#3. Solving for the Last Mile
There's a fortune to be made helping people on ramp / off ramp into Bitcoin, especially in places in turmoil or transition
Let me start with two disclaimers:
Some of the ideas in this issue may not be legal in some jurisdictions. This is not investment advice. I am not a lawyer and not a financial adviser. Check the laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which you’d like to operate. Proceed on your own volition.
At present I feel comfortable outlining the broad opportunity of helping people bridge the last mile in cryptocurrencies, therefore this isn’t detailed advice and does not provide an action plan. It is, however, a framework for looking at opportunities if you’re interested in these types of market dynamics and mechanics.
Yesterday Leigh Cuen, a senior reporter at Coindesk, published a great article about the limitations of using Bitcoin in parts of the world that are undergoing serious transitions. Leigh explains that people in Tehran, Beirut and Hong Kong are struggling to use Bitcoin to move their wealth and even assets around because of various limitations surrounding Internet connectivity and other issues.
My first reaction was this:
I agree that a lot of the world lacks a full-loop system for dealing in Bitcoin and other digital assets like the U.S. or some other countries do, but that does not mean there aren’t relatively easy workarounds available and these workarounds could prove to be very profitable for those willing to put themselves in the muck for a bit.
This problem and some possible solutions resonate with me as I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and know well the limitations of a soft national currency that most serious nations don’t want to deal in and that the government messes around with all the time (confiscating and devaluing it at will). As a result I have saved in US Dollars, made purchases using the old Deutsche Mark, moved large amounts of money across borders in luggage and traded the old PLZ for hard currencies with money change guys in Turkish leather jackets behind stores that would only accept hard currency, among other things.
Without going into specific details (I’ll leave that up to you or possibly future installments of this newsletter), most if not all of the issues that are described in the article can be solved for with a workaround, a hard bypass of sorts, provided by a pair of operators: one on the ground working with clients, able to move around with a satellite phone, and the other sitting at laptop with an Internet connection and a regular phone.
Yes, some of these methods and operations deviate from the core maximalist rules around Bitcoin by inviting middlemen, giving up custody for brief periods of time, etc. but they do make it possible to move money around out of the country or into the country that otherwise would not be available to folks who are in tough and desperate situations.
So while these methods are not ideal, they do provide utility that would otherwise evade those in need.
Again:
Know your local laws
Don’t do anything that you feel is dangerous or you’re not comfortable with
This is not for everybody, or most anybody - but it is a way to earn a lot of Bitcoin working by helping the space evolve
I didn’t go into detail for a variety of reasons but I think you can imagine numerous models where the problems Leigh pointed out can be easily solved with 2 people, 2 phones and a laptop
If you have any comments or questions on this or the two previous methods of making Bitcoin please feel free to write me or reach out on Twitter.
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