Bitcoin Forum

I have read few posts about how crypto and BTC can change the country for the better, and I fully agree to this but what if the leaders of the country are all corrupted? In this case I don't expect Bitcoin to help a bit, the leaders will find ways to start using crypto to their own advantage, maybe embezzlement of the country's fund.

If your leaders are corrupt don't bother trying to force them to do anything that will make the country grow using Bitcoin and crypto, it is not going to work.

Bitcoin is not the solution to countries with high poverty rate if the leaders are all corrupt.

They can be corrupted but with Bitcoin you have your freedom. Your money is not in their hand, they can never freeze it, they will never know what you have unless you failed to protect your privacy.

Government does not need to freeze your Bitcoin funds, if they know your Bitcoin address they can prohibit you from transferring those funds under threat of fines and jail.
You can try saying you lost your keys in a boating accident but then they will flag this Bitcoins and anyone who will try to use it will be in trouble (tainted coins).

By using Bitcoin you are already failing at privacy as it is a transparent blockchain that anyone in the world can see and it's very easy for government to attach a name to each coin as most coins are traded on regulated exchanges with KYC in place.

The only way out of this hell-hole is to use privacy by default project like Monero, once you get out of exchange, they no longer know what is happening with the coins.
If you really want to have transparency then you can share your view-only keys with anyone you like or generate proof of funds.

Why would you bring leaders if anyone can use Bitcoin?
Look leaders don't know much about technology and anyone can use Bitcoin it doesn't matter if the leaders are corrupt.
Like the above said Bitcoin is freedom anyone can use it without relaying to country leaders and no government would able to hold your account since your Bitcoin is your own bank.

Honestly, I don't think they can stop crypto and Bitcoin almost all countries are using cryptos they can ban them but it's just temporary, and later people are still using it.

And you as a person, why will you make your bitcoin address public for the government to link your identity into it, knowing fully well that all they will need is to control how you spend it, monitor every bit of transaction you make from it, what they are for, etc.? 
 
It's better for you not to make the wallet public than to start trouble that will take time and careful planning to get out of it. As long as censorship is not done on the bitcoin blockchain, tinted coins can still be spent if you know how to go about it.

Anytime I see people saying that the government doesn't like Bitcoin and crypto because of the concerns of money laundering, I just laugh it out. That's exactly what majority of them does but wouldn't admit doing it. Before, when an allegations is written on a politician that looted money, the money are always trace to business model money laundering through fiats with many accounts related to their own families or people not even close to them but now, most of them don't keep the money in banks, they quickly use it to buy crypto.

However, where is an advantage, there is a disadvantages but the advantage of Bitcoin is far more than what are been seen as a threat. If the government want Bitcoin to work, it's going to work and it will give audience to public how money are been used and spend. People can analyze chain on transactions and how politician loots money and the laundering will become more difficult to do as everyone attention will be on them nationwide and globally.

If your government and their leaders, staffs are all corrupted, you can not change them as a single person. To change it, you need to have nationwide efforts from majority citizens in your nation. If it's not such time, you can let it be and focus on yourself. Governments can be corrupted but they can not steal your bitcoin in your own non custodial wallets. It's one big reason for you to choose Bitcoin to store your fund safely.

It can not help your country but it can help you, as a single person if you see strength of Bitcoin and know how to invest in bitcoin, and store it in a right way. What is a right way?

Use open source non custodial wallet for storing your bitcoin and make sure you back up your wallet in a right way as well.

How to back up a seed phrase (https://blog.lopp.net/how-to-back-up-a-seed-phrase/)

At least Bitcoin help the citizen to financial inclusion.  No matter how corrupt the government is, the individual is responsible for his well being.  The improvement and the progress of a citizen's financial journey is dependent on his own efforts.  The government may be corrupt but the personal financial situation of a person is due to his action.

I agree that to be able to take advantage of BTC, it should be use for its purpose and as long as the government don't ban Bitcoin, citizen can utilize its features to create financial opportunities .  The government won't work for us to have food on the table or make us wealthy, it is our effort to make these things to reality.

