Isaiah Jackson, Bitcoin and social inequalities

During the days of the Black Lives Matter protests, Isaiah Jackson’s claim that Bitcoin is a valid tool to fight social inequalities has resurfaced.

This is the basic argument of his book from last year, Bitcoin and Black America, 179 pages in which the author claims that Bitcoin can transform the “black” economy.

Isaiah Jackson, co-founder of KRBE Digital Asset Group, which offers consultancy for crypto and blockchain services, has reiterated this during these unsettling days in the United States. 

In fact, the context of the violence in the United States is not only an outcry for a barbarically murdered African-American. The knee of the policeman who put an end to George Floyd’s life revealed in one fell swoop what is the discontent and the ancestral wound of the United States, where until after World War II black people were not allowed to sit in a bus. 

A disparity between the white and black communities, which is also economic. This is where Bitcoin comes into play. 

Because the protest is also directed against a financial system that sees the black community at a disadvantage.

It is no coincidence that there have been numerous Bitcoin signs during the turmoil in the streets. Because Bitcoin is decentralized, it is a response to the closed and centralized banking system in the hands of those who control large capital. 

The peaceful solution? Isaiah Jackson believes it is to buy Bitcoin and drain money from the current system. 

In short, Bitcoin may be the answer to this disparity. An alternative solution. And it is no coincidence that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are gaining ground on the African continent, where most of the unbanked, those without bank accounts, live. 

Is Bitcoin the answer?

However, there is a huge flaw in this argument. Bitcoin is currently becoming a store of value and an investment product. In other words, the big money, the ones that the protestors want to fight, have already had their eyes on Bitcoin for some time.

Is this a threat to its decentralization? No. But it is an evolution that makes BTC truly universal, because it is wanted by novice investors up to the most sophisticated ones who buy derivatives. Whether that was Satoshi Nakamoto’s intention or not, it remains to be determined. 

There is another underlying problem that needs to be answered: Bitcoin as a payment system can be revolutionary. Even as a store of value. But access to it will require capital, but only minimal. 

Does this make it within everyone’s reach?