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Brazilian Congressman feels Bitcoin can transform his country

Fábio Ostermann, a Brazilian politician, sees bitcoin as a way to render government instruments obsolete and allow technology

The Brazilian Congressman talked about Bitcoin and the adoption of decentralized technologies in an episode of the “Bitconheiros” podcast with guest Fábio Ostermann, among other topics.

According to the Brazilian member of Parliament, technology that promotes decentralization has the potential to free Brazil since it can render many organizations obsolete, including the Central Bank and other monetary policy-related institutions. He revealed,

“I personally believe very much in the future of freedom in Brazil and consequently in the future of prosperity in Brazil. I think that our children will live in a level of freedom that we have never imagined.

“Most probably because of what our generation is building. […]

I am very confident in the future of freedom and of Brazil, consequently, because I see that in the worst case scenario, technology will set us free.”

The Heritage Foundation’s assessment of economic freedom now ranks Brazil 133rd out of 177 countries. In any obvious element, the Latin American country has lacked considerable evidence of freedom.

Bitcoin can open a huge area for the rise of freedom globally, as the MP and several others correctly point out throughout the episode. It removes centralized agencies’ monopolies on currency issuance and the financial system.

Bitcoin adoption in Brazil

In recent decades, Brazil has seen several events that have eroded public trust in government institutions. Between 1940 and 1994, the country suffered from significant inflation, including occasional bouts of hyperinflation. Many believe this is a big reason for bitcoin’s appeal in the country, as the people are accustomed to distrusting government-issued money.

More people in Brazil are currently investing in bitcoin and other virtual assets than in the stock market in the United States.

Due to many historical events, a lack of trust in their government has become an intrinsic element of Latin American culture. Because most South American countries have suffered hyperinflation, dictatorships, and theft of savings, trusting centralized institutions is understandable.

Bitcoin became a strong liquid alternative to government-issued money and a tool to gain sovereignty through national cash running on a censorship-resistant monetary network because it is a decentralized monetary network with no need to trust intermediaries.

Brazilians feel technology will liberate them.

During the conversation, the Congressman, who is known for promoting pro-economic-liberty policies, continued:

“[Bitcoin] will transform several state tools, which today, or until recently were considered as indispensable as even the Central Bank itself. As authorities of monetary regulation, it will transform them into obsolete, sooner or later.”

Because Bitcoin is a money protocol in the virtual cyberspace of the internet, it has the potential to challenge the power of Central Banks and monetary institutions all over the world.

The Congressman also mentioned the emergence of a range of technologies that can decentralize government power and limit state function.

“The trend is that we will follow the path of increasing decentralization … It is what some people vulgarly call uberization … But there is a phenomenon behind that which is the phenomenon of decentralization, the decentralization of choices.”

Ostermann was most likely referring to dapps, which use complicated smart contracts to run services from traditional programs and systems. The parliamentarian’s comments match forecasts made by economist Milton Friedman. Friedman stated on multiple occasions that the advent of internet-native money would eventually lead to governments worldwide playing a smaller role.

As per Friedman’s 1999 interview, “The one thing that is missing, but will soon be developed, is a reliable e-cash. A method whereby on the internet, you can transfer funds from A to B without A knowing B or B knowing A. The way in which I can take a $20 bill and hand it to you, and there is no record of where it came from. And you may get that without knowing who I am. That kind of thing will develop on the internet ….”

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