Even without corruption, Bitcoin is not still the solution to poverty. Without the right economic policies nations will still be underdeveloped. If the government fails to handle inflation, illiteracy, and insecurity, Bitcoin will do little or nothing.  Apart from corruption, poverty can be reduced by industrialization, economic diversification, and technological advancement.

Bitcoin could help a country to get additional revenue if the government, businesses, or citizens are involved in it. It could also attract crypto investors to the country if the government makes friendly laws, and it could help reduce the cost of international payment transactions.

Think I have said this kind of thing before, bitcoin is digital currency that's decentralized, but I know very well that cryptocurrency mostly Bitcoin has to with precaution and if you are looking for a way to elevate the economic down fall of your country don't go through investment of Bitcoin, except that your expectations of achieving profits for your investment in bitcoin that you're investing for bitcoin you do invest for your country will last for fifteen years to twenty years, because investment of Bitcoin is not something you can make a profit immediately you invest on it, if the management of the country can agree for long-term investment I think that it will help in future to make economic situation of a country to be alright.

If the cause of a country falling into poverty is corruption then the government needs to find a solution to overcome corruption, using bitcoin in this case will not help their economy or help them fight corruption. 

I agree with you, I also saw some threads giving the idea that we should use bitcoin to alleviate poverty and fix unemployment in a country. But honestly, it's all just unnecessary hype, I don't think bitcoin can do those things. To be able to improve the economy is not a simple matter and takes a lot of time, we need to solve corruption, employment, inflation...can bitcoin do those things? Can Bitcoin eliminate corruption? Can Bitcoin create jobs and income? No, it is just a currency, a payment method, nothing more and nothing less.

The part that you have omitted while quoting me answers your question.

https://i.postimg.cc/0NVdWp89/facepalm.jpg

There's no need to force or advocate for your country's leadership to adopt Bitcoin on a national level, as you said it won't change much if the leadership is corrupt and lacks vision. Bitcoin was created for the holders freedom and privacy and it's doing very well in the hands of individuals and institutions that are proactive and knows it's worth as a valuable asset. Infact governments don't need to hodl Bitcoin for it's price to continue to reach new ATH price, so it's anybody's lose including countries that can not be truthful to themselves and hodl the store of value.

Bitcoin is not a solution for poor countries, but Bitcoin is a solution for individuals, not countries. If the leader is corrupt from the start then there will be no change at all because corrupt leadership will continue to exist in the next leadership.
So it's useless for you to resolve Bitcoin for your country's leadership

That's absolutely right, Bitcoin will not be able to help a country when its government is corrupt from the start, no matter what regulations are given by the government, in the end Bitcoin will only be a "display" to deceive people so that their country looks more sophisticated, when in fact what happens is that they do not fully understand what Bitcoin is and how they can use it for their needs. Bitcoin is a transaction tool, it never guarantees that it can help someone's economy, so never put your hopes in Bitcoin that it can help your country's economy because its price still tends to be volatile and there is no guarantee that the investment you make today can be profitable in the next few weeks or months.

Not only the leaders, but the population as well. If the country has corrupt leaders, it's because the local citizens put them on the power positions where they are through democratic elections. Bitcoin is a neutral tool which can be used for the good or evil, depending who is using it, and what their purposes are. Bitcoin alone can't do miracles, but it certainly can help nations, groups of people and individuals who want to thrive in an ethical way in life, aware that abusing others won't take anyone to a good place futurely.

Thankfully you don't need your corrupt leaders or countrymen to adopt and be benefited by Bitcoin, due to the decentralization characteristic. Therefore, don't worry too much about others, do your part and reach as far as you can conscious your methods aren't the same they use to progress in life and be proud of yourself for that.

This is one of the misconceptions some are having towards bitcoin, this is not a digital currency that is aimed at perpetrating illicit activities like financial fraud and it's clear that it's not a safe haven for scammers to hide, despite that there is high demands for one's privacy with the use of this same currency.

