Michael Hudson’s ambition is to popularise Bitcoin through the Gravity app developed by Bitstocks, the London company he founded back in 2014 and of which he is CEO. Although, to say that Michael wants to popularise Bitcoin to undersell the vision - which is nothing less than to change the world.
Bitstocks started by helping people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. But today, through Gravity, it has moved on. No longer is the emphasis on well-heeled Western customers, to whom it acted as a kind of high tech stockbroker. Michael now has a far wider population in his sights:
“Even if you want to have £1 in circulation, I want to facilitate you. And that vision goes much broader than, say, your traditional Western client. This really segues into 'well, how do we integrate with people in Africa? How do we integrate with people in Asia, South America?' But not just from 'I want to sell you some Bitcoin and I want you to utilise Bitcoin'. How do we empower them to be employed by what it is that we're doing?”
That is still for the future, but next month, Gravity’s launch will be extended from the UK to the rest of Europe.
Michael’s mission is crystallised in the slogan “educate, empower, evolve”, each of which relates to part of Bitstocks’ work - Gravity being “empower”, for instance. Education comes through the company’s media department, producing podcasts and videos, which Michael sees as a critical part of the business.
And then there’s “evolve”, which is perhaps the most ambitious element, if still a little hazy: “the evolve aspect, I haven't spoken about much, but that's about what can we do as a company or organisation, a collective, to entice people to join us on this mission for the betterment of humanity and to invest in technologies that are in the betterment of humanity. Because I've said and I've maintained quite aggressively that Bitcoin is one component. There are other things required in coordination, in combination with Bitcoin that really will have some massive breakthroughs for humanity.”
As to what those other things are, Michael suggests “energy” (yes, everything starts with “e”). The broader vision, loosely, ‘making the world a better place’, might feel like a quite different business idea from letting people buy and sell Bitcoin more easily. But Michael says that Bitcoin is integral to all Bitstocks’ work:
“Bitcoin allows you as an entrepreneur to think in a different way. It allows you to realise 'oh, wait, that is possible. Oh, we can do this in an ethical way', which is the most important aspect. Because if Bitcoin is a beacon of light, great. That's one thing. But how long is it gonna shine for? What's going to prevent it from shining? Why didn't it shine before? Why hasn't shone in eleven years? We've only had a dim light which has allowed shadows.”