It's expected that by 2050 there will be at least 1.5 billion people around the globe displaced by the effects of climate change (Source) such as coastal flooding, extreme weather events, drought/famine (Source), scarcity of freshwater (Source), and political conflict (Source, Source), to name a few. These issues do not respect national borders and will hit particular regions, countries, and continents harder than others. This will invariably create mass migrations of especially low-income people across national borders particularly in regions like Central/South America (Source), Sub-Saharan Africa (Source, Source), and Southeast Asia (Source, Source, Source). When these people inevitably migrate across borders, they will lack any means of transporting whatever wealth they have with them beyond what they can carry. With the increasing penetration of cellular devices and networks (Source) along with initiatives by technology giants to provide internet access to these same regions in the coming years (Source, Source, Source), the internet of money could provide a means for these refugees to migrate their wealth with them in an environment where governments and financial institutions in the countries affected by mass migrations could well be in the midst of collapse (Source, Source).
While the wealth of these individuals may be minute relative to their western counterparts, in aggregate, this wealth could amount to billions or trillions of dollars flowing into Bitcoin as a result of these mass migrations. We've already seen western banks discriminate against refugees (Source), which will force these migrants to search for alternatives that provide significant accessibility, portability, and security for their savings. The only solution that I can conceive and fits these requirements is Bitcoin, suggesting a very important role for it in the future as the effects of climate change worsen and displace people around the world.
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