Confession time: I used to think Bitcoin was just a speculative asset. As far as I could tell, it served no real purpose. Sound familiar? Looking back, I realize that my view came from ignorance and a lack of empathy and imagination. I simply couldn't see what Bitcoin offered to people whose circumstances were nothing like mine. Sorry. In reality, Bitcoin belongs in the same category as the smartphone and the Internet when it comes to utility. But unlike those earlier innovations, it benefits people in the global South first, the West last. That order of impact explains why so many of us in the West initially fail to see what it does for us, and then wrongly conclude it does nothing for anyone. Bitcoin analyst @willywoo estimates 350 million people now use Bitcoin, with adoption growing rapidly. Here is a snapshot of who those users are and why they turn to it: 1.2 billion people are unbanked. Of them, 57% are women and 90% are people of color. 4 billion people live under autocratic or semi‑autocratic regimes, where governments can freeze accounts, track spending, and silence dissent through the financial system. In Afghanistan, 8.1 million adult women are legally barred from opening a bank account, starting a business, or earning an income because of their gender. More than 300 million people live in economies experiencing hyperinflation, including Turkey, Lebanon, Argentina, and Venezuela. These are the people who see Bitcoin’s utility first. It is not those of us in the West who take stable banking, low inflation, and basic financial access for granted. You might be asking: how exactly does Bitcoin help them? For the unbanked, it removes the need for a bank entirely. A basic feature phone and a small amount of education are enough to start receiving, saving, and making payments. Across Africa, we are watching a financial revolution unfold. The poorest communities are leapfrogging traditional banking and moving directly to internet‑native money. That is why Africa is adopting Bitcoin faster than any other continent. For people living under autocratic rule, Bitcoin makes it possible to transact without government surveillance, censorship, or the risk of having funds frozen. That is why Nigeria has become one of the largest adopters; human rights activism is a major driver. For women in Afghanistan, Bitcoin Lightning wallets offer a way around state‑imposed discrimination. They can and do use them to secure financial independence that the law otherwise denies them. For those facing hyperinflation, Bitcoin provides a means to preserve savings that might otherwise lose half their value in a single year. Look at the top 10 countries adopting Bitcoin: The top 2 have hyperinflation *7 of the top 8 were colonized and carry heavy IMF or World Bank debt *8 out of 10 are autocratic or semi‑autocratic regimes *7 out of 10 are in Africa, LATAM, or SE Asia For over half the world, Bitcoin ranks as the most useful technology in a generation.