Yesterday I had a chat with a guy called Marco from Lebanon, a country which faced hyperinflation. His story helped change my mind about how hyperbitcoinisation might come about. I've always thought hyperinflation would be a huge catalyst for immediate Bitcoin adoption because people would be forced to look at other alternatives. But there were other factors I hadn't considered.
From his experience, Marco saw two things happening during and after hyperinflation in his country:
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People were too busy trying to survive and thinking about what the immediate next steps were to save their families. They were in fight or flight mode. This is not the right mindset or situation to be in to learn and be receptive of a complex new topic. Learning about bitcoin takes a lot of work and people don't have the time, energy or resources to do that in a stressful situation.
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People have just lost their wealth. They don't have money to buy fuel to leave the country, food to feed their children, let alone the money to buy bitcoin. Let alone the ability to save their earnt Bitcoin. Let alone the ability to learn the relevant skills to be hired by a Bitcoin company to earn a paycheck in Bitcoin.
After this conversation I felt less radical about cheering on the collapse of fiat. The reality of it is heartbreaking.
On a more positive note, we talked about what the catalysts for hyperbitcoinisation might be if not hyperinflation. We riffed about loss of trust in mainstream media and social media. We noticed more convos happening around building local communities or people of the same feather flocking together in small online groups. And these people are getting into Bitcoin because a trusted friend in that group has the patience to orange pill and has a vested interest in seeing their community thrive.
TLDR; education from trusted sources seems to be a powerful, decentralized force towards hyperbitcoinisation.
It makes sense that the education of Bitcoin mirrors the decentralised nature of Bitcoin itself. It makes sense that a catalyst for Bitcoin adoption is fuelled by empowered individuals proactively making a difference and causing a positive ripple effect as opposed to cheering on the collapse of the old system which is completely out of our individual control.
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