A Quick Guide to Cryptocurrency
We're excited to share that the World Council for Health now accepts Bitcoin donations. What better time to take a quick look at what cryptocurrency is and why WCH is accepting it!
What is cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency based on cryptography. Unlike fiat money, the paper currency issued by governments that we’ve all used most of our lives, cryptocurrency is decentralized and not issued or backed by a government or monetary authority.
Here are some terms to be familiar with:
Digital asset: A non-tangible digital representation of value recorded cryptographically. Digital assets are created, traded, and stored digitally.
Cryptography: An encryption technique that makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency: The native asset of a blockchain (i.e. Bitcoin and Ethereum) issued by that blockchain. They can be used as a medium of exchange or as a store of value. They are typically decentralized.
Blockchain: A public digital ledger that records all transactions and is run on a decentralized network of nodes (computers). It is comprised of a series of connected blocks on a ledger, or chain. Every block must be verified. A blockchain is useful for a lot more than just cryptocurrency.
Wallet: While physical wallets are available, the vast majority of crypto wallets are virtual. This is where your cryptocurrency is stored. When someone sends you cryptocurrency, they send it to your wallet address. When you send someone cryptocurrency or purchase goods with crypto, you send it to their wallet address.
Token: A unit of value built on top of an existing blockchain. Similar to the cryptocurrency of a blockchain but are of a different asset class.
There are currently thousands of cryptocurrencies. You’re probably familiar with, and may even hold, coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. For every well-known coin, there are hundreds that most people have never heard of.
If you’re interested in a deep dive into what Bitcoin is and how it and other cryptocurrencies work, check out this Substack from Rain Trozzi:
What is the purpose of cryptocurrency?
Different people use crypto for different reasons. Some of the most common pros to using cryptocurrency include:
Inflation protection: Because of their limited supply, many people see cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation. The value goes up as demand goes up.
Transparency, Privacy & Security: Transactions on most networks are anonymous and a record of all transactions can be found on the blockchain. There is no third-party involvement. Personal information (like name, mailing address, email address, etc.) is not needed for transactions.
Expanded payment methods: By using cryptocurrency, merchants, organisations, and individual offer consumers and supporters additional ways to purchase goods and services or offer support that can be useful across international boundaries where there is typically an exchange rate and associated fee. It also avoids fees from credit cards, banks, PayPal, etc. that are included in many of our transactions and costs. This increases efficiency and lowers operating costs.
Decentralization: Most cryptocurrency is not owned by a government entity or financial institution and the value is not dictated by a bank or any authority. This combats the monopoly that governments have over fiat money.
Check out this article from The Great FreeSet campaign all about the dangers of fiat money.
Are cryptocurrencies legal?
Most cryptocurrencies function outside of the traditional financial infrastructure that we’re all familiar with. This is why some people like it and why their legality varies from place to place. You may want to look up how cryptocurrencies are treated where you live. For example, the Internal Revenue Service in the US treats cryptocurrencies as property or financial assets. And like in many other countries, if you reap capital gains, the government will want a cut.
Are cryptocurrencies safe?
The transparency of a blockchain and security of cryptography adds layers of safety not experienced with fiat money. Cryptocurrencies can be volatile, but this is not unlike the stock market.
While it is possible to make a bad move, be scammed, or lose your wallet, this is not the everyday experience of most people who keep and trade cryptocurrencies. It is important to learn how everything works, keep your wallet and any associated passwords secure, and stay away from any “deals” that sound too good to be true.
There is so much more to learn about cryptocurrencies. If you’re interested in diving deeper, we recommend the following resources including books available in the WCH shop and resources from some of our partner organisations.
Are you already a seasoned crypto enthusiast? Please donate to WCH today. We need your support.
What additional cryptocurrencies would you like to see WCH accept in the future? Please leave your thoughts and comments below.
You can also support us by upgrading to a Paid Substack Subscription. Thank you.
Recommended Resources
Book: The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking - Available in the WCH Shop
A comprehensive and authoritative exploration of Bitcoin and its place in monetary history. When a pseudonymous programmer introduced “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party” to a small online mailing list in 2008, very few people paid attention. Ten years later, and against all odds, this upstart autonomous decentralized software offers an unstoppable and globally accessible hard money alternative to modern central banks.
Book: Broken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it better - Available in the WCH Shop
Broken Money explores the history of money through the lens of technology. Politics can affect things temporarily and locally, but technology is what drives things forward globally and permanently. The book’s goal is for the reader to walk away with a deep understanding of money and monetary history, both in terms of theoretical foundations and in terms of practical implications.
