Many of us have seen the “sovereign debt crises” all over the headlines in the financial news. I wanted to show you a perspective on the ground floor so I’ve decided to interview my Greek friend Theo. I met Theo as a fellow Bitcoin enthusiast on minds.com. He’s been really affected financially by the economic meltdown and spends his time actively looking for ways to earn a living on-line through Bitcoin. Theo wants to remain pseudonymous to protect his privacy.

Please introduce yourself and let us know a bit about your background.

My name is Theo. Before the Greek economic crisis started I was working full time in the security sector for a private company. Back in 2011, the company I worked for decided to cut our wages around 35%. The company issued an internal memo declaring to their workers that anyone who was opposed in any way against the decision was going to get fired. I offered to work less hours for the money they were paying and they declined. So after working 6 days a week for 20 years, I had to get out of the company.

What’s the economic situation in Greece right now?

Every day is getting worse. The state imposes new taxes directly or indirectly which violates the Greek constitution. We live in a state under the occupation of the EU and financial institutions.

How does that impact your day to day life?

You have to decide what comes first, your life or the taxes… Do you know what it’s like to have your car broken and not being able to fix it for a long time? Imagine what it’s like to live in state of war without a single bullet fired. Having your insurance money stolen by the banks? Those who are still working are not able to get all their money out of the banks because of capital controls. They are stealing our hard earned money. Imagine having your kids go to school hungry and losing their ability to concentrate while in class? The list is long and our system is trying to keep it secret for obvious reasons.

When did you first hear about bitcoin?

I first heard about bitcoin back in 2012. Unfortunately, being without job I couldn’t get any mining equipment so I started the mining process experimentally with my old nvidia 240 graphics card. I was thinking it would be a great innovation for people to adapt to this currency but the main problem was the lack of knowledge which still exist amongst the people here in Greece.

What are some of your experiences with bitcoin?

My personal experience was to buy some services and products from abroad. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any shop in my area that accepts bitcoin directly.

What are some of the ways you earn bitcoin to survive?

I used to mine altcoins until my graphics card burnt out. The situation is so bad that many people can’t even pay their bills so electricity is essentially free. Now I make some extra money through faucets, swap lending and taking the occasional trade. Xapo offers a bitcoin backed credit card which can be spent at many stores here in Greece. With the liquidity crises and lack of banking, this has proven to be very useful for paying day to day expenses.

What’s the bitcoin industry like in Greece?

There aren’t many people here who know about the utility of bitcoin. That said, there is still an active and strong bitcoin community here. We need to spread the knowledge so that more people can adapt and use crypto for their businesses life expenses.

Do you see bitcoin as a potential solution to the sovereign debt crises and if so how?

I believe that there’s a great potential solution with bitcoin in Greece or a local cryptocurrency as long as the population understands how to use the technology. I’m not a financial expert but I believe decentralized money gives individuals freedom as never seen before. I think it will take years for people to understand its potential, especially in Greece where people are scared to even think of any change in currency. The media has been used as a tool by the political and economic interests to convince people with fear and misinformation.