The World Economic Forum in Davos – Blockchain but no Bitcoin please, lest it topple us oligarchs

The World Economic Forum is currently on this week in Davos, Switzerland. Every year the top economists meet to discuss the current state of affairs and strategise the way forward. You will find finance ministers from many countries, even presidents, bankers and corporate billionaires all in the same place. That’s a lot of money in one room.

But why no Bitcoin?
This year bitcoin was not on the agenda so much as blockchain. Generally the mainstream economists are scared of the former but want the benefits of the latter, which is understandable since bitcoin may deprive them of their jobs, while blockchain technology is the revolutionary tool that can empower everyone the world over, if they take up the opportunity to introduce it into the current systems.

Tax the rich!
Another one of the main topics was the concept of charging a 70% super tax on the very rich. After all, debt is a form of slavery. Some would even go so far as to call it an act of violence. Even charging interest is considered a crime by some. The super rich need to put in their fair share to uplift humanity. The “trickle down economy” that is mentioned as a solution does not work. We can see this now, after years of stagnation and increasing debt build-up since the global financial recession of 2008.

One 1%er can feed the world
There is the counter argument that a 70% tax on the super rich might slow down the overall economy, but the likelihood is that it may well slow it down for the elite but not for everyone. For example if Jeff Bezos – possibly the richest man in the world with a value of around $45 billion -could make a worthwhile contribution, we could probably end world hunger. Or we could save an entire species of endangered animal from extinction.

Charity begins on Earth
Basically the global financial system is broken. Another billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates, laughed at the idea that philanthropy alone could solve the world’s problems. But I believe it can. There is enough wealth available. It simple needs to be put in the right places. If we wait for the oligarchs and the trickle down system, we will never see the results needed. Even Tony Blair was there, still laughing at the media for blaming him for his role in the Iraq war. Some consider him a war criminal, but there he was, immune to prosecution while over 1 million innocent civilians died in that war, based on lies of WMD that never existed.

Who is the voice of Bitcoin at the WEF?
And what about cryptocurrency? Who represented us there at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year? Well, it was Ethereum and Ripple, the former being sublime but the latter being merely a centralised colluder with the banksters of the world. Joe Lubin, the face and brains of Ethereum, as well as Consensys was there, buddying up to the banksters. Curiously he has himself said that Ripple isn’t even actually a blockchain technology to begin with.

“Ripple isn’t really a Blockchain technology, it’s sort of a payment system, so I don’t really consider that a competitor.”
From: https://bitcoinist.com/ripple-eos-joseph-lubin-ethereum/

King...of whom?
It seems Lubin is happy to work with the oligarchs, rather than denounce them, like us plebs do. The problem is that entrenched powers are dangerous. For example numerous members of royalty were present at the Davos meeting. We might question, what are kings and princes still doing as part of our reality in the twenty first century? These people are born equal to any other human being on this planet today, yet still they claim some superiority over the masses. It makes no sense any more. Yet it still prevails. Crony capitalism and plutocracy has no place in 2019. It is redundant and outdated to the extreme. Such people pay much lower taxes than even their secretaries do, and they will openly joke about it, while siphoning their profits offshore.

Ripple was there but that's not blockchain, is it?
Other cryptocurrency specialists were there, like Brad Garlinghouse, the head of Ripple, who mentioned how it will take another five years and we will see widespread if not mainstream adoption of blockchain technology globally, which sounds promising. However, others described bitcoin as having no value, as being useless as a currency. So they are definitely more into blockchain than bitcoin, much like the Chinese government and bankers.

Environmental debate on mining bitcoin is outdated
Another controversial subject regarding bitcoin that came up in Davos was the environmental impact of the expensive mining of the cryptocurrency. Fortunately there seems to be evidence that it will not be mined in future as it is today – using so much dirty power. Even now much of the mining occurs via renewable resources. Besides that, we can simply take the mining farms to places like Siberia and the Sahara desert, where there is ample excess energy as well as no cities around for miles to suffer any potential polluting side effects. That argument is already outdated.

Blockchain but not Bitcoin
At the end of the day the World Economic Forum in Davos is there to protect the rich and maintain the status quo. In time to come bitcoin and blockchain will prevail. Even Jamie Daimon CEO of JP Morgan Chase bank owns some bitcoin, as well as the CEO of Ripple himself. In time the current unbanked with no access to credit card use, like those in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe, will grab hold of blockchain technology and leapfrog over the rest, jumping straight into a crypto-based payment system.

This is a revolution
Blockchain can kick-start a financial revolution, the biggest in a generation, allowing for increased free flow of money, which is exactly what will spur on the world economy. All of the world will have access to financial tools to do business and their hands will be untied and fully empowered as a result. Bitcoin may be a threat to the old order for now, but blockchain will pave the way to the next financial revolution in world history.

Blockchain in the health insurance industry was there
On a positive note there was a small panel discussion on the fringes of the main events, hosted by Reuters, specifically on the use of blockchain in the medical insurance industry. Two panelists discussed the value of blockchain in cutting costs, validating or tracking real vs fake medicines, as well as the protection and immediate access to patients’ data. Here’s a link to the 1 hour video of the discussion. https://www.reuters.tv/l/Peol

No big names there, of course, just a sideline interest, but at least blockchain is now a buzzword at arguably the biggest economic gathering globally. That’s what this year’s World Economic Forum has revealed.

Pic: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/01/open-forum-2015-join-the-debate-at-davos/

What do you think? Is the Davos WEF worth listening to?