The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been called many things. To most of the world, of course, it’s considered an invasion, a war between the two countries. To Russia, it’s a “peacekeeping” mission. The description that I can’t get out of my head, though, is one that I believe The Washington Post first used: it’s the world’s first crypto war.
Credit: Bitcoinist
“There is something about the war in Ukraine
that feels different,” a former U.S. intelligence official told
Nick Bilton. “We’ve seen wars documented on Twitter and images shared on
the internet before, but this time it isn’t just bombs and bullets; this war is
digital from the top to the bottom.” And, Mr. Bilton says: “At the center are
cryptocurrencies.”
If crypto has come to war, can healthcare be far
behind?
The Post article was in the early days of the
war, and focused mostly on how Russia might try to use crypto to lessen the
impact of many financial sanctions that have been imposed. That remains a
concern, but what has transpired since has opened up many people’s eyes about
the use of crypto. Ukraine has raised
around $60 million in crypto contributions, according to blockchain analytics firm
Elliptic, both directly to the Ukrainian government and to Come Back Alive
NGO. These contributions are being used
not only for supplies and humanitarian relief, but also for purchase
of military equipment. Ukraine is,
in part, crowdfunding the war using crypto.
Crypto has become a favorite means of donating money
because the transaction is quicker and cheaper than bank or other more
traditional methods, and can be done even when banks or other financial
institutions may be under cyber or physical attack (or, if they are in Russia,
have been sanctioned). Professor Gavin Brown writes:
“By going straight to the people of
the world, Ukraine’s government has been able to raise finance quickly without
the need for financial intermediaries.” Credit: Good Word News
“Cryptocurrency is particularly suited to
international fundraising because it doesn’t respect national boundaries and
it’s censorship-resistant — there is no central authority that can block
transactions, for example in response to sanctions,” Elliptic’s chief
scientist, Tom Robinson told
CNBC.
Dan Primack of Axios asserts:
“This is the crypto industry's moment of truth.”
“For nearly a decade,” he goes on to explain, “crypto evangelists have said
that one of the tech's greatest benefits would be in helping users avoid macro
economic disruptions…Russia's war on Ukraine, including the financial impacts
on both countries, is kind of what they had in mind.” The tests, he believes, will be utility and
adoption.
Ukraine was particularly ready for a crypto war. Even before the conflict, Chainalysis had
ranked Ukraine as the top European adaptor of cryptocurrency, and fourth in
the world. Last September it legalized
cryptocurrency, and was already
piloting its form of digital currency, the e-hryvnia. It has
a Ministry
of Digital Transformation, whose 31 year-old deputy minister
Alex Bornyakov is creating a lot of waves.
Cryptocurrency hasn’t always been known for its
stability, but if you are a Ukrainian refugee, carrying cash might seen risky,
so putting your money in a digital wallet might seem like a prudent strategy. Similarly,
if you are a Russian citizen whose bank
is collapsing, whose rubles’ value are
crashing, and whose Mastercard/Visa
no longer work, putting your money into cryptocurrency suddenly makes a lot
of sense.
Mr. Primack suggested: “But it's hard for even the
most hardened Luddite to not at least wonder if it's prudent to sock away a
little "digital gold," just in case he finds himself suddenly living
in the next Ukraine or Russia.”
----------
This seems rather far afield from healthcare. The U.S. isn’t at war (unless you count
cyberattacks), and our healthcare system has no shortage of ways to get
money. Nobody really likes how healthcare’s
payment mechanisms work, and everyone agrees they are wildly inefficient, but,
so far, there’s no hue and cry to introduce cryptocurrency into them. Oh, sure, there are some start-ups claiming
to offer health cryptocurrencies, but they’re not close to being a threat
to any payors or healthcare payment intermediaries.
But, still, crypto is coming to healthcare.
The U.S. is still in the early stages of developing a
digital currency strategy; last month, for example, the Federal Reserve issued
a report on a Central Bank Digital Currency. “I think it's more important to do this right than to do it
fast,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell has
said. Congress has held hearings,
will undoubtedly
hold more. Advocates for
digital currency point to lower transaction costs, and potential to help the
unbanked. Credit: Techbullion
There is a need for
regulation, most believe, but Senator Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance
Committee, warns:
“There is obviously a debate
[about stricter regulation] but I want to be on the side of the innovator,”
comparing the current crypto environment to the early days of the internet.
That’s
sort of the point. We don’t know what cryptocurrency will be used for – who thought
it’d be a key part of an actual war? – but we’re undoubtedly not thinking big
enough. Lower transaction costs? Hello, healthcare payments! The unbanked? Hello, the uninsured! Bypass intermediaries? Goodbye, health insurers!
Let’s
just hope that healthcare isn’t as slow (and as limited initially) to crypto as
it was to the internet.
---------
The
war in the Ukraine did not come as a surprise.
The U.S. told the world for weeks what President Putin was going to do,
and he did. But, as Alex Bornyakov told
TechCrunch last week, “The
war didn’t start four days ago. It’s
been going on for eight years,” referencing Russia’s 2014 occupation of
Crimea. One of the ways that Ukraine
prepared during those eight years was to get ready for crypto, and now they are
benefiting.
Similarly, no one paying attention can believe our
current healthcare system can go on as it is.
It’s due for a fall. It has to
get cheaper, faster, more efficient, more equitable. Crypto is not the solution, but it is
going to be part of the solution. We
should be preparing.
So: cheer for Ukraine, donate to it if you can, and,
if you care about your health or your pocketbook, start thinking more seriously
about what crypto could mean for our healthcare system.
No comments:
Post a Comment