Course: Build Your Private Parallel Economy Through Cryptocurrency - The Conscious Resistance University
In this 5 hour course, Derrick Broze, Hakeem Anwar (formerly Ramiro Romani), and Kenny Palurintano will teach you how to build your own personal “counter-economy” using cryptocurrency, privacy, and real-world strategies.
Whether you’re sitting on coins or if you’ve never used crypto before, this course will give you an understanding of how to buy, sell, and spend cryptocurrency in a private manner. We will also share our real world experience using crypto to purchase plane tickets, bus tickets, hotels, groceries, and receive payments for your services.
Podcast: Uncharted Territory - Available on YouTube and other podcast platforms
The Uncharted Territory Podcast with Dan Astin-Gregory and Sam X boldly ventures into the unknown as we navigate the changing world & paradigm shift in finance as a new class of digital assets emerges. We’re here to help you sift through the noise and confusion so you can move beyond fear, uncertainty and doubt to be equipped to make proactive positive decisions about your financial future.
Documentary: The Banking Cartel & The Future of Money - The Pyramid of Power
The purpose of the investigation will be to briefly explore the history of banking and the role the banks – and the people behind them – have played in shaping our world over the last centuries. Because of the nearly universal use of banking institutions it is of vital importance that we understand how the bankers influence our lives, and whether we prefer to allow this influence to exist in the first place. We will also examine the latest trends in banking and how they signal the shift of our world into a new era of digitalization.
Article: What is Bitcoin - Rain Trozzi
A serious deep dive into what Bitcoin is and how it works to provide a secure and decentralized global transaction network.
If you find value in this Substack and have the means, please consider making a contribution to support the World Council for Health. Thank you.
Paul Stramer - Lincoln County Watch: International Public Notice:The Situation
Imagine it-- after 164 years people wake up like Rip Van Winkle.
People wake up and realize that the FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE is a non-negotiable military scrip used as "legal tender" even though it is not a negotiable instrument because: (1) it does not say when this Promissory Note (IOU) will be repaid and (2) it does not say what it will be repaid with --- what kind of money or asset will be returned to the Receiver of this NOTE.
Then, the idea that it is a military scrip begins to bore into their brains and they all say, WT....! Why would we be using a military scrip as a domestic currency in this country?
That's the sort of thing the military does when they have a base encampment in a foreign country.... like the M.A.S.H. Units in Korea. Everyone remembers Corporal Klinger saving up pink scrip to buy a party dress on base....
Then the bewildered American people find out that they have been living in a country "occupied" by the U.S. Army and that the U.S. Army is a British Territorial Mercenary Force.
And the Civil War wasn't a war. It was a Mercenary Conflict.
The plot thickens.
So, these characters have been operating under False Pretenses for 164 years, claiming to be operating under the Law of War when the Law of War doesn't apply, issuing military scrip and enforcing its use as a domestic currency in The United States?
Nobody could make this up. The American people are shaking their heads and saying, "OMG!"
The U.S. Military has been forcing us to use their military scrip as part of a coercive domestic currency monopoly scheme since 1913, because they, in their Territorial Capacity, set up a Central Bank calling itself the Federal Reserve.
It turns out that the Federal Reserve isn't "Federal"; it's a consortium of private banks that control and issue the FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES at the behest of the U.S. Military.
Which is operating as a foreign Territorial (British Crown) Corporation....the USA, Inc., and a foreign Municipal Corporation, the US, INC.
The manure deepens....
We've been captured by our own Army? Really? Held captive and occupied for 164 years by our own Army?
We've allowed our sons and daughters to serve in it and paid for it, and all this while, "our" military has been operating as a foreign British Territorial (British Crown) Corporation Mercenary Force under color of law and pretense of "war" and has been fleecing us blind to benefit foreign interests?
Yes, that's what it amounts to, except that.... what about their "FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES"? --- what guarantees them? How can they operate like this?
People now realize that everyone in the military is in a condition of indentured servitude and serving as a "titled person" in the British Service System; they have a contract to serve for a specified time, called a Tour of Duty and titles disguised as ranks....
These people are in peonage and nobody told them that this has been outlawed since 1926. Not one person ever told them that peonage would be the result of their enlistment and that peonage would be imposed for the rest of their lives even after their Tour of Duty ended in their Honorable Discharge.
It's the value of their labor, their energy, their bodies, their performance contracts (not just their Tours, the mortgages, property taxes and all the other taxes and tariffs benefiting the British Crown and Monarch) along with their estimated "value" as bonded Mercenaries that's backing the FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES.
Peonage has been enforced on them, and their lives, bodies, and living flesh have been illegally, deceitfully, and immorally securitized; they have been denigrated to the political status of a Person, an Indentured Servant, a U.S. Citizen, a British Territorial, a "Hue-man", as if they were all born in Puerto Rico, having nothing but "Human Rights" --- no Constitutional Guarantees, no Natural and Unalienable Rights.
