Catalina Castro, an expert in creating educational content on technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, tells us the importance of learning about Bitcoin, the most important and most widely used cryptocurrency worldwide.
In this opportunity, Catalina Castro, from the YouTube channel Tech with Catalina, is the protagonist of our virtual interview carried out by the Bit2Me team, where the Commercial Director and CSO of Bit2Me were present, Javier Pastor, and the Director of Public Relations and Social Networks, Giovanny Montealegre.
Catalina has extensive experience in cryptocurrencies, , Especially Bitcoin, technology blockchain, social networks, communication and education. She graduated from the University of Argentina and then obtained a specialization in Intercultural Economic Management at the University of El Salvador. She subsequently continued her studies in Europe, where she obtained a specialization in International Cultural Business at the University of Passau, Germany.
During the interview, Catalina Castro told us about the importance of knowing the real meaning of Bitcoin and all the possibilities that this system offers us to improve many current aspects of our society, especially in the traditional financial sector. With a great vision and her goal of educating as many people as possible about new technologies, Catalina founded her YouTube channel, Tech with Catalina, through which he educates and informs his community of followers about all aspects of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, in English and Spanish.
Likewise, Catalina is a professor at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus, where he teaches the Virtual Blockchain Professional Training Program. He also gives lectures at the University of Bamberg, Germany, on the Application of Blockchain technology in current businesses.
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Coming to the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology
Catalina Castro tells us a little about how she learned about the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and how she entered it.
At the end of 2017, when the boom in cryptocurrencies exploded, especially Bitcoin, which at that time reached its all-time high price of 20.000 dollars per unit, was when Catalina heard about Bitcoin for the first time, and although at that time she was not clear about what this new technology in development and its enormous potential meant, she did realize that it would open the way to a new digital era. Catherine attended the Latin American Bitcoin & Blockchain Conference which was held in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, during the first days of December 2017; a conference that brought together a large number of people and young entrepreneurs with great vision and enormous human potential.
Since then, Catalina felt great curiosity and interest in knowing much more about Bitcoin, so she decided to understand this new technology in depth and educate herself on all the topics related to it. Thus, since 2018 Catalina opened her YouTube channel focused on learning and transmitting the knowledge acquired to other people interested in cryptocurrencies. Later, the knowledge that she acquired every day about new technologies captivated Catalina more and more until she immersed herself fully in the cryptographic ecosystem. Since then, she is developing several projects related to the ecosystem and has worked in collaboration with other companies to continue her work of educating society about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Why learn about Bitcoin and blockchain?
“The opportunities of the digital age belong to those whose minds can see what the eyes cannot.”
With this phrase quoted by our Commercial Director Javier Pastor, Catalina explains to us the importance of being attentive to the constant technological changes of our era, which lead to great social transformations. In reference to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, Catalina Castro calls on the entire society to awaken and cultivate interest in learning about the great opportunities that these new technologies bring with them, taking actions that little by little transform into a higher educational level. to fully understand the technology and make accurate and productive decisions in the future.
What is Bitcoin? The birth of a new value exchange system and a cryptocurrency
“Bitcoin gives us the possibility for the first time in humanity to be authentic (owners) 100% of our money, it solves the problem of needing an intermediary to transfer monetary value and also solves a very strong problem that we have on the internet that It is the duplication of information.”
Mentioning some of the qualities that Bitcoin has, both as a value exchange system and as a cryptocurrency, Catalina explains to us that this technology gives us the potential, as nothing has ever done before, to recover our freedom and financial autonomy, thanks to decentralization and transparency of the system.
Likewise, in reference to the fragile security and authenticity of the data, files and information found on the Internet, Catalina highlights that Bitcoin has the ability to solve this problem by being an immutable system that cannot be duplicated; This means that the data and information stored within the Bitcoin blockchain cannot be copied, thus eliminating issues of double spending and counterfeiting of digital currencies.
How does the current financial system work?
From the point of view of our guest expert, the traditional financial system with all its central and commercial banks are “one of humanity's biggest scams”.
