DonSchlessinger
Registered Member
- Oct 10, 2017
- 67
- 35
After reading Zero to One, by Peter Thiel, I was doing some research on PayPal and the PayPal Mafia (the highly successful group that made PayPal, and have gone their own ways since then). I came across this quote from Peter Thiel, and immediately drew some similarities from what I know of the overall mission of bitcoin and Thiels original vision for PayPal. PayPal eventual was bought by eBay and is now used as the quick and safe method for buyer and seller protection on there (with many other smaller uses). Here is the quote:
"We're definitely onto something big. The need PayPal answers is monumental. Everyone in the world needs money – to get paid, to trade, to live. Paper money is an ancient technology and an inconvenient means of payment. You can run out of it. It wears out. It can get lost or stolen. In the twenty-first century, people need a form of money that's more convenient and secure, something that can be accessed from anywhere with a PDA or an Internet connection. Of course, what we're calling 'convenient' for American users will be revolutionary for the developing world. Many of these countries' governments play fast and loose with their currencies. They use inflation and sometimes wholesale currency devaluations, like we saw in Russia and several Southeast Asian countries last year [referring to the 1998 Russian and 1997 Asian financial crisis], to take wealth away from their citizens. Most of the ordinary people there never have an opportunity to open an offshore account or to get their hands on more than a few bills of a stable currency like U.S. dollars. Eventually PayPal will be able to change this. In the future, when we make our service available outside the U.S. and as Internet penetration continues to expand to all economic tiers of people, PayPal will give citizens worldwide more direct control over their currencies than they ever had before. It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means because if they try the people will switch to dollars or Pounds or Yen, in effect dumping the worthless local currency for something more secure.[27]"
As of now, I see that bitcoin has a huge advantage over the old ACH system, speeding up transaction. What do you make of this quote? What specific niche or function do you eventually see bitcoin dominating in? Does not having a known creator or single owner help of hurt its adaptability into the mainstream economy?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
"We're definitely onto something big. The need PayPal answers is monumental. Everyone in the world needs money – to get paid, to trade, to live. Paper money is an ancient technology and an inconvenient means of payment. You can run out of it. It wears out. It can get lost or stolen. In the twenty-first century, people need a form of money that's more convenient and secure, something that can be accessed from anywhere with a PDA or an Internet connection. Of course, what we're calling 'convenient' for American users will be revolutionary for the developing world. Many of these countries' governments play fast and loose with their currencies. They use inflation and sometimes wholesale currency devaluations, like we saw in Russia and several Southeast Asian countries last year [referring to the 1998 Russian and 1997 Asian financial crisis], to take wealth away from their citizens. Most of the ordinary people there never have an opportunity to open an offshore account or to get their hands on more than a few bills of a stable currency like U.S. dollars. Eventually PayPal will be able to change this. In the future, when we make our service available outside the U.S. and as Internet penetration continues to expand to all economic tiers of people, PayPal will give citizens worldwide more direct control over their currencies than they ever had before. It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means because if they try the people will switch to dollars or Pounds or Yen, in effect dumping the worthless local currency for something more secure.[27]"
As of now, I see that bitcoin has a huge advantage over the old ACH system, speeding up transaction. What do you make of this quote? What specific niche or function do you eventually see bitcoin dominating in? Does not having a known creator or single owner help of hurt its adaptability into the mainstream economy?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
