Cryptocurrency is a truly global tool in the most modern sense of the word. The 21st century is a time when the institutions that define differences and provincialism are steadily dissolving . Languages are being translated in real time, pen pals are now speaking face to face instantly, and borders once guarded with soldiers are now as easy to cross as buying a Eurorail pass.

This is the world that seemed ripe for the birth of the borderless, decentralized network of Blockchain based currencies like Bitcoin. Blockchain technology only accelerates the movement towards increased integration and globalization that history is inevitably moving is towards.

It is no surprise, then, that the traditional institutions of control have been reacting to the freedom that cryptocurrency offers with attempts to control it. There is news everyday in the cryptocurrency world that there have been significant moves against the mining, trading, and storing of coins around the world. Skepticism, fear, and in some cases, competition, has moved regulators from South Korea to India to limit the spread of crypto.

At the end of last year the government of China began its crackdown on cryptocurrencies, which continued this year with a ban even on foreign platforms in February of 2018. There are even rumors of the SEC in the United States making moves against crypto-exchanges, labeling them as risky, dangerous investments.

As states scramble to control decentralized, secure networks of Blockchain, internet censorship act as the modern day version of passport control. The ban of these websites manifest in examples like the Chinese government making crypto exchanges and related domains impossible to visit with its borders, either through IP Blocking or URL re-directing and a variety of other strategies.

The only way to surpass these tools of control are with Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). While these VPNs were a boon for many in China seeking to circumvent Chinese government control, China recently moved to block VPNs, making the growth of cryptocurrency even more difficult, if not impossible.

The question is: is this a structural weakness of cryptocurrency? A chink in the armor in the technology? Or is it simply a bump in the road on crypto’s drive to global mainstream acceptance?

One tech presents a solution. Substratum, an innovative new decentralized web technology could allow the global crypto community to continue to expand unaffected by the crackdown on VPN’s and other modes of government control.

The decentralized web (or Web 3.0) is a web experience facilitated by independent and private computers. This allows for users across the world access to an internet that is secure, open, and connected to everything the web has to offer. This means that everyone can access all information and services on the internet without informational gatekeepers, ISP interference, and most importantly, freedom from corporate or governmental surveillance and restrictions.

However, the current technology of the decentralized web can be inefficient and hard to use for the technologically disinclined. Substratum’s simple-to-use app could bring millions of possible new contributors to the decentralized web.

Additionally, the current decentralized web structure can be inexact and inefficient, not differentiating between utilized and unutilized resources. Substratum’s innovative use of blockchain to measure and compensate for micro-transactions makes it an incredibly cost-effective and energy efficient new take on decentralized web.

The interface of Substratum allows users to check into the network as a node whenever they are not using their computers. Using minimal power, Substratum allows these computers to efficiently and securely connect to remote computers using Substratum’s innovative cryptographically protected technology, granting them access to a decentralized internet free from local control.

And, using Substratum’s blockchain token, these users are then compensated for their use on the network, creating a passive income for Substratum users and an economic ecosystem of more and more Substratum users, making the entire network more efficient.

Substratum’s potential on the world of crypto is game changing. The ability to avoid and subvert VPN blocks and other modes of control could allow cryptocurrency to do what it was intended to do- allow instant and secure communication across the world.

But more importantly, Substratum represents what cryptocurrency can and should be for the 21st century – a tool that promotes connection and freedom across borders. The decentralized web is a communal tool that allows those with access to help those without access in a cheap and mutually beneficial way.

Cryptocurrency represents a technology that could explode access to capital and markets for consumers and sellers across the globe, free of government regulation or oversight. By combining these two technologies, Substratum is not only facilitating freedom and global integration as an actual tool, but symbolizes the future role of technology.