Use Cases for Web3: Debunking Crypto Stereotypes & Hype

Cryptocurrency has been a hot topic of discussion and debate in recent years, with many people either embracing it as the future of finance or dismissing it as a scam. However, the reality is that cryptocurrency, along with web3, one of its facilitating technologies, has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about money and financial transactions and much more.

Great opportunities come with great risks and responsibilities. In today's discussion, we aim to dispel myths surrounding the applications of cryptocurrency and web3, emphasizing the need for responsible behavior in this dynamic field

Myth #1: Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies have No Intrinsic Value- (Digital Tulips)

One of the main criticisms of cryptocurrency is that it is not backed by any tangible asset and therefore has no inherent value. However, this is a misconception. While it is true that the value of most cryptocurrencies are not directly tied to a physical asset, it is still a store of value and can be used to purchase goods and services just like any other form of currency. This makes it useful. TSpanish doubloons, the usefulness, security, and low-friction ability to transact, make currencies like Bitcoin, a capable and useful part of our daily lives; meaning it is intrinsically valuable, though not tangibly so.

This has enabled entire economies to flourish outside of government and corporate walled gardens and restrictions. Many will continue to say BTC is not useful for payment as though second-layer solutions like Lightning do not exist. Podcasters and many others use this tech to pay and communicate daily. This has also enabled refugees to escape oppressive regimes, and political movements to sidestep them as well.

But there’s push back, as the Canadian truckers showed us when they were targeted for their protests and BTC wallets on exchanges were seized. You may think it doesn’t matter to you, but you are a member of a group as well, and it may be targeted just the same - simply for living as you do.

Some (especially those in government) will tell you that this has enabled all kinds of bad actors and must be stopped. However, we must realize a harsh reality: If you can’t catch child rapists without violating everyone else’s freedoms, you should not be tasked with catching them, and we have no obligation to support your incompetence by bending over for a cavity search because you can’t do actual detective work. This does not stop criminals. It enables crime at the highest levels.

The establishment has decided that crypto is a threat to their control, and have been scheming to set up central bank digital currencies that continue to enable wealth extraction from the people. You may not realize this, but when a bomb goes to the Ukraine, someone had to build it. They had to eat, and use materials. Some of those explosive materials are nitrates. The same ones that fertilize the farms that grow your food. If you don’t think the wars or currency devaluation affect you, then perhaps you haven’t noticed the price of food going up. Perhaps you haven’t noticed that the value of your savings has dropped, even though you haven’t spent anything. For the rest of us, there’s crypto.

But those in control are cutting off physical cash and banking access in places like Nigeria, while printing digital currency and passively coercing the public through economic pressure to use the ENaira or respective CBDC. These plans could see the government do to entire populations what they did in Hitler's Germany, with the press of a button, locking them out of society and forcing them into poverty and enslavement through “social credit score” CBDC and biometric systems. It is therefore crucial to recognize that mesh networking, alternative operating systems and hardware (e.g. PinePhone) are critical to maintaining individual rights and freedoms. The right to transact goes along with that, so crypto definitely has a use case there.

More than Money:
Myth 2: It’s all a Ponzi Scheme

But when it comes to Web3, digital assets can be more than cryptographically secured tokens used as money. These tokens can be tied to real world assets such as real estate or movie tickets, and any other proof of ownership or authorization. This means that artists can not only sell digital concert tickets for example, but they can actually plug that into their future works, giving fans new perks, and incentivizing participation and engagement. 

While there is the potential for scammers to use this technology, that does not make it all a scam. If you’re old enough to remember the early days of the internet, many would say things like “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” as if you believe something simply it's there, and have no discernment. If you cannot discern fact from fiction, then you probably think the source of the information is the determining factor and need an AI to tell you what is real already, even without "deepfakes" in the mix.

The truth of the matter is, that such things require a nuanced and well researched assessment. Not every stock is going to be the next Google, and similarly not every crypto is going to be the next Enron, and the only way to tell the difference is to pay close attention. There is no substitute for due diligence and competence.

