The Agenda Podcast explores the topic of financial sovereignty, Black American empowerment and the promise of Bitcoin with the revolutionary Najah Roberts.
If you ask 10 people what the original purpose of Bitcoin is, 1 person will say it was created to cut out the middleman, reduce transaction costs and empower those who may not have have access to modern financial instruments.
While all the boxes can be ticked, a phenomenon of financial technology, and technology in general, is that not everyone benefits equally from the radical changes it brings. Of course this happens for a variety of unique reasons, some intentional and some unintentional, but the phenomenon of technological change that leaves some people brings up this very special question.
How Can Bitcoin Empower Black Americans?
On this week’s episode of The Agenda — a Cointelegraph podcast exploring the promise of crypto, blockchain and Web3, and how regular people level up and improve their lives through technology — hosts Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung dig deeper into the topic with Najah Roberts, an activist , an educator and founder of several crypto-related organizations, including Black Bitcoin Billionaire, a brick-and-mortar Bitcoin exchange and a technology-focused camp for kids.
According to Roberts, Bitcoin
About BTC
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22,405 dollars
itself the last great hope and opportunity for the empowerment of American Negroes; and therefore, has dedicated the past five years to spreading Satoshi Nakamoto’s positive words and core values of financial literacy.
Bitcoin can be a path to freedom
As a basic concept of his irraison d’etre, Roberts explains:
“The Declaration of Independence was signed over 150-some years ago. And at the same time in this country, Blacks in America owned less than 1% of the wealth. And here we sit, in the year 2022, and in reality, Blacks in America own less than 1% of the wealth. […] Bitcoin gives us the chance to have some autonomy and to be able to, for the first time in history, have control over our money — whoever has the money rules everything. And if we’re stewards of our money, we’ll be able to manage our lives. And I’m excited about that for our community.”
Roberts explained that fiscal autonomy is important, especially in systems like the United States where the tools and resources that lead to the creation of national wealth have historically been denied to certain groups.
Roberts said:
“We have to be autonomous because no one is looking out for us but ourselves, and we have to get that in mind. And that’s what we taught the people. So, Bitcoin is just the first step. Also, whoever has the money has the power. And we need to hold on to our money so that we have the power to do the things we have to do, not only for our families but for our communities. Because when it boils over, everything revolves around the economy.”
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Revolutions are rarely televised
Asked about Bitcoin’s high volatility, the proliferation of fraud in the crypto sector and whether or not it’s wise to advise people with limited financial literacy to invest in successful, risky assets like Bitcoin, Roberts suggested progress can’t be televised.
According to Roberts, literacy is a gateway to self-reliance, so her main focus, and that of digital content, is first to help people understand the importance of saving, regardless of how much they can save. Emphasizing concepts around compound interest and dollar cost allocation, and because of volatility, Roberts reminds potential investors that timing the market is far more effective than trying to adjust to the market.
“I don’t teach our citizens time to market because time to market is better than time to market. So, I educate our community based on dollar cost averaging. […] Whatever you usually do, keep doing that, but just add satoshis to your portfolio. So if you go to Starbucks seven times a week, I’m not telling you to go
