William Blair partner Brian Singer explains how Bitcoin and blockchain encryption has a greater ability to bring more of the worlds population out of poverty than anything weve seen in decades.

FORBES: And is bitcoin the currency of the future? Or is it the payment system theyre developing?

SINGER: Bingo. Its the payment system. Its the blockchain encryption. And there are interesting things. I think bitcoin, or the, really, blockchain encryption thats behind it, has a greater ability to bring more of the worlds population out of poverty than anything weve seen in

FORBES: Well, for one thing, its a cheap payment system.

SINGER: For one thing, its a cheap payment system. But its more important than that. Its more important than that. Blockchain cryptography is all about digital transfer of ownership in a completely transparent and public way. Okay, I dont want to go into any of the math and the complexity behind it, but think of what that means.

That means that I can actually record ownership in public, in a digital means. 50% of the worlds population has a mobile phone. I read an estimate this month that in 2020, 90% of the worlds population will have mobile phones. Thats probably a high estimate, but thats okay.

FORBES: $25, $35 smartphones.

SINGER: Were throwing them away and they can ship them off to emerging markets. But whats powerful about this, now think about Hernando de Soto.

FORBES: Yes.

SINGER: Okay. The Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru, I really think Hernando de Soto should win the Nobel prize for the work hes done. I hope he does. But hes going around the world and identified one of the most powerful things to the economy and the creation of wealth. And that is the ownership of property.

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How Bitcoin Will End World Poverty