Another thing you may have to consider here is the nature of how bitcoin network operates, it can't be centralized because its working under a decentralized network, everyone interested to invest in bitcoin on his own can willingly adopt it use and invest without having to go through central authority.

Bitcoin alone cannot take any country out of poverty. A country who approves of Bitcoin's adoption can only use bitcoin as an economic tool to fill up some lapses in some vital sectors of the economy in order to make things easy for it's citizens. A country with high rate of poverty needs more than just Bitcoin to actually reduce poverty in their country. They need to invest in various sectors like education, agriculture, mineral resources and try as much as possible to create employment opportunities or encourage entrepreneurs.

For a country with corrupt leaders and corrupt citizens too, they need to purge their minds of all forms of corruption first before even thinking of adopting bitcoin. Bitcoin is not a magic coin that does the extraordinary, people still need to put in their best first so they can truly enjoy bitcoin.

if the problem is corrupt officials, then before developing a system or adopting Bitcoin and the Blockchain system, the state must first prepare a supervisory body before implementing the system.

officials who still commit corruption are not because they are still lacking financially. but because there are opportunities and loopholes in the system that is running. moreover, if caught, the punishment is not commensurate or not scary for corruptors.

it is not Bitcoin that should be blamed for being used as a tool for corruption. but the corrupt brains that must be cleaned.

I have never had the kind of thinking that Bitcoin will need the validation of a leader of any country to either thrive in the country or boost the economy of the country as well as the standard of living of the country people. I like to refer to bitcoin as the 'Grassroots Currency' because it doesn't require any government to function or circulate but only requires your individual interest and this is why amidst the news and propaganda we've been facing over the banning or restrictions of Bitcoin within the crypto community of some countries, it has only grow up in number of users within those countries anytime the government fights it.

The government is a system that's built to have a monopolistic or if you like, centralized approach to everything including the financial aspect of people, yet bitcoin is an opposite of such practice because bitcoin grants freedom to the beholders and brings about a decentralized approach of financial systems which makes it extremely difficult for the government to destroy.

What OP is saying is pretty obvious as no financial instrument will help a corrupt country. The only thing that can help is getting rid of the root of the problem, which is corrupt government. The problem is that a widespread corruption is hard to fight because as an honest politician you find yourself facing a wall everywhere you turn and enemies behind every corner.
That said, bitcoin isn't a bad choice. It's not a miraculous solution for all problems, but it's a step in the right direction.

If the leaders are corrupt then it will not make the economy grow, they think of their own interests even if bitcoin has been made a currency they will easily embezzle government funds as they please.

But they can get out of poverty with the existence of bitcoin as long as they know how to work to get it then this will not involve the government bitcoin is freedom even if the government prohibits the use of bitcoin you can still have it.

I agree that bitcoin is not the solution for a country that wanted to get out of poverty because it is not the reason why bitcoin is created. We can read it in the whitepaper that it is not poverty the reason why Satoshi Nakamoto decided to create bitcoin. I don't know why many people think that it is the solution when the real solution should be getting rid of the problem. We all know that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are volatile so it a country may end up more problems if a country lose profit on investment in bitcoin.

Bitcoin is just a tool, it won’t be the overall solution to poverty. The solution comes from the leaders of the country, and how it provides privileges and opportunities to the people so they can get rid of poverty and live life comfortably and meaningfully.

While bitcoin can be a reliable currency, nevertheless it should also be well introduced as a profitable investment. But I doubt if this will be possible because if bitcoin provides a lot of profit opportunities, the country’s leaders will be the one to first benefit it that’s why they become richer and richer, while leaving the citizens still combatting poverty.

Bitcoin is a tool, so it can be used and abused depending on who's handling it. But Bitcoin doesn't necessarily need to be a part of the top-down approach. People can adopt it themselves, without governmental instructions and oversight. It won't fix systemic issues, but those who use it might be able to escape hyperinflation of fiat or unreliability of banks (if these issues are present).
As for corruption, I believe it's a societal issue, and it must be worked on starting from school education, to foster intolerance and despise toward corruption. I come from a country where corruption is a huge problem, and I can tell you it's not just about 'corrupt leaders', unfortunately. It's about a high degree of toleration of corruption, cheating and casual rule-breaking on all societal levels.

