The current shifts in politics and economics will affect everybody regardless of their involvement with Bitcoin. Moreover, the current crisis presents an opportunity for Bitcoin to achieve what it was made to achieve\u2014become money.<\/p>\n
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In this piece, ForkLog\u2019s Nick Schteringard explains how the biggest economic and societal crises drive the most significant changes, and what it has to do with the first crypto.<\/p>\n
At the end of January, when only China and the adjacent Asian countries were facing the virus outbreak, westerners were sometimes quite notably worried and cautious about anyone of Asian appearance. The media quickly condemned<\/a> such behavior and called people to stay reasonable and not discriminate against others. Just like with the migrant crisis, the developed countries should help those in need, at least that was the idea.<\/p>\n Media were praising Chinese doctors and people in general, but especially a medical doctor Li Wenliang, who tried to warn<\/a> people about the coronavirus back in December. The alarm was silenced by the authorities. Multiple articles referred to this case to illustrate human rights issues and the opacity of the Chinese government. Li Wenliang himself later died of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, interconnected Europe with its open borders, millions of tourists, and thousands of flights each day was the perfect ground for the outbreak. Italy soon became<\/a> the epicenter and it was not prepared.<\/p>\n Being wary of the potential domestic deficit, Germany blocked<\/a> the export of medical goods. Brussels couldn\u2019t help either. The EU countries were unilaterally closing their borders and the Schengen zone almost ceased to exist. Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, told a similar story and noted that European solidarity doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n China sends first batch of medical aid to #Serbia<\/a>; 1,000 #COVID2019<\/a> rapid test kits arrived in Belgrade on Sunday. <\/p>\n Serbian President @avucic<\/a> Aleksandar Vucic's video on "China was the only country that would help" went viral and received a big thumbs up from Chinese netizens. pic.twitter.com\/4fZCHGmgcg<\/a><\/p>\n — CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) March 17, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n