The Agenda Podcast explores the concepts of financial sovereignty, Black American empowerment, and the promise of Bitcoin with revolutionary Najah Roberts.
If you ask 10 people what the core purpose of Bitcoin is, at least one person will say it is to cut out middlemen, reduce transaction costs, and empower those who may not have access to modern financial infrastructure.
Despite ticking all those boxes, another phenomenon of financial technology, and technology in general, is that not everyone benefits equally from the revolutionary changes it brings though this is for a variety of specific reasons, some intentional, some unintentional, yet the phenomenon of technological change leaves some people wondering
How Can Bitcoin Empower Black Americans?
On this week’s episode of The Agenda — a Cointelegraph podcast that explores the promise of crypto, blockchain and Web 3, and how regular people level up with the technology and improve their lives — hosts Ray Salmond, Jonathan DeYoung and Najah Roberts, an activist and educator met and Black Bitcoin billionaire, founder of several crypto-related organizations including a brick-and-mortar bitcoin exchange and a tech-focused kids camp
Bitcoin according to Roberts
BTC
Make a ticker below
$23,755
Black Americans are the last great hope and opportunity for empowerment; And to that end, he has dedicated the last five years to spreading the good words of Satoshi Nakamoto and the basic principles of financial literacy.
Bitcoin can be a path to freedom
As a foundational case for his raison d’etre, Roberts explained:
“The Emancipation Proclamation was signed 150-some years ago. And at the time, blacks owned less than 1% of America’s wealth in this country. And here we sit, in 2022, and in fact, blacks own less than 1% of the wealth in America. […] Bitcoin gives us the chance to gain some self-sovereignty, and for the first time in history, to be able to control our money — because whoever holds the money rules everything and if we are in charge of our money, we can rule our lives. And I’m excited about this for our community.”
Roberts explained that financial autonomy is paramount, especially in a system like the US where certain groups have historically been denied the tools and resources that lead to generational wealth creation
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Roberts said:
“We have to be sovereign ourselves because no one but us is watching, and we have to keep that in our heads. And that is what we have been teaching society. So, Bitcoin is just the first step. Again, those with money hold power. And we want to keep our money for ourselves so that we have the power to do what we need to do, not only in our families but in our communities. Because when it boils down, all economics revolves around it.”
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Revolutions are often not televised
Given bitcoin’s high volatility, the proliferation of scams in the crypto sector and whether it’s smart to advise people with limited financial literacy skills to invest in emerging, risky assets like bitcoin, Roberts hinted at not televising the revolution.
According to Roberts, literacy is the gateway to self-sufficiency, so his initial focus, and that of Digital Underground, is first to help people understand the value of saving, though no matter how much they are able to save he emphasizes concepts revolving around compound interest and dollar cost averages, volatility And on the subject, Roberts reminds potential investors that timing the market is more effective than trying to time it
“We don’t teach our community to time the market because time in the market is better than making time for the market. So, we teach our community the dollar cost average. […] Do whatever you regularly do, but just add some Satoshi to your portfolio. So, if you go to Starbucks seven times a week, I’m not saying don’t go to Starbucks — I’m saying six instead of seven, or five instead of seven, get that $6 off that coffee and buy yourself some satoshi.”
To hear more from Roberts, tune into Cointelegraph’s new podcast page, full episodes of The Agenda on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or TuneIn — and be sure to check out Cointelegraph’s other new shows
The views, opinions and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