I just thought of a scenario in which people can achieve a certain level of privacy with Bitcoin where the government will not charge people too much tax and as a result reduce the state revenue. Corruption may be decreased in nominal terms. just a shallow thought. hahaa

I am not so sure that bitcoin can save a country or change it, although if you look at El Salvador as the closest reference that makes all the difference. Bitcoin can save individuals when they are able to take advantage of it while the country must take the approach that El Salvador did. But if the country does not dare to take the approach that they did then bitcoin will not be of any use to the country. Moreover, there are many cases where leaders become very corrupt with the financial resources generated, especially when talking about taxes that can be applied to crypto.

Countries can generate a level of income from legalizing crypto but they must create binding rules because if they do not do it then it is difficult to achieve like El Salvador. The question is are some countries willing to do that? and how they can try to change some of the rules regarding fiat as one of the country's currencies.

I think I'm missing something here, when did we believe bitcoin will solve poverty problem even when the leaders are not corrupt?

As far as I know, bitcoin was not specifically created to combat poverty problems and has no business with bad/corrupt or good leaders. It's just a currency that gives you financial autonomy to control your own money without government and their agents (banks) interference.

When you talk about poverty or bad leadership, it's entirely a different discussion.

Corruption is a disease that must be eradicated as soon as possible if it has occurred in a country because any development that will be planned in a country will never run smoothly if the leaders themselves still like to corrupt state funds. And a country that still has corruption in its government system will certainly not be suitable enough to use anything including the use of crypto and Bitcoin. Because its citizens themselves are certainly still in poor conditions and the development of Bitcoin use in the country will certainly not be significant enough because almost everyone still has to think about their daily needs to fill their stomachs.

You must have missed it because not only the OP, I have also debated in many topics with many people about this issue. They believe that simply using bitcoin can easily help eradicate poverty or reduce unemployment or even create peace in the world if the whole world accepts and uses bitcoin  :D :D :D. Indeed, many people have very crazy imaginations and thoughts to consider bitcoin as a god that can save this world just by accepting and using it.

Eradicating poverty, reducing unemployment, eliminating corruption...all of this is not the job of bitcoin, it was not created by Satoshi to solve those problems nor is it capable of doing those things. We should stop exaggerating about bitcoin, it's just a currency, that's all.

Corruption of despicable actions. Crypto many types. Bitcoin is only one, namely BTC. Bitcoin Currency Freedom that makes it easy for users to manage and manage their money. Your Bitcoin is yours and not regulated by them as an object that has the opportunity to commit acts of corruption of the money managed by them.
Bitcoin is not able to erase corruption because the one who committed corruption is not Bitcoin. Bitcoin is unable to erase poverty because Bitcoin is only a currency with an open source.

Having corrupt leaders doesn’t affect bitcoin usage in my opinion, bitcoin gives you financial freedom which means no one will be in control of your money. If the corrupt leaders want to use bitcoin to launder money it will not have an effect on your usage of bitcoin and if they embezzle country’s money well it will affect the country and not those who use bitcoin.

I know where you are trying to go but bitcoin has it's benefits and also it was not established to solve poverty problems it is designed to give us financial freedom but it’s volatile nature makes it more advantageous to use as it can grow in value over time but it doesn’t mean it will make people rich as you think.

Bitcoin cannot even put an end to poverty in a country with a high rate of poverty. It's not just a story that Bitcoin started off at a very cheap rate, where $1 could buy more than a thousand bitcoins, and later, when even $5 could still buy 1 bitcoin, the price started to grow gradually up until 1 bitcoin was sold for $100 and so on. We all know what the price history looks like, and comparing it to the current price, even the yearly revenue of the majority of citizens in different countries of the world is not up to $10k. Meanwhile,  there are some poor people whose revenue every year doesn't even amount to $5k. 

