Bitcoin Is Plagued by an Insidious Flaw – But It’s Not What You Think
By CCN: Bitcoin has a crippling governance problem, but it’s not what you think it is. Technical solutions deftly manage consensus on the world’s most popular cryptocurrency network. But how will we deal with wealth inequality – and the power imbalance that inevitably accompanies it?
To put it bluntly: Wealth inequality will not magically disappear in the new Bitcoin economy.
Technology Made Wealth Inequality Worse – Look at Jeff Bezos
A National Bureau of Economic Research report reveals that wealth is more concentrated in the US today than at any point in the last 100 years. Jeff Bezos, for example, is 30 times richer than the richest man was in the 1980s:
Wealth inequality causes the rich to grow exponentially richer. | Source: Inequality.org
Not surprisingly, 100 years ago also marks a pretty significant time in history. That period was known as the “Roaring Twenties” when unrealistic optimism created a massive stock market bubble, a dramatic collapse, economic depression, and ultimately World War II.
If the emergence of modern-day populism is anything to go by, the similarities between then and now are frighteningly similar.
Wealth Inequality in the Burgeoning Bitcoin Economy
Wealth inequality lurks in the new Bitcoin economy. That’s a problem. | Source: Shutterstock