For Catalina Castro, the financial system is a monopoly of large organizations, governments and a small group of privileged people who do not want to educate ordinary society about important financial issues. It is a system that aggressively centralizes political and economic power in a few, while societies are the ones who suffer and suffer because of the bad decisions and actions that this small group can take.. To explain this in context, Catalina cited the serious and current problem that Argentine society is experiencing with the constant devaluation of its national currency, which is caused by high inflation and possible hyperinflation in the country's economy.
However, this is not the first time that the country has faced the terrible consequences that bad decisions can cause. In 2001, an event called “playpen” in which the Argentine government took restrictive actions regarding citizens' money deposited in the nation's banks. During the “Corralito” the government closed all the banks and kept the money and savings of citizens available in those banks, as a way to prevent the outflow of money from the Argentine banking system. An event that undoubtedly unleashed a terrible economic, social and political crisis, the consequences of which lasted for several years.
In this sense, Catalina points out that:
“From the moment they limit your access to your money or have the possibility that a third party limits your access to your money, it has to be an awakening (for society).”
The problem of issuing fiat money “out of thin air”
What we know as fiat money o fiat money is paper money or currency issued by the government and central bank of a country, for example the euro, dollar and pound sterling, are forms of fiat money. However, many today still tend to think that government fiat money is backed by a country's gold reserves, but the truth is that since 1971, due to the breakup of the gold standard by the United States, fiat money exists by “decree” or by “order” of the chief authority of a government or central bank. Hence the name “fiat” money, which means “made with consent.”
In this sense, the money we know and use today does not have a real backing or intrinsic value, but rather is printed “out of thin air” by the consent and decision of the authorities of a country. For this reason, Catalina Castro cites that the problem with fiat money is that central banks print any amount of money, as we saw recently with the COVID-19 crisis and the stimulus packages, where trillions of dollars have been printed just because, and then they lend this money to the governments of the world, who go into debt without the ability to pay or cover that debt later, causing negative consequences in the world economy, which greatly and seriously affect ordinary citizens.
“This is the problem of the centralization of fiat money, and Bitcoin we know has a limited supply (limited issue), there can be up to almost 21 million bitcoins in circulation per protocol, which is fantastic.”
In this sense, the expert alleges that thanks to limited issuance, Bitcoin has the ability to solve the current problem of monetary inflation, among other things.
Catalina Castro: Why invest in Bitcoin?
“Your understanding of what Bitcoin is, how its decentralization works and what it represents is such that it makes you an asset to invest.”
Completely understanding the concept and importance of Bitcoin is what will allow us to have our own strong criteria on whether it is convenient to invest in Bitcoin or not, without simply being influenced by the opinions of third parties. To understand this technology, a learning process is required that will be in accordance with the level of education that each person wants and wishes to achieve.
For example, citing Andreas Antonopoulos, a renowned Bitcoin evangelist, Catalina explains to us that there are 4 main elements that make the decentralization of Bitcoin possible to be the system it is. These 4 elements are: the blockchain, consensus protocol that governs all nodes interconnected to the network, the consensus algorithm Proof of Work (PoW) and asymmetric cryptography. Based on these 4 main elements, and several others, the concept of decentralization makes sense and importance for users, achieving the level of trust necessary to use it.
“In reality, trust is not required in the Bitcoin system, but we as individuals end up understanding and verifying that this is really the case.”
Bitcoin What is the cryptocurrency backed by?
“It is supported by mathematics, cryptography, verifiable and exact sciences.”
Unlike fiat money, which is not backed by anything, Bitcoin is backed by the processing power of its network of nodes, which also provide it with security features. security, stability and reliability like no other system today, to the point that in its 11 years of life this network has never been the object or victim of any attack or hack.
The understanding of all the aforementioned issues is increasingly accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin in different societies around the world, especially in Latin American societies that are facing serious economic crises that induce them to look for other alternative solutions that are not based on trust in governments or in their monetary policies.
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