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“Digital is the Cash” by Nathaniel is a book on the evolution of money, right from the existence of man and how man has tackled the challenges he faced in the trading system. He analyzed all the types of systems that existed,from barter to valued items or goods up until fiat(which is also known as paper money).
He started his book by giving a definition of money by economics as anything that is generally accepted, a means of exchange of value, easily divisible, a store of value, scarce, precious and difficult to get. And talked about how the centralized government (state and the banking system) has failed in solving so many problems faced by citizens in the banking and finance sector which brought about “Fintech”(financial technology simply put). Fintech companies have engaged more citizens of countries than the centralized banking system, by making transactions very fast and less stressful(no paperwork is needed for any transaction) neither is your presence needed before any of their services can be rendered (which has appreciated AI in the space of finance). But that isn’t even the final destination of money as it has evolved and taken a new form based on the age of internet we are in which is called “cryptocurrency”, and is built on a technology called “blockchain”. Cryptocurrency is a digital form of money that is spendable like your local currencies (e.g naira, dollars and euros), only that cryptocurrency is not owned by central authority such as the government. Being digital, you can send anywhere (borderless), anytime, instantly and at a very minimal fee.
Nathaniel did not forget to tell us about the invention and launching of the first cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) on the 3rd of January, 2009. Bitcoin was brought about as a revolution in global finance as money could be sent via a peer-to-peer, decentralized network, which can be used by anyone who has an internet enabled device.
Nathaniel went ahead to explain Blockchain and it’s uses in human lives and various sectors it can be applied, to bring about transparency of data stored and speed in rendering of service. He mentioned the types of blockchain available, and stated that the Ethereum Blockchain seems to be the best blockchain for building and deploying decentralized applications(dapps) because of more features and functionalities on the ethereum (like smart contract and solidity).
He talked about a certain cryptocurrency called Dash, and explained every service and functionalities of dash right from inception in the year 2014, until the day he wrote the book. He explained everything about Dash, and why it’s more user-friendly than Bitcoin because of the speed of delivery and the DAO(decentralized autonomous organization). I would say the masternodes part of the DAO makes Dash’s system appealing to me, because it gives users the opportunity of having a say in the running of Dash operations.
I guess with his explanation of the application of blockchain to/in every fields of life, the government of developing countries like Nigeria would love to embrace the services of blockchain to governance, because of it’s transparency and record history capacity, and will be interested in creating policies that will foster the growth of companies, interested in rendering their services with the employment of blockchain.
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