So is this a Metaversal Utopia?
Myth 3: Crypto Will Fix Everything

It’s not all good however. It’s conceivable that with things like AI deepfakes becoming a concern (and impossible to detect) and rampant political strife and corruption- you may find yourself in an authoritarian police state with a tyrannical drone commanding you to verify your identity with a state issued NFT. Yep, there's an app for that too. In fact, we now have moves to control your access to information via the RESTRICT ACT punishable by 20yrs in prison for using VPNs. Though, like the PATRIOT ACT being marketed as “for terrorists” but used largely on crimes involving cannabis, it is self-evident to those paying attention that freedom is on the line.

In fact, we now have moves ban and control your access to You may think that you have nothing to hide, but neither did Germans, until the government printed so much money its value went straight down. Then the government started blaming the groups they could easily marginalize and cannibalize to prop up the regime for the privileged. They even tattooed barcodes onto them tied to their biometrics that helped (along with IBM punch card computers) decide who was “non-essential”. 

Current plans by OpenAI’s Sam Altman to create WorldCoin and a biometric ID database should concern you if you intend on living as a free human being. Anyone that makes AI that can impersonate you then wants to enroll you into a biometric database is probably not your buddy. The same goes for the DCGs and Coinbases of the world backing such projects. That doesn’t mean you should panic, get violent, or start crying like a little baby because these aren’t unicorns in front of you. It means you need to get involved in real solutions to the horse sh*t. And that can be as easy as downloading a wallet, following setup instructions and getting familiar and participating in a peer to peer economy. No need for exchanges or licenses etc. It could also be lending your skills or funds to the proper organizations.

Crypto is “FaaS”: Freedom as A Publicly Maintained Service
Myth 4: Crypto is For Crooks, No Use To Me

One criticism of cryptocurrency is that it is used primarily for illegal activities, such as money laundering and drug trafficking. While it is true that some people use cryptocurrency for illegal purposes, the same can be said of traditional forms of currency and the fiat banking system.

In fact, cryptocurrency has the potential to make financial transactions more transparent and traceable, which can actually help to reduce illegal activity. Government really doesn’t want that. What’s more, we don’t need the government to deal with such activity if we are actively engaged and involved in the right way and deal with it ourselves- we the people, are the only legitimate government and must take responsibility if we are to be free.

One of the biggest advantages of Web3 and cryptocurrency is the ability to take control of your own financial transactions. With traditional forms of currency, you are at the mercy of banks and governments, who can freeze your account or seize your assets at any time. With cryptocurrency, you have complete control over your own funds and can use them without the need for a middleman. You might not care because you aren’t a Canadian or a Russian, but you don’t have to be. Protesters have had their accounts seized elsewhere as well.

However, this isn’t just about quashing dissent. This about taking back the money they spent, starting with whatever groups are easily marginalized. Make no mistake, if inflation were not at the heart of the issue, the Russians would not have needed to spur their economy by starting a war, and the US would not have needed to seize their bank accounts. The longer it drags on, the more cannibalization continues as NATO weapons are fed to whatever party is victorious- which will also become our next enemy/boogeyman.

There’s a Dapp For That:
Myth 5: Crypto Doesn’t Add Value

Another use case for Web3 is in the area of decentralized applications, or dApps. These are applications that run on a decentralized network, rather than being controlled by a single entity. This allows for greater transparency and accountability, as well as the ability to operate without the need for a central authority.

Perhaps one of the most important use cases for Web3 is the ability to create new forms of value and wealth. Sam Altman understands that much. Maybe you should too. With traditional forms of currency, wealth is created and controlled by a small group of people, such as the government and the banks. With Web3, anyone can create and own their own form of value, such as a digital token, and participate in the creation of new wealth by incentivizing participation and construction of something great.

Entire ecosystems have sprung up, and some have had issues, but it’s still the early days. Projects like Filecoin still have a ways to go before they even meet their own goals but they are working on it ,and when communities create valuable services and infrastructure for them, that is powerful.

Before IPFS and Filecoin, people like Kim Dotcom had to invest in infrastructure and be exposed to legal and other liabilities just for providing you a valuable service.

Now these services can be built in a decentralized and encrypted way, such that in theory, only those that abuse the network are responsible for the abuse, as the network is agnostic. Unfortunately authorities have still seen fit to prosecure DAOs like LBRY, and go after developers like those that created TornadoCash for providing valuable services.

