Oakland, California mayoral candidate Bryan Parker is seemingly no stranger to technology. He’s worked as a senior director of finance at tech firm iPass for over ten years, and now he’s hoping to use bitcoin to help the impoverished in his community.
In an interview with the SFGate said:
[blockquote style=”2″]What I’m doing is engaging in the fight on poverty, which is a big, ambitious goal. What is one of the ways you get poor people into different habits? You start getting them to save more, get them online. (Bitcoin) is a way of using modern technology that’s helpful in doing that. If I have money in the bank, I have embedded in the system a savings pattern because I have to go somewhere to get money. When you’re operating on cash, all your cash is there and it’s harder to keep track of. We’re reversing the paradigm here. I think (bitcoin) is something we can do in combination with financial literacy to drive better behavior.[/blockquote]
Parker says he views bitcoin as a tool which can allow people to better run their lives, and also thinks it’s something the government can use.
[blockquote style=”2″]One of the things people like about (bitcoin) is it’s a democratic type currency. The market is truly regulating. But you look at a couple of things that have recently happened and say, “Hey, obviously there’s got to be some regulation.” You’ve got to make sure there’s some safeguards.[/blockquote]
Parker’s idea is different from the lot of opinions the community has heard before. Many have seen bitcoin as an escape from the current financial system, whilst Parker sees the digital currency as a teaching tool.
Interesting, don’t you think?