Review: Uncensored Crypto docuseries episode #1

If you haven’t watched the first episode of the Uncensored Crypto docuseries, you definitely need to. Especially if you’ve been curious about crypto, privacy, and transparency, or why big tech is vaguely ominous to most people.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency, since it was created, has been complex and difficult to understand. So much so that most people don’t even bother. This nine-part docuseries introduces concepts that will help you understand why crypto technology and crypto philosophy are important. It goes beyond the technical complexities and gets to the heart of understanding crypto. 

Here’s a teaser of some of the main themes in episode one…

Changing people’s financial future

“At the end of the day, DeFi is absolutely unstoppable, and it’s going to happen in one form or another. And it will take some market share from banks.” -Bryce Paul, Co-founder of Crypto 101

The vision of cryptocurrency and blockchain from the very beginning was to change people’s financial future. Even though it’s been popularly understood as “fake internet money” since the very first whitepaper, challenging centralized power and giving people control over their own economic position was priority #1.

Since then, DeFi has taken the cryptosphere to the next level as far as market cap and adoption—but cryptocurrency was always DeFi. The train is just rolling faster and more definitively now. Uncensored Crypto isn’t trying to make cryptocurrency a thing, it’s a docuseries explaining why it’s already a thing.

Digital identity

“KYC, for example. You go open a bank account, you have to show all the same information to one bank that you then have to show to another bank. It’s your utility bill, and where do you earn your money…imagine if you just had a token you could share.” -Fred Thiel, CEO, Marathon Digital Holdings

One of the future use cases for blockchain is digital identity management. Tokenization for things like KYC (know your customer) can allow quick, secure, and easy credentialing that doesn’t compromise security. Blockchain domains and other kinds of tokenized personal information will likely become the one-stop-shop for identity verification in the future.

It may sound scary now because of how precarious all our personal information is in a world of centralized big data. But the whole point of crypto is to secure data.

Fight surveillance capitalism

“They call it surveillance capitalism. And it feels so normal now because everything we do is being surveilled and is just part of our lives, but literally 25 years ago, 20 years ago, even 15 years ago, that really wasn’t the case.” -Jeremy Gardner. Founder of Augur and Blockchain Education Network

Hand-in-hand with tokenizing personal data on the blockchain is fighting surveillance capitalism and the surveillance state. The amount of information big tech and big data have on all of us could knock your socks off. But, most days, we give up that information without even realizing it.

Because technology is advancing so quickly, it’s difficult for the average person to keep up with everything it can do. Luckily for us, crypto developers and people like the ones you’ll hear from in the Uncensored Crypto docuseries are trying to change the current reality by fighting surveillance capitalism.

DeFi vs banks

“It is absolutely mind boggling that a technology has emerged that can actually transform society in multiple dimensions in a way that has never been possible since the emergence of mankind.” -Martin Weiss – Founder, Weiss Ratings

Until now, the grip banks and governments had on their money monopoly was so tight that most people never had occasion to question it or even realize it was happening. 

But DeFi and cryptocurrency are changing that. Banks—or as I like to call them: the money cartel—know their days are numbered if DeFi accomplishes its goal of revolutionizing the financial system. Even Gary Gensler and the SEC know it. The people, through crypto, can take back their sovereign rights, and that’s never been possible before.

A monetary system with rights

“Most people are not looking for a place to speculate, they’re looking for a place to just earn a decent yield. Just be rewarded for their liquidity and the money they’ve saved. And the demand for that right now is the biggest it has ever been in the history of the world.” -Dr. Martin Weiss, Founder, Weiss Ratings

Speaking of rights…the way DeFi is securing them is by disintermediating the financial system. Like Weiss says, most people are wary of crypto when they think of it as speculation. And, sure, it often can be. But DeFi and P2P financial services are being developed, not as speculative investments, but as financial tools we need, sans centralized intermediaries.

With DeFi, services like borrowing, lending, gaining yields, and saving become tools rather than highway robbery. Maintaining the value of your wealth and even growing it is unheard of in the traditional financial system.

Transparency in voting

“…then you add the security and transparency of blockchain technology when it comes to voting. And now the power is truly in people’s hands and in every way that matters. The question is, will governments allow that to happen willingly or are they going to put up a fight?” –Mike Dillard, Founder of RicherEveryDay.com

The financial system isn’t the only thing needing a complete overhaul these days. If you remember the last two elections, you probably remember that there were controversies on both sides and from every direction about the security and reliability of our voting system.

Using the instant, digital, and unchangeable blockchain can bring transparency to voting that is so desperately needed. Of course, those with certain interests *cough* the oligarchy *cough* don’t actually want the people to intervene in their master plans—can they stop us though? 

The price of free

“If you do get something for free, it causes dependence. It forces you to be compliant. And we’re seeing that a lot.” -Jimmy Song, Bitcoin Developer, Educator, & Entrepreneur

One of the concepts that is not immediately obvious to most people is that paying for stuff is actually a really good thing. Transactions create mutual obligation. If you and I transact in a way that costs us both and benefits us both, equilibrium is maintained. But, when people are given things for free, a value disparity is created.

The invisible hand of the market will place a cost on everything we get for free—even if we’re not fully aware of that cost until it’s too late. Big tech and centralized companies know that we are paying for their “free” services with our compliance and our autonomy. With blockchain, that doesn’t have to happen.  

Conclusion

The Uncensored Crypto docuseries is kicking off with some really important and head-spinning concepts. I promise, even if you know a lot about crypto, you’ll find something valuable that you didn’t know. I think it’s critical for us as a society—and as individuals— to think about and support the philosophies and status-quo-disrupting projects that are happening in blockchain and cryptocurrency. What did you think of the docuseries so far?