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Bitcoin is changing the lives of most people the world over. Here’s how Bitcoin is positively impacting the lives of the homeless.
Homelessness is a worldwide challenge, and Bitcoin can help in addressing it. According to the United Nations Human Settlements Program, around 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing. The available data reveals that over 100 million people lack any form of accommodation. What’s more, homelessness is increasing across the world. It also occurs in all countries and has severe side effects on individuals and their communities.
Many factors can cause homelessness, including domestic violence, gender and racial discrimination, unemployment, and mental illness. The interplay of these elements can make a person homeless in different ways, depending on their local context. However, homelessness levels keep rising and falling depending on changes to and shifts in these elements.
Nevertheless, Bitcoin and blockchain could bring some good news to the homeless. So far, Bitcoin has positively affected the homeless in many parts of the world. Some people living in the street are now earning their living from trading Bitcoin on websites like Crypto Engine for profit. With such platforms, all a homeless person needs is a smartphone or a tablet and internet connection to participate in purchasing and selling this virtual currency.
Unemployed and Homeless People Surviving on Bitcoin
To some unemployed and homeless people, Bitcoin is the great equalizer. That’s because these people don’t have to face the stigma they experience on the street when using Bitcoin. A homeless man doesn’t have to raise his hand and say he is different. People automatically know that he is different from how he dresses and gets his food every day. However, Bitcoin is gradually changing this reality.
For a homeless person, the Bitcoin network presents something unique. That’s because they don’t need a street address or an ID to set up, access, and use a Bitcoin wallet. All a person needs is a tablet or smartphone and an internet connection. And after setting up a digital wallet, a homeless person can start filling it with Bitcoin using a small amount to trade this virtual currency.
Homeless people can continue trading the profits they make on crypto exchanges or send it back to their digital wallets. Alternatively, they can cash their Bitcoins to buy foods or other items even without identification.
Bitcoin and Blockchain for Homeless Refugees
Bitcoin can potentially help the homeless with identity management, regardless of whether people have stolen their backpacks or a health facility has faxed their records to their clinics. Essentially, blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, has potential implications in developing better and new ways of sharing health information securely across service providers.
Health officials in rural Syrian and Indonesian refugee camps already use blockchain technology to build secure records of primary life events like immunizations, birth registration, housing records, and health visits. Essentially, blockchain technology could help coordinate social and health care services for the homeless and refugees the world over.
Also, charitable organizations are receiving funding in the form of Bitcoin. That’s because this technology creates a trustworthy, distributed and immutable system of data. Ideally, blockchain records every Bitcoin transaction, making it difficult for malicious people to misuse funds intended for helping the homeless and refugees in camps.
With blockchain technology, people can access the information they share on the system, even if they relocate to a different country or city. All a homeless person needs is a cell phone and internet to access the Bitcoin or blockchain network.
Final Thoughts
Financial wizards and techies were the first to adopt Bitcoin and blockchain technology. However, this technology is now benefiting the homeless and most vulnerable community members. Today, the internet provides many ways to acquire Bitcoin and convert it to a local currency that homeless people can use to purchase food and other items without identification.
