I urge you to watch Charles' TED talk exploring the benefits of blockchain and the meaning of decentralization for those in countries worse off.
Charles separates the world into two categories, 'banked and documented' and 'unbanked and undocumented'. He argues the point that quality of life improves with more access to financial services and documentation.
To emphasise this point, he uses an example of two people, one living in a developed country and the other a country whose government and economy has restricted the ability to document assets. The key differences are as follows:
- Sending money overseas - A person in a developed country can send money with low fees whereas those in under developed countries can pay up to 15%.
- Access to credit - Those in developed countries have much lower interest rates than those in under developed countries
- Objectively bind contract, assets and property like land - People in developed countries can monetise assets into financial instruments due to a thorough documentation system. Those in under developed countries may not even have a land title for a house they have been living in for several years. Charles notes that in these countries there may be up to 10 trillion dollars locked up in "unusable assets".
- Manage risk via insurance - People in developed countries have access to a more reliable and secure insurance system.
Charles then prompts the obvious question, how can this gap in quality of life be marginalised?
The answer lies in blockchain technology and it's decentralization.