I was taking the bar exams when I met somebody who was selling his mitsubishi gallant for two bitcoins. Here in the Philippines where majority of the populace are not yet open to the idea of digital asset transaction, it is very difficult to sell a car for bitcoins so I suggested that he sells the car in monetary unit then use the proceeds to buy two bitcoins. I thought my idea makes sense, but I was schooled.
It came to me that this car seller is more than what I thought he was. Unlike most car sellers, he is selling his car to encourage people transact with cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange. He wanted to be one of the first to tell people of today about how tomorrow will be. He was obsessed with the monetary revolution and his then participation in creating a more secure and economically stable mode of transaction away from the ever changing political agenda and public indecision that created the current centralized and highly regulated monetary systems.
A week ago, a buyer offered to buy his car in pesos at an amount more than the value of two bitcoins for that day. As expected, he refused the offer. He remained steadfast with his notion of "bitcoin or nothing". He doesn't care if sells it for one bitcoin or less so long as its on bitcoin. Truly, bitcoin or nothing.
For a developing country like the Philippines, the concept of cryptocurrency as an alternative currency is yet unavailing. Most markets in Asia are insupportable with digital asset transactions and may remain reluctant for the next decade based on current socio-economic trends. What's more interesting is that most governments in developing countries are under pretense of admitting their optimism on alternative currency when in fact what they actually want is to impose tax and regulate the same to make sure that governments are not cheated on.
I would like to shed light on this false pretense of governments in developing countries but it's December so maybe I should write about Christmas and Santa?