So, what I am saying right now is that people need to work and source for their income in various ways before they can be able to get money to invest in Bitcoin, and like you said, in some countries with a greedy government, if they lay hands on crypto, they can freely embezzle the country's money without anyone finding out. 

In my understanding, Bitcoin was created to help every individual who believes in financial problems. Today, Bitcoin can be used for good and bad, and for several years it has been used by people with bad intentions or motives for other communities in this industry.

But most or the majority of people around the world at this time are still trying to use Bitcoin in the right way, and even institutional investors or even large business companies around the world are investing in it.

I disagree, Bitcoin is use public blockchain, so any transactions made by the corrupt leaders will be shown on the blockchain. Anyone can see that, if they want to corrupt, we will know how many coins are moved to those "suspicious address" and they need to prove it.

Unlike fiat, it's recorded on private ledger where they can manipulate the information.

Bitcoin can be both solution, solution for people to escape from corrupt leaders or Bitcoin change the corrupt leaders.

Exactly my sentiments for a while now. People think that just cause bitcoin made a few millionaires in the past, it's going to make them rich altogether and it's the one and done solution to poverty. The fact of the matter is that, almost everyone who got big on bitcoin, was just a case of right place at the right time, in short they got lucky. And you can't emulate the same eventuality in most cases, so you can't bank on bitcoin or cryptocurrencies to help you move out of poverty.

What I highly suggest the governments and the people do is to use bitcoin not as a main source of economic success, but as a means to further supplement existing options, for regular blokes that's having 9-5s that pays them consistently, for governments, that's other ways to earn GDP.

Bitcoin is great but it's not that great, you have to have something else up your sleeve if you want to utilize this shit to the fullest.

We focus too much on what bitcoin can do for the  government of a country as benefits they stand to gain than what it can do for us as individuals. Bitcoin wasn't created for the government but basically for individuals like you and me who are sick and tired of the control the government has given itself over our finances and the monitoring of definitely every transactions, quelling any form of privacy and economic freedom for the average citizen.

Even if the leaders of a country aren't corrupt it doesn't mean that their acceptance of bitcoin is going to eradicate poverty in the country. The implication would be that there would be a large scale of self custodial wallet owners thereby reducing the long arm of the government and their interference policies therefore increasing privacy and financial freedom in that country but in reality no government wants that.

Well see now this is the whole point of bitcoin in general..decentralization.. and freedom from oppressive regimens that are working with them to hold their people down through poor banking regulations.  I mean bitcoin can't be controlled by the government of any nation, thats the whole point of this thing..so..I guess I'm not really sure I can agree with you here.

Of course by a government banning bitcoin, they are going to make the on and off ramp more difficult to get to.

I don't even think that bitcoin and cryptocurrency can help a country's economy in a better direction, let alone that they can help alleviate poverty in a country. Cryptocurrencies in general and bitcoin in particular are being used by us as an investment and for that we need money. Poor people, where do they get the money to invest in bitcoin?

Not to mention, bitcoin is just a financial market, which means investing in bitcoin can make a profit or it can make us lose. How can we escape poverty if our investments lose money?
As bitcoin investors, we always hope it will get better and better and can bring more benefits to the world. But let's be realistic and admit that Bitcoin is just like gold or other assets. It cannot help improve a country's poverty or unemployment or reduce a country's corruption rate.

Bitcoin can't make wheat, carrot, or meat, it can't create a surgery, it can't build an apartment. Bitcoin is not a magic stick to save poor countries from their mistakes. Poor countries need to invest in education, healthcare, they need to send their people to study in developed countries to get a good education and improve their country with that education. If the government isn't doing this, then there is no hope for other things to improve the life in such a country. If the government doesn't do that, then the government is corrupt and Bitcoin will only help them in their corruption and nepotism.

Can't agree with you on that part because blockchain analysis is getting advanced and if you are their target, they can do their best to make it very difficult for you to keep control of your coins. It's getting hard to buy/sell Bitcoin without KYC, you'll have to spend many coins to protect your privacy by using, maybe multiple mixers.

