Around 2,000 people own more money than 4.6 billion people combined. Can Bitcoin Help Solve This Imbalance?
According to a recent study by the international charity Oxfam, there is a large imbalance in wealth in the world today. The report released on Monday confirmed that around 2,153 of the world’s richest billionaires have more wealth than 4.6 billion people combined. Because of this inequality, Oxfam urged the government to introduce a new policy that would remedy the situation.
If everyone were to sit on their wealth amassed in $100 bills, most of humanity would be on the ground. A middle-class person in a rich country would sit at the height of a chair. The two richest men in the world would sit in space. The wealthy only get richer, while the less fortunate members of society continue to lose money and are barely able to keep up with the cost of living.
A lot of money will change hands
One thing to know is that something called The Great Wealth Transfer will take place in the coming years. Simply put, there will be a generation change in which millennials (born 1981 to 1998) will succeed previous generations. It is estimated that the change of generations in the United States alone will transfer around $68 trillion to millennials, which is likely to have a massive impact on the current financial imbalance.
The younger generation is much easier to inspire with new technologies. They are open to change and are not convinced that they have to use something that is tried and tested just because it has worked for decades. Much of the money that the younger generation receives (for example, through inheritance) could very likely flow into Bitcoin.
The average Bitcoin user is also typically between 16 and 34 years old, which shows that cryptocurrencies are of particular interest to young people. Barry Silbert, CEO of Grayscale, also commented on this generation change last year and said that he believes the financial world is preparing for massive change.
Is there less imbalance in the world due to Bitcoin?
To date, there are over 13,005 Bitcoin millionaires and that number will increase as Bitcoin gets more interest. Thanks to Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology, it is possible to eliminate the middlemen from the financial world. In other words, people would be responsible for storing and managing their own money without paying high fees just to be able to transfer their money.