Critics:
> Bitcoin offers no social benefit beyond speculation
Bitcoin offers little social benefit to westerners in first world countries, but can be a lifeline for people in opressive regimes, unbanked third world countries, etc.
The western media typically under-reports this and we are understandably blind to some of these problems (e.g see [this panel](https://youtu.be/hrRy05w2rNc?t=4251) from the Oslo Freedom Forum)
For example, bitcoins have been used as a medium of exchange by [girls in Afghanistan](https://www.reuters.com/article/crypto-currency-afghanistan/feature-salaries-to-remittances-afghans-embrace-crypto-amid-financial-chaos-idUSL8N2QU39A), by [Russian political opposition when their bank accounts get frozen](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-navalny-crypto-curren/bitcoin-donations-surge-to-jailed-kremlin-critic-navalnys-cause-data-idUSKBN2AB2GR), by [Nigerian merchants and protesters](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jul/31/out-of-control-and-rising-why-bitcoin-has-nigerias-government-in-a-panic), by [people getting capital out of China](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/china-users-move-50-billion-of-cryptocurrency-out-of-country-hinting-at-capital-flight.html), by [people getting their money out of Venezuela, Iran, Palestine, and elsewhere](https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/bitcoins-international-impact-w-alex-gladstein/), by [under-banked people in El Salvador](https://medium.com/ziglumoney/how-bitcoin-could-bank-the-unbanked-of-el-salvador-917c3588857c), and more. It’s also used in developed markets for some natively-online services, [such as Substack](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/substack-is-now-accepting-bitcoin-payments-on-the-lightning-network-powered-by-bitcoin-payment-processor-opennode-301360039.html) or [buying VPNs](https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/best-vpns-buy-bitcoin-crypto/), and many others.
(from [this](https://www.lynalden.com/lightning-network/))
2minutebitcoin
npub1p6…9ej3v
2023-05-06 03:56:38
Author Public Key
npub1p63d4vekvuql9zltpp4dezzfk2xxfgjsfqyglf4ju4syalekn4csn9ej3vPublished at
2023-05-06 03:56:38Event JSON
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"content": "Critics:\n\u003e Bitcoin offers no social benefit beyond speculation\n\nBitcoin offers little social benefit to westerners in first world countries, but can be a lifeline for people in opressive regimes, unbanked third world countries, etc.\n\nThe western media typically under-reports this and we are understandably blind to some of these problems (e.g see [this panel](https://youtu.be/hrRy05w2rNc?t=4251) from the Oslo Freedom Forum)\n\nFor example, bitcoins have been used as a medium of exchange by [girls in Afghanistan](https://www.reuters.com/article/crypto-currency-afghanistan/feature-salaries-to-remittances-afghans-embrace-crypto-amid-financial-chaos-idUSL8N2QU39A), by [Russian political opposition when their bank accounts get frozen](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-navalny-crypto-curren/bitcoin-donations-surge-to-jailed-kremlin-critic-navalnys-cause-data-idUSKBN2AB2GR), by [Nigerian merchants and protesters](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jul/31/out-of-control-and-rising-why-bitcoin-has-nigerias-government-in-a-panic), by [people getting capital out of China](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/china-users-move-50-billion-of-cryptocurrency-out-of-country-hinting-at-capital-flight.html), by [people getting their money out of Venezuela, Iran, Palestine, and elsewhere](https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/bitcoins-international-impact-w-alex-gladstein/), by [under-banked people in El Salvador](https://medium.com/ziglumoney/how-bitcoin-could-bank-the-unbanked-of-el-salvador-917c3588857c), and more. It’s also used in developed markets for some natively-online services, [such as Substack](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/substack-is-now-accepting-bitcoin-payments-on-the-lightning-network-powered-by-bitcoin-payment-processor-opennode-301360039.html) or [buying VPNs](https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/best-vpns-buy-bitcoin-crypto/), and many others.\n\n(from [this](https://www.lynalden.com/lightning-network/))",
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}