This week I met with some people at the forefront of poverty eradication and research of financial tools for the global poor. So naturally, I brought up Bitcoin.

By “global poor” I don’t mean people who got laid off and can’t pay their roommate rent money, but the poorest on earth, those living on a dollar a day or so where extreme hunger is common, preventable illnesses kill and death by starvation is a real possibility.

Above that level there are people who are still extremely poor by Western standards but who do have access to mobile phones, even web enabled phones.

In much of Africa as well as countries like Pakistan, mobile phone usage is pretty high….not so much with the $1 per day people ….but with many we would consider very poor by most global standards….people who might live on $10 / day or so.

Bitcoin opens a new world for people who previously did not have access to easy transfer of value.

Some interesting takeaways which I got from the conversations (combined with some related items from earlier research, some people who follow development will know)

– financial access is key to providing stability to the very poor….even the ability to save the equivalent of $10 can make a big difference in someone’s options (getting a bus to a higher paying job) and risk mitigation (being able to afford food for a couple days if to sick to work)

– remittances are a big deal in places like Africa – the numbers are all over the map so I can’t be confident enough in any one estimate to repeat it, but it’s large — also, the remittance companies make a lot of money – sending $100 from the US to Kenya can cost up to $40

– there are a billion or so people who are “unbanked” – no access to bank accounts (this number is sometimes quoted as much higher depending how you count it, some numbers count kids which is not as accurate because they might not have bank accounts even in rich countries)

– governments are a massive obstacle in anything related to this space – as we might suspect, the governments in the countries with the most need have their hands in everything — the charitable and aid organizations dealing with this feel they must work with these governments

– my personal feeling is that Bitcoin does not need regulation and aid efforts are best spent trying to keep government involvement to a minimum….ask for forgiveness rather than permission, these governments do not tend to have a great track record in helping their own people

– interestingly, international organizations like the UN also have influence in this area….they have set up policies and standards to be followed by charitable organizations which have strict internal rules about anything related to money transfers etc….these were designed to prevent profiteering on the backs of the very poor and many aid organizations abide by these various rules – so certain charitable models may face hurdles in this regard

– Bitcoin is so newly on the radar of some aid and development groups that they are often unaware of it’s capabilities, potential and how it works – common misconceptions relate to understanding of the technology (don’t we need a PC?), lack of central control (let’s get a meeting with the head of Bitcoin) and general misconceptions (could this someday be faster than a wire transfer?)

I think there is huge potential for Bitcoin to change the lives of many people for the better.

For the first time ever, a poor person in a poor country can be on the exact same financial platform as a rich person from a rich country. The barriers to entry are very low. You do not need a photo ID, AML, KYC check, fax, email address, physical address car or even electricity to own Bitcoin.

If financial access is a key building block to lift people from poverty, Bitcoin may be the killer ap.