Sounds very fiat

Financial privacy isn’t always about the government or corporations. Sometimes it’s simply about peers. Here’s an anecdote.

In Egypt, people born into lower socioeconomic statuses often don’t have a lot of flexibility for their life path. It’s often largely set by family and tradition, especially for women. And so, it’s kind of the luck of the draw how constructive their family is.

In certain social circles, a girl is generally considered the responsibility of her father. If she dates, has sex, doesn’t wear hijab, etc, then it is considered to reflect badly on him.

Once she marries, responsibility over her is transferred to her husband. He will usually control the main income, he will often control the family finances even if she does have an income, and he will often control most major decisions. And divorce is structured in favor of men here. Initiating a divorce as a woman comes with more limitations and consequences.

Many fathers push their daughters to marry pretty early so that they can relieve themselves of responsibility for her, even if she’s not thrilled about the prospective husband. She can be pressured socially, economically, and sometimes even physically. And at that socioeconomic level, she likely isn’t fluent in other languages, likely has not been exposed to outside ideas very much, is likely surrounded by people who would take her father’s side against her, and so the direction and pressure from her family is mainly how she contextualizes her role in the world.

So in many cases, someone goes from a girl with little power to a wife with little power at a young age, and with limited economic, social, or legal recourse if it ends up not being a good path. A decent percentage of fathers and husbands are abusive, unfortunately. In theory there are safeguards against this, but in practice it’s easy to fall through the cracks.

I know a family that owns an apartment building in Cairo, and they employ a husband and wife as live-in assistants to oversee the property and their family, like a casual butler and maid basically. He cleans, runs errands, and provides security, while she cleans and cooks. The husband and wife come from a low socioeconomic background, and have both been working for the family for 15 years, and are heavily trusted. They make like $4k/year USD equivalent combined, plus receive free basic shelter and a used car.

The husband and wife do not have bank accounts, so they just save in physical Egyptian cash that quickly devalues. Inflation in Egypt hurts people like them the most. With their extended family, they also own a unit for themselves in an apartment building in a poor neighborhood. It’s an unfinished raw brick building that they don’t live in. Their extended family all contribute to the shared building structure and underlying small land lot, and they own their unit within the structure and can choose to invest in finishing it with electricity and plumbing and flooring and furniture to live in, or just leave it as an empty brick hull. Many remain unfinished like that indefinitely throughout Cairo; it’s basically treated as illiquid savings and optionality.

Anyway, one day when the wife was getting a raise from the family that employs her, she asked that her raise be kept private from her husband. She wanted to have autonomy over that portion; their combined income is otherwise mainly under his control. Her husband is by all accounts a nice guy, but that is the common way of doing things in their socioeconomic circle. A private raise would let her keep a tiny bit of pocket cash in her own control. One of the things she wanted to do with some of her own money was send a tiny bit each month to a family member that needed help. So the family agreed to keep her raise private.

As her pocket cash eventually grew a bit, the next challenge arose: how to keep it safe and secret while living in a 250 square foot living area with her husband and daughter. She went back to her employer and asked if she could keep her private savings with them as an informal bank. They agreed to do that for her as well.

As is the case for many people like her, even though she doesn’t have a bank account, she does have a smartphone. Over time, certain types of mobile wallets and their widespread adoption could improve her ability to save privately and in less debase-able ways, and that don’t rely on the particular helpfulness of her employer. And if not her, then maybe her daughter one day.

A shoutout to all the devs working on such wallets and their ease of use; there are certainly plenty of people in the world who could benefit from them!

I like the odds of being in the minority on bitcoin and a proper human diet and delaying gratification and etc.

GM 💜 PV

Some people buy gold for old times' sake

Is gold/#Bitcoin the new 60/40?

The Covid-19 sin bin:

I'm deeply sorry that I didn't wholeheartedly support the small minority who were brave enough to protest the authorities' handling of Covid-19.

I let the rebels down.

I'm particularly ashamed, because as a lawyer, when I got my diploma, like all other Norwegian lawyers, I solemny had to promise I would go out and promote justice and prevent injustice.

I failed this duty miserably.

When we today see the very serious consequences of the authorities' abuse of power, with disproportionate and arbitrary lockdowns and distance regulations, in many cases mandatory vaccinations and various other harmful interventions in our freedom of movement and privacy, I just want to say that I now understand how much I'm to blame because I didn't protest openly and loudly.

Many of those who objected against the policies are bruised and battered and still have challenges in their lives due to the lack of support from their peers and the way they were treated by the rest of society.

I'll do everything to ensure that I don't make the same mistake in the future.

I'm writing this because today's postmodern society is affected by a virus that is very dangerous indeed - the fear of losing face and looking weak if one admits mistakes.

If we're to move forward in this process and succeed in forcing the authorities to put all the cards on the table, I think we must start with ourselves and acknowledge our own mistakes.

Therefore, feel free to write your own apology in the comments below, like and share, and then perhaps we can hope that many others do the same.

Thank you for your contribution.

🙏

Holding bitcoin isn't a walk in the park - it's a financial rodeo.

For anyone who hasn't been in BTC for a long time.

This MtGox FUD has been hanging over bitcoin since 2014.

This is the cleansing process. It's beautiful 🥰

2024 so far has been a walk in the park for seasoned hodlers. The strong ones get rewarded, so remain patient. Stay humble stack sats

We thank your paper hands for our new cheap sats.

Fun in the sun with beef tallow ☀️

I use beef tallow balm as a sunscreen and tanning oil. It lets the sun kiss your skin and leaves behind this perfect golden glow.

#AskNostr - Do you guys use:

A) #BeefTallow

B) Chemical #Sunscreen

C) #TanningOil

D) #Nothing

It's all over. Pack it up boys! 😅