A hard truth is that bitcoin is not the silver bullet to every problem.

Poverty is one of them. You have to get those people in a somewhat decent living standard before they can use bitcoin. Because to use the latter they need electricity supply, a device to access their coins and so on. It can help once those things have been set up but not before.

Similarly, bitcoin will not end all economic problems, deflationary currencies also have their problem, these will become evident then.

However, if you ask me, I would accumulate bitcoin because I see a good price in future. Will it change the economy, probably not during my lifetime.

Bitcoin can bring life changing profits if you use it at its highest advantage, but if you use it for personal interest and maximize corruption in the current government, believe me its transparency will put you at your worst.

Poverty is a global struggle, but with the help of bitcoin being a tool for investment, I believe that will give a lot of advantages to create life's progress, but of course bitcoin education should be prioritize first before trying to invest.

And with fiat you have no chance at all. Here at least you can make it hard for them to protect your asset.

I think OP misunderstood the premise, the reality is that if a government has corrupt officials, then using crypto means that you are getting away from them. They may steal your fiat, but they can't steal your crypto , meaning that they are going to just playing with themselves if we all move to crypto, and they can make laws regarding whatever they want, but if they push too further, we can hide our crypto and they can't do anything about it because they wouldn't know about it.

So, crypto is decentralized and loved because of this, it's decentralized in a way that governments, corrupt or not, can't do anything about it and have to expect us to comply, if we do not want to then they would never know anything. I can hide billions in crypto without letting a single soul know, it would not be easy but it can be done, just do like 10 bitcoins for 100m times and that would take weeks to do, or maybe there is an automatic thing, and paper wallet them, easy as that, they would never know.

I believe many people already know this, I don't mean to be critical but I believe this should not be a topic, it's crazy that anyone thinks bitcoin would save them from all their countries issue that's not the case and even if a country isn't corrupt Bitcoin still can't play a major role to lift a country economy, the leaders still has a very big part to play to see that happening.

Yes Bitcoin is indeed not the solution to countries high poverty rate, and it is as well not a solution nation's economy, it is a currency that gives its users financial freedom irrespective their government policies if the holders are purely using it in decentralized way by avoiding the use of centralized exchanges that will ask for personal details for KYC.

Corrupt leaders can use bitcoin and crypto to embezzle money in a system where everyone in the system is corrupted, if not I think if the corrupt leaders use Bitcoin in an open network, it can be tracked, just that the recipient wallet will be the main target if it is an exchange wallet.
Bitcoin can help every individual who use it in the right way to avoid inflation and to also overcome some financial challenges if they hold for long.

Yes. I definitely think there's some truth to the idea that corrupt leaders could take advantage of Bitcoin.  The anonymity part could let them hide shady transactions.  But at the same time, Bitcoin's transparency through the blockchain gives it power too.  Anyone can follow the money on that public ledger. 

I'm still hopeful about bitcoins potential to give regular people more control.  Maybe an overly idealistic take, but it's how I feel.

Bitcoin will not act as a country saver, unless if all those corrupt officials are thrown out from their positions. The country's progress will only be realized by having leaders that are responsible and won't only be after of their personal interests.

Also, bitcoin is just a tool so it needs a person to operate it right. And with sufficient knowledge and skills about bitcoin, bitcoin will eventually act as a life saver, as long as bitcoin has been used the right and productive way.

Not really, there are many people who do not know this or they do not want to accept this fact. I also see a lot of people constantly claiming that bitcoin can help alleviate poverty and they hope the government will consider legalizing bitcoin and using it in their economy.

I think this idea comes from their obsession of making money from bitcoin, they see the strong growth of bitcoin and compare it with the devaluation of fiat currencies, they argue that the devaluation of fiat currencies is the cause of poverty....from those factors, they think bitcoin can save national economy. They think that if people invest in bitcoin and make profits, their country can eliminate poverty. But they forget that the unemployed and the poor will not have money to invest. Also, what guarantees are there that everyone will make a profit investing in bitcoin?