Showing posts with label demonetization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label demonetization. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

India's Demonetization Is A Success And Bodes Well For Bitcoin and the Digital Economy.

On the 8th November 2016 when Modi cancelled the 500 and 1000 rupee notes, and gave the populace 50 days to exchange old notes for new legal tender, the international press condemned and vilified the move. One must ask if they really had India's best interest at heart.

By any measure this demonetization effort has been a success. India is a country where at every election people die. Yet this unanticipated move was without protest and practically bloodless. In one move Modi have dragged his backward and feudal people screaming and kicking into the 21st century and internet banking. I would consider this one move to be the awakening of the Indian tiger.

We can be sure that every Indian young or old, male or female would now know of Modi Narendra and what he did for India. ( I would lay bets that there are people in the USA who don't know who Obama is or that Trump is the president elect.) By financially empowering every Indian with an awareness of the knowledge economy he will move India forward faster than with any other development route possible.

Bitcoin companies like Zebpay, Unocoin and Coinsecure have mushroomed in member and users and a system like Africa's Mpesa may not be too far off. Hopefully their system will not be monopolise by some giant telco like Safari-com in Kenya, choking of competition and development.

India is on-boarding users to bitcoin at a rate of over 100,000 a month. Such growth cannot be ignored by governments of the world at large. The only question now is, which country will be the first to adopt bitcoin as a national currency. The one that does will be a very rich country indeed going forward.