Snoop Dogg should learn about Bitcoin, the "killer app"

Snoop Dogg, recently, had another run-in with European authorities. On August 1, Snoop Dogg was suddenly picked up by the financial police in southern Italy while carrying more than $420,000 in cash, an amount that needs to be accounted for if it is to be legally transported across the EU border. It is easy to imagine that the constraints of international banking forced Snoop to receive concert payments in cash and then transport them in this way. This incident came less than a week after the rapper was detained in Sweden on suspicion of drug use and possession.

Snoop Dogg later believed he was racially profiled by Swedish police (a common investigative technique that identifies criminals based on analysis of crime and methods of crime. But there are concerns that police departments are abusing profiling by identifying people who have something in common with criminals - or worse, harassing or even arresting people simply because of the color of their skin).

The incident happened just after his performance in Calabria on Friday night, as the artist was preparing to travel to the UK, where he was due to perform at the Kendal Calling Festival the following day.

The artist's lawyer said that this was merely an administrative violation and that everything was cleared up from a legal point of view, as the rapper was able to prove that the cash came from concerts he performed in Europe. Italian authorities returned half of the cash, while the other half (about $211,000) was withheld until the amount of the fine was determined. Snoop Dogg, who has been touring Europe after releasing the album Bush earlier this year, now has to pay the fine before he can get the rest of the money.

But what does all this have to do with Bitcoin, you might ask? Actually, it has nothing to do with Bitcoin. But the incident itself serves as a good example of how Bitcoin can avoid this kind of problem - if the rapper had previously converted his $422,000 in cash into Bitcoin, he would have been able to travel anywhere in the world without having to disclose the total amount of Bitcoin to the authorities. If Snoop Dogg had $422,000 worth of Bitcoin, he would not have needed to disclose it to the authorities; and strictly speaking, even if he did, he would not have committed any administrative violations.

This is where the real potential of Bitcoin lies: Bitcoin enables users to become their own banks, despite national and currency boundaries. It is the “killer app” for traveling entrepreneurs, and this event feels to me like a smoking gun for the real potential of Bitcoin, both for artists and for those who frequently travel around the world.

Bitcoin has so much potential and so many widely used applications, so it is beginning to attract the curiosity of many artists. Some of them have already accepted the digital currency. As an example, we can quote Tatiana Moroz:

Tatiana Moroz is a renowned singer and songwriter, and is paving the way for digital currencies to be used in the music industry. She developed her own "artist coin", called Tatiana Coin, and it is the first crypto "supported" currency for artists. Tatiana Coin has pioneered a new way to fund artists - through a Bitcoin-powered platform - that involves fans and the artists they choose to support over the long term.

Tatiana Coin, which can be used for sponsorships, concert tickets, and even specially crafted, personalized songs.

This shows the huge potential of digital currencies to even disrupt the music industry itself. Artists now have the opportunity to use this technology to engage with their fans and supporters in a direct relationship and get their funding.

It’s not all about funding: with this new technology, the possibilities for artists are endless. I really believe we will start to see more and more artists using digital currencies for different purposes in the near future.