One of the most pressing needs that cryptocurrency can address at a global level, is economic inclusion. In that sense, the reward token system powered by eSports.com (ERT) can contribute to this goal through gaming. There are already a few strong use cases for ERT as an agent of economic inclusion, namely in countries in which the local economy cannot provide enough opportunity to the people who live there. Venezuela is probably the best example.

By Benjamin Kratsch, Global Content Director eSports.com

Venezuelan Economy and the Need for Cryptocurrencies Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s late president, changed that country’s economic model gradually, imposing capital controls and a series of other economic measures that effectively chocked the economy. As a result, Venezuela is now facing the worst bout of hyperinflation since Zimbabwe was forced to stop issuing its own currency in 2009. In Venezuela it is just as hard to keep track of inflation now, as it was back then in Zimbabwe. The only advantage that Venezuelans have that Zimbabweans didn’t, is the advent of cryptocurrency to protect themselves from the appalling economic choices of their government. To protect themselves from hyperinflation – which according to the Bloomberg “Café con Leche” index is at around 650% - Venezuelans started mining for bitcoin. The fact that electricity is heavily subsidized in Venezuela, provides instant profitability regardless of BTC volatility. Nevertheless, increased mining has put a strain on Venezuela’s generation capacity. The government reacted to the mining phenomenon by actively looking for miners – presumably taking electricity consumption data to locate them – to arrest them. This is where a token like ERT can give Venezuelans and people in other countries who are facing similar economic hardship, a way out.

ERT Provides Economic Inclusion Through Gaming eSports.com will effectively create a gaming-based economy through its platform. In this economy, anyone anywhere in the world, will be able to contribute and get paid in ERT tokens for their contribution. In the case of Venezuela, this will allow a gamer to share their expertise through the platform in a variety of forms, to earn tokens. That player can then exchange those tokens in the open market, where eSports will also buy them back. “Let’s say you have a Venezuelan gamer and he is really knowledgeable about League of Legends. He writes a great guide about the latest patch, we reward him with ERTs”, explains Philipp Geppert, CEO of eSports.com. “But on top of that we have a donation system: Everyone in our community can reward his work with an amount they choose. Yes, you can make a living out of this and exchange these ERT in to any currency you want.” This will allow our hypothetical Venezuelan gamer, to earn a living without being subject to hyperinflation, while they avoid the crackdown on mining activities within the country. Although this kind of economic inclusion is not the main focus of the ERT token, by virtue of being a token with a clear use case within the eSports gaming platform, and being inflation-resistant, ERT can become a cornerstone for global economic inclusion through gaming.

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