Since I wrote about small earnings last week, I've been thinking about crypto and being poor.

One of the original, underlying concepts of Bitcoin was independence. It was created by one or more members of Cypherpunks, after all.

Something outside the establishment, a way to move digital money without a third party, without the middleman, without having to sign up for an account and give up privacy.

That concept applies really well to people living in poverty.

It's also where the whole trend of "banking the unbanked" started, before it became shorthand for "bringing crypto into the establishment so we can track it the same as everything else". But we're not talking about that today!

I wanted to take last week's post a step further and think about how crypto can help when you're poor.

I've been very well off at certain times in my life. I've also been poor.

Very poor.

£2 to survive 3 days with no food in the cupboards and 2 people to feed poor.

Eating 2-years-out-of-date spaghetti with cheap gravy poor.

Losing 30% of my body weight poor.

How Can Crypto Help?

[Obligatory disclaimer: nothing here is financial advice. Or particularly competent. DYOR as always.]

Poverty is, unfortunately, magnetic.

Our current society is built to work best for people who have financial stability and gives the most to those who already have the most.

If you're below the stable level, or even at that level but your savings aren't going to assets that grow - because they're a backstop, an emergency fund, or simply cash that's not earning enough to beat inflation - poverty can suck you back in with one crisis.

Let's assume you're barely surviving and you've earned a little bit of crypto, like we were talking about last week.

There are two main situations:

• You are below the survival line
• You are constantly struggling but surviving

If you're in the first, use your earnings.

No arguments.

Survival is all-important. If that extra dollar gets you to the pay-the-rent point, pay the rent. If it buys food you need, buy the food.

If you're in the second situation and don't absolutely need the extra dollar right now, read on.

As Lissy commented on this excellent post, "When you have very little (if any) room to breathe, spare money, and energy because you’re constantly struggling, thinking about what’s gonna happen in a year (or planning for it, or finding spare to invest for it) is extremely difficult."

So what CAN you do with, for example, that $1 you earned from p0x?

The first step is psychological: try to see the small earnings as an extra, outside your income struggles.

Put them away and leave them alone.

For now.

Yes, you might need to access them in an emergency. That's happened to me twice since I got into crypto, and I've had to re-start at zero each time, but the saved crypto saved my arse. That matters.

But if it's not an emergency, leave it alone.

Put those small earnings somewhere safe. That could be in your own wallet - with as few transactions as possible to keep sending fees low in future, so you might need to hold for more dollars first. It could be on a trusted exchange earning interest (holding your p0x USDC, for example). Or you could trade for staking coins and stake them.

Do NOT go the betting route. Sure, it's tempting, but it's weighted heavily to the house and not the player. You might not need it now but you can't afford to lose it. Save it.

Compounding

Like with most habits, the trick is compounding.

Do it once, you'll shrug at the difference and be convinced you could do something to earn faster.

Do it ten times, you'll start to feel the psychological pressure to fuck with the money because $10 is the start of something big, right?

Resist the temptation.

Don't even LOOK at it.

Just keep saving.

It's a very small step but over time - years, especially - it grows.

It compounds, the interest compounds, every drop you add fills the glass a little more.

And then one day, when you're absolutely desperate, it's there for you.

Have you found good ways to save? Practical or psychological steps that work short-, medium- or long-term? Would love to know!