No wonder they are forever "fighting for freedom".
In their current status, they have none.
They are in a condition of abject foreign servitude, akin to the shanghaied members of the French Foreign Legion.
For years, they've been trying to tell us every time they spoke about "their democracy" and "defending democracy" --- well, America isn't a democracy, so what democracy are they defending at our expense--- in blood, in credit, and in assets?
Obviously, they are defending their British Territorial democracy and all that rot about "National Security" was their National Security, not ours, and when they talk about "the Public Good" they are talking about their "public" not ours.
Fascinating. The Americans cock their heads to one side and roll their eyes, thinking -- you've got to be kidding me. All these people, born in this country, have been involved in this, allowed this, done this?
In their British Territorial Federal Code we, the Americans, their Employers, are called "Foreign Sovereigns" and "Non-resident Aliens" as if we grew green scales and had little fleshy antennas on our heads.
Alien with respect to what?
Their British Territorial version of "the United States of America" ----Incorporated. Also foreign with respect to their version of "the United States" --- INCORPORATED.
The Americans all step back and say, "Say what? The IRS is calling me a non-resident alien?"
And more recently than that, they have been trying to pretend that we are something they call "Sovereign Citizens", but that's an oxymoron and something else that cannot exist; nobody can be a "citizen" and a "sovereign" at the same time, so, once again, its Smoke and Mirrors and British Bunko and crime and fraud and fiction.
We, the American People, their grossly disserved Employers, object to the use to FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES because: (1) they are the fruits of unconscionable contracts promoting peonage -- which has been outlawed worldwide since 1926; (2) we have been kept uninformed and prevented from obtaining remedies, most especially, the published option of debt swaps called Mutual Offset Credit Exchange Exemptions described but never implemented and made available under Title 12 of their Federal Code. This failure to provide remedy has resulted in de-legalizing the FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES and the development of an astronomical National Debt on their part, which leads to devaluation of the FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES and harm to everyone forced to participate in the substituted domestic economy created by their imposition; (3) this same imposition of their "legal tender" has led to monopolization of the domestic economy that they have substituted for our natural civilian domestic economy under conditions of fraud and force; (4) since 1940, soldiers and sailors enlisted without benefit of full disclosure have been conscripted for life; prior to that, it was legally presumed that Americans in the U.S. Army or other branches of the Military Services returned home to their birthright political status after serving out their Tours of Duty and being officially discharged; after the passage of the infamous Buck Act of 1940, average Americans were instead presumed to be "citizens of the United States" and were not released from these presumptions throughout the rest of their lives; they could not object to this hidden presumption because none of this internecine corporate mercenary "warfare" was ever disclosed to them.
For all these reasons and more, we object to the use of FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES and object to the use of any undisclosed and unconscionable contracting processes altering the political status of Americans past and present who have served in the U.S. Military/US MILITARY services.
We similarly object to the use of "USD" which is an international currency floated by the unauthorized independent international city-state known as the Municipality of Washington, DC. This foreign currency was backed by gold until 1933, by silver until 1971, and is now backed by refined oil products.
We object to the use of the USD because: (1) the assets used to back this currency were all purloined from us using the same sorts of unconscionable and undisclosed contracting processes, only serving to enslave living people. (2) Instead of denigrating the victims as indentured servants and subjecting them to peonage, the perpetrators fronting the USD have gone a step further and subjected the "citizens of the United States" to slavery, which has been outlawed worldwide since 1926; (3) these same perpetrators have promoted a collusive scheme with the British Crown to sequentially impersonate and mischaracterize average Americans first as British Territorial U.S. Citizens, and next, to misrepresent them as Municipal Corporation franchises --- THINGS which appear to be named after them: (4) the value of the intellectual properties belonging in fact to the American victims of this scheme, has been used to back the USD: our non-military performance contracts, copyrights, trademarks, patents, grants, surveys, art, and souls, which have purportedly been captured and traded using "baptismal certificates" in lieu of birth certificates.
These repugnant acts of fraud and theft from their Employers deserve nothing but universal prosecution and condemnation, and both the asset-backed money promoted by the enslavement of the "citizens of the United States" -- a foreign political status which was gratuitously conferred on the U.S. Citizens without their knowledge, need, or consent, and the "legal tender" known as FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES which are the fruits of peonage and coercive monopoly of our domestic economy need to be outlawed immediately and replaced with our honest and simple American Federation Dollar, serving as the gold-backed International Currency of the American States and People. Our domestic currency has always been the United States Silver Dollar and we never authorized any other.
The only fly in the ointment is that Governments can ban cryptocurrency if they force Digital ID and a CBDC banking system. And it’s a hornet not a fly.