During the Arab Spring a couple of years ago, Twitter was one of the primary newsmakers because demonstrators had utilized the social network to commence protests, inform the world on its domestic strife and publish photographs and videos of violent incidents. It was an important tool for an important ordeal and showed how oppressive government is.
This year, Ukraine faces a similar situation: a general public upset over its government and its policies and have sought a violent overthrow of its leaders. However, it’s not so much Twitter that has assisted their plight but rather bitcoin.
CoinDesk was one of the first media outlets to locate photos of demonstrators at the barricades carrying placards soliciting donations in the virtual currency. Since then, the images have made the rounds on the Internet.
Another picture shows a man sitting down holding the same sign.
The donations amount to as much as four years worth of working in Kiev.
Earlier this month, we reported that Ukraine was going to regulate bitcoin businesses under existing laws. It was the first statement issued by the National Bank of Ukraine on the matter of cryptocurrency.
A country that is in the midst of a crisis and protesters are finding ways to receive cash instead of relying on international aid organizations and governments. This could certainly be considered revolutionary and an important development when it comes to financial assistance. Instead of donating to a non-governmental organization, individuals from New York, Toronto, London, Beijing or Johannesburg can help a person or a family in a war-torn state.
Proponents of bitcoin usually state that if such things of totalitarian, restrictive and oppressive measures were instituted more western civilized countries then the virtual currency would serve as protection for citizens who could perhaps flee the situation and have their wealth at the same time.
In addition, what if a country’s respective currency collapses? The United States dollar is usually described by contrarian investors, libertarians and bitcoiners as toxic, the euro doesn’t have much value and many Eastern European currencies, such as the hryvnia which has lost about one-quarter of its values in recent days, are barely worth anything.
Bitcoin could very well circumvent this problem and still maintain a citizen’s personal wealth.
The market is producing more tools each day that are assisting inhibited peoples. Just imagine if there was no social media at the time of the Arab Spring, would the world be witness to personal circumstances? Immense violence? True stories as opposed to government lies and propaganda? Would there have even been an Arab Spring?
What will be the next product or service to help those in Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Sri Lanka?
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