a contract that often cannot be terminated.

In this sense, Bitcoin offers an alternative, but it implies that each of us takes responsibility for our actions, at least in terms of the use of money. And it seems that therein lies the difference: those who want to be responsible for their actions will use Bitcoin, which involves study and understanding, and those who do not want responsibility will hand over control of their money to trusted third parties without thinking about it.

ScienceDirect. Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance. Link

The cover image was designed by the author: @lupafilotaxia, incorporating image: HindustanTimes.