LBRY is a content delivery network that incentivizes users with LBRY tokens. This is just one of many examples of a useful Dapp that people find helpful. If this tech had been around 20yrs ago, Youtube would likely have never existed. Something like LBRY would have enabled Joe Rogan to do his show without YouTube demonetizing him for the free speech he and his guest have a natural born right to engage in. What's more, if the government wanted to bomb someone or assassinate a foreign leader with LBRY, they'd have to watch and host lots of videos, instead of being able to pull ponzi-bucks out of their posteriors. Sure you can donate BTC to the war, but you have to put work into mining or exchange real value for that. Make the government do that and the wars stop unless you/we truly are threatened.

Going Along To Get Along Doesn’t Work:
Myth 6: We need government regulation

Many in the industry believe that the key to widespread adoption is to get governments on board. To get them to take BTC and other crypto as tax payments etc. To get a regulated exchange traded fund so that the “Wolves of Wall Street” can manipulate the market with confidence. With people like Gary Gensler at the helm, it’s clear that they are hostile to the market in general, while shaking hands with SBF, and for good reason. Crypto makes them all as obsolete as the hundreds of millions of workers worldwide who can now be replaced by a sophisticated AI chatbot (or group of them).

As industry insiders have noted, Gary and Kevin O’Leary’s pleas to just “register” ignores the fact that they are so hostile that no one is allowed to register. This is not the first time this has happened- they once told cannabis dispensaries to register for a tax stamp, that the government did not actually issue. The same goes for the crypto industry. If you try to play by their rules, you will not only fail to survive "the rules", but you will also be giving them everything they need to find your weak spots (Rule #1 of applying for government licensing or aid), and forfeit your control over the situation so that the money changers stay in control. Meanwhile, these rules do literally nothing to stop actual criminals. And that's why the US government's job is clearly outlined in the law. They cannot protect you without putting you in a cage. They're supposed to respond to the SBFs of the world, rather than tell you to prove your innocence under the guise of "protecting" us from SBFs.

This attitude that we must comply, or that we must be violent to disobey, was disproven by Mahatma Gandhi in the 1940s. It is a threat to the potential of Web3 and cryptocurrency, and that is evidenced by those in the industry serving projects for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and FedNow, a program due out in July that would allow the Federal Reserve to create its own digital currency. It has bipartisan opposition but we don't get to vote on this. Critics of this view say that it just facilitates traditional dollar transactions digitally, and not a “digital currency”. This is what the eNaira project said too, before they started shutting off access to physical cash as the pressure banks into closing.

Banks going insolvent and being seized even when they ARE solvent, as in the case of Signature bank, is no coincidence. It is  groundwork for a digital currency system that violates your freedom, and anyone telling you otherwise is either supporting a scam willfully, or an unwitting “useful idiot” whose perspective is nonsensical and based in fantasy to the point they don’t believe any of this is real. These fools think that such a digital currency would not track your payments. If implemented, CBDCs and FedNow would give the government and the banks a direct account/record of your transactions and even more control over our financial transactions, and could potentially lead to the erosion of our financial privacy and freedom. Makes you want to go to bartering, doesn't it? They will own the account, and they will read your bank statement. Don’t fall for propagandists telling you it’s what you want. They did that in 1913 and gave us the Fed. It was supposed to end economic bubbles and other issues. Clearly we need a new solution. They just want it to be theirs. Get involved, and make your own solutions.

Don’t take my word for it. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knows: “Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin give the public an escape route from the splatter zone when this bubble invariably bursts,”... “So, the White House is colluding with the banksters to keep us all trapped in the bubble of profiteering and control,”. When a guy says that and runs for president even after both his father and uncle were assassinated when opposing the establishment, it should tell you something. This is for all the marbles and those dismissive voices know it.

In conclusion, the stereotypes that all crypto is a scam, has no intrinsic value, is the solution to all our woes, etc. are simply not true. That idea are purely propaganda aimed directly at your freedom, like a vampire asking you to give them dominion over you and let them in. At the same time scams and fraud exist in any industry, especially a developing one, much like the internet in the early days, so we must be savvy as individuals. Web3 and cryptocurrency have the potential to revolutionize the way we think about money and financial transactions, and should not be dismissed out of hand. However, we must also be aware of the threat posed by CBDCs and FedNow, and get involved in work to ensure that the benefits of Web3 are not undermined by increased government control over our financial lives.

Thank you for reading.