The developments in the blockchain space are remarkable, and what the technology will mean for companies and users alike is monumental. Cost savings and efficiencies will be experienced in ways that were not fathomable years before. The tech world waits for no one, including bankers. A transparent system that is reliant on stable monetary policy is what the bottom 99% is interested in. Taking the power and trickling it down through the economy or where central banks have limited control is what is desired. All we hear about is unemployment being at record lows, inflation being low, and the economy booming. Anything is believable when you use flawed numbers. The way I have always looked at it is that prices for things I need rise and prices for things I don’t need go down. We know that the way the FED measures inflation results in low numbers, but the way main street measures inflation is much higher in terms of the prices we pay.
The blockchain and cryptocurrencies can solve this issue because base money transactions can be seen on the blockchain. The digital, transparent ledger can show us where every transaction goes, and there are even bots that you can follow that show which wallet addresses send what. Countries and states around the world are becoming more accommodative to this process because it levels the playing field. The CFTC and the SEC are open to the technology, but in a regulated way. Venezuela launched a petro-backed crypto, and a gold-backed crypto is on the way. Vladimir Putin has changed his voice on blockchain tech, as he recently stated, “We need blockchain technology. The Stone Age has not ended due to lack of stones, but because new technologies appeared. Those late in this race will instantly, very fast, be under full dependence from leaders of these processes.” Governments are desperate for taxes, and they will do it through tax collection or inflation. Inflation is generally the way we all become poor, but when that isn’t enough, they collect taxes.
Countries see the writing on the wall: lose to a technology that renders them obsolete or embrace it to keep them alive. Capital gains are a quick way to collect taxes, and governments see that it will help them. Many in the cryptocurrency space have not paid their taxes as they should, but the government will collect them eventually. Arizona seems to be on a path forward to adopting the cryptocurrency space. Several months ago, a bill was introduced by lawmakers to allow taxpayers to use Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to pay taxes or penalties to the State Department of Revenue. The department would have 24 hours to convert the payments to U.S. dollars. This seems like a perfect fit for Litecoin and its payment processor LitePay. LitePay is being introduced on February 26th and will be extremely useful for small business transactions. The LitePay debit card is also coming out, which will be accepted anywhere Visa is accepted. Jeff Weninger, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, told Fox News that “it’s one of a litany of bills that we’re running that is sending a signal to everyone in the United States and possibly throughout the world that Arizona is going to be the place to be for blockchain and digital currency technology in the future. Blockchain implementation and regulation is moving quickly throughout the world.”
Cheers,
Colin