A Faltering Global Economy: Will There be a DASH Toward Digital Money?

Nathaniel Luz, author of the book “Digital Is The Cash” believes so.

Unsplash Photo Credit: Nicolas Hoizey

With coronavirus in full tilt many are struggling for financial survival. This comes as worker layoffs are occuring amid plummeting business activity and a looming worldwide recession.

Given the pandemic’s likely impact on global monetary systems, there has been a resurgence of conversation regarding the future of digital money.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Nathaniel Luz, author of the book “Digital Is The Cash,” about this emerging trend and Dash cryptocurrency. Here’s what he had to share:

First, tell us a bit about your life and background

I am an award-winning libertarian with Students for Liberty, a US-based nonprofit committed to spreading the ideas of human dignity, individual and economic freedom. I’m keenly interested in monetary economics, which, by the way, is at the center of the rise and fall of nations.

Having traveled across Africa and seeing several financial impediments, I was on the lookout for innovations that could solve them. On one occasion I was stranded in Sierra Leone and couldn’t withdraw money from the bank there — an international branch of my local bank in Nigeria. I thought to myself, “how come the same bank doesn’t allow me to easily withdraw money in another currency?” I felt that was the height of it until I discovered that Moneygram, Western Union et al worked from Mondays to Sundays helping people receive remittances at fees north of 8%. That was exorbitant. There has to be a cheaper and more efficient solution I thought, and so it was.”

When did you discover that there was such a thing as digital currencies?

I stumbled into digital currencies in 2016, and Dash in 2017, finding that they had major benefits over traditional money systems. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to promote the adoption and use of Digital Cash.

What prompted you to write the book “Digital Is The Cash?” What is the primary message that you are seeking to convey through it?

Through my experiences working for Dash in Africa since 2017, I discovered a huge knowledge gap in the crypto space. You can barely name a handful of books, videos, academies and such where one can learn about digital currencies without it being about trading and how to make money My desire to fill this knowledge gap led to me embark on an educational drive to make digital cash understandable in the barest non-technical terms possible. That was the start of what is now the “Digital is the Cash” book.

Briefly, what is the book about?

This book tells the history of money, the global financial system and its failings, fintech applications, blockchain, and the need for digital cash. It teaches Dash in an easy-to-understand way while portraying the advantages of Dash over fiat, bitcoin & altcoins.

I’ve attempted to simplify the past, present, and future of money in one easy read. It’s a blend of history, finance, and technology with the ultimate aim of getting more and more people to recognize where the prevailing global financial system is headed and how they can best prepare themselves.

How’s the book being received so far?

Great! In fact, we recently launched a campaign to distribute 10,000 copies of the book which is currently being translated into French, Spanish, German, Thai, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian. And a number of other languages are in the works. The target for this year is to reach thousands of people across 20 global languages with the message of “Digital Cash”.

Ultimately what do you hope readers will walk away from your book with?

We are currently reaching out to regulators, financial organizations, fintech companies, universities and public libraries with copies of the Digital is the Cash book and the feedback has been overwhelming.

With governments trying unsuccessfully to salvage the global economic situations, the rate of inflation skyrocketing in Latin America and Africa, people need to begin saving their money in a currency that will still be relevant in the next decades. There has never been a time when a book like this has been more needed!

Tell us more about what has fueled your curiosity around cryptocurrencies and blockchain

It all began with the wonders of cross border remittances, the ability for someone far away in the US to scan a barcode on my phone through Skype in order for me to receive a payment.

This was an interesting development for me, having seen the amount of time and high transaction fees traditional money remittances systems cost.

What sorts of developments are you seeing in this space in Nigeria as well as throughout Africa?

Nigeria has been among the top countries worldwide in terms of bitcoin volumes traded. Nigeria is one of the best destinations for the use and adoption of digital currencies and I believe that any crypto targeting mainstream adoption should focus on Nigeria and Africa. In the words of Ray Youseff, CEO Paxful, “While the rest of the world speculates on cryptocurrency, Africa is using it to solve real problems in ways none of us could imagine”.

Can you elaborate on his point?

The use cases he is referring to are remittances and international payments. Africans are using crypto to beat restrictions and high charges common among traditional remittance channels. Dash is fast becoming the prime option for remittances due to its Instant Send feature and almost zero transaction fees.

I understand that you’re a big advocate of libertarianism? In what ways do you believe that libertarian views combined with advancements in digital cash technology can create greater economic freedom in Africa as well as throughout the world?

“Nobody can run your life more than you can” is a favorite libertarian quote. There has to be a clear separation of money and state. It makes no sense when the financial powers of an entire nation are controlled by a few who can render their entire wealth useless in a moment. Venezuela and Zimbabwe are two examples of this at play.

For no fault of theirs, Nigerians will soon witness a massive devaluation of their currency — the Naira. These are the problems crypto came to solve. Crypto was born out of the libertarian ideology of people having total control over their money. A peer-to-peer, uncensored, borderless, permissionless system of value transfer that relies on no central authority for validation.

Unfortunately, there has been a deviation in the crypto space from the ideals of the founding fathers. Cryptocurrency is first a libertarian ideology, a loss of this vision has led to the chants of bull and moon. We are not here primarily for bull and moon, we are here to secure the financial power of individuals.

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