Bitcoin “Is just another tool for us the rich…” says Andrei Jikh 

Russian-born, mega personal finance YouTuber Andrei Jikh says that Crypto has less use for people on the ground in Russia and Ukraine.

Let me start by saying, I love Andrei Jikh, I’ve been watching his YouTube channel for years since he had 60K subscribers. Now he has a whopping 1.94 million subscribers and is known for his magic tricks, financial transparency, and balanced perspective. He is both a value stock investor and a crypto enthusiast. Andrei was born in the Soviet Union, he and his parents immigrated to the US when he was a child. Last week when Russia invaded Ukraine, Andrei made a video sharing his personal dismay about the crisis, and details about family members still living in both Russia and Ukraine. His heritage and familial proximity to the area provide him with a unique personal insight that I think is worth noting, thus, the reason for this article. 

Dominating the current news cycle, there is a strong narrative characterizing crypto as a tool for liberation. I have even written a few articles about how Bitcoin has become an unlikely hero, crypto prices jumping because of the war, and the libertarian stance that Coinbase has recently taken despite political pressure. Interestingly, in his most recent video, Andrei pointed out, that despite this heroic narrative, Crypto is NOT currently able to help people on the ground in the way many hoped. He says: 

“If you’re somebody who is living in Russia, and you were sent Bitcoin, it’s not going to do you much good because you probably won’t be able to convert it to anything useful like dollars or rubles anyway. I’m sure there are ways to do it but it’s very hard, especially if you’re a 75-year-old babushka who is not very tech savvy.”

Jikh follows this point by explaining how increasingly difficult it is for him to send money to his family in Russia. Bitpay, BlockFi, and Crypto.com are currently ineffective because they are powered by MasterCard and Visa, both of which have shut down their service to Russia. Similarly, Google has shut down and PayPal has frozen all of its Russian accounts. Jikh also thought about sending a physical hardware wallet loaded with crypto so that his family could have direct access to funds. Ultimately, he determined that shipping a physical package wouldn’t work either because FedEx and UPS have stopped shipping to Russia. After walking through these various examples of how impossible it is for him to actually utilize the decentralized nature of the blockchain, he says 

“The point is that crypto’s usefulness as a payment system right now is completely dependent on the bridge between itself and the centralized banking system. And as long as that bridge is cut then it’s very hard to use crypto to leverage as a tool to send money…” 

Andrei concludes his video, in part, by saying that

“the truth is that we could both agree on the utility, usefulness and value of Bitcoin. And yes, it has a bright future ahead of it. But we also need the world’s commerce to agree with us so we can use it there. Otherwise, it’s just another tool for us the rich…”

For those of us who are crypto enthusiasts, his commentary is sobering. However, it helps us to maintain a balanced perspective on the current utility of this young asset class. Jikh maintains a positive outlook about the future of crypto as do I. Perhaps the current limitations we are seeing with utility when centralized banking is unavailable, will inform the ongoing innovation that powers the rapid evolution of this young asset class. My personal belief is that the future is still bright, and we are still early. Financial innovation and problem-solving are the foundation of crypto and hopefully will define its future.

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Note: I’m not a financial advisor, I write for educational/entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this or any of my other articles constitutes financial or legal advice.