The Case for a Microtask Economy
Tags: Freelancing, Lightning Network, Bitcoin, Sharing Economy, Economy

As the popularity of a 4-day work week spreads while a new generation of Uber-driving, Airbnb-ing, and on-demand freelancing millennials discard the dusty, tired office spaces — we start to ask, how far can it go?

The employer-employee relationship is changing, and with it, how we think about our daily transactions. It’s clear that the growth of opportunity to make your own living has so far been enabled by fast, widespread internet-connected devices and social networks. But there is another twist, that could take the autonomy of self-employment to an entirely new level. And that is micro-transactions with Bitcoin.

But wait, isn’t Bitcoin 10 years old and shown unable to scale to the necessary transactions-per-second scale of private payment networks? Perhaps that may be, on Bitcoin’s layer 1 network, but Bitcoin’s layer 2 (known as Lightning Network) changes the game yet again. And with Lightning Network, we are seeing the million-transactions-per-second live in action every day. With fees as low as fractions of a cent.

Add to that, the autonomy and permission-less nature of Bitcoin and you have the ingredients for a phase-shift in how we think of earning and spending money.

The old world is as static and regimented and outdated as phone books and printed maps. Interviewing, getting hired, taking a salary, waiting two weeks or a month to get paid, having taxes and insurance deducted from it. It’s slow, painful, and exists in a world where you need permission to earn money (as an employee) and permission to pay money (as an employer). It’s the world where you’re forced to pay social security that will likely be bankrupt by the time young people will need it, forced to pay with a currency that is devalued every single day by banking elite, and being robbed by taxes.

Such a system could only work in a world where relationships are clear, and the flow of money is carefully coordinated by 3-letter government entities with regulations backed by the threat of violent arrest.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

The people in society are ultimately those who decide how that society should function. When there is a disconnect, political candidates get replaced, policies get changed, or revolutions begin.

In a world where transactions happen instantly, privately, and without government control, regulators would be forced to rethink how the system functions. And perhaps, affords the first opportunity in ages to opt-out of a democratic system that is quickly exploited for someone to steal from their neighbor. People would again, be free to transact.

Freelancing isn’t new. And anyone who’s had to choose between a comfy, steady salary ripe with perks like on-site daycare versus a starvation cycle chasing one project to the next, understands the allure of stability.

But microtasking is, by my own definition, a completely different way of thinking about work. It is the sharing economy of work, where the lines between employee and employer are completely blurred. One might take on several tasks on a hour, sharing their knowledge or skills. And the next hour, spend time gaining the benefits of others by asking for help. Without friction, a salary, or even a known social security number, a person could be earning and spending at a lightning pace between completely different organizations. A new kind of fluidity in how we think about money.

Of course, it will take a lot more than just some app or even Lightning Network technology to get there. It requires a new enlightenment coming from people who believe the old, slow, and slavery-inspired system is ready to be replaced by something faster and more free. To rethink the feasibility of living without being told how to live, to work, to earn, or to spend. And from it, I believe, will be born a new economy far more efficient and satisfying for everyone.