It frustrates me no end that in 2020 we still don't have the infrastructure set up for everyone to a) run a basic weblog on a self-hosted server using cheap hardware, that b) is connected to a digital wallet that can receive automatically recurring $$ directly from someone else.

@FreedomBoxFndn and other initiatives are working on the former, but the absence of the latter means that companies like Substack & Patreon continue to be very attractive even as they replicate on a minor scale the same problematic centralizing platform dynamics of FB, Twtr, etc.

When I advocate for self-hosted eCash wallets as a critical component of any new public digital currency regime, I often focus on the privacy dimension. But self-hosted wallet technology can also significantly improve the functioning and prospects of other federated tech.

Today, orgs like @Raspberry_Pi, @thepine64 & @Puri_sm are doing great work building the hardware for a digital future that respects users and pushers power to the edges of networks. And the Free Software movement has been doing the work for decades. But as long as the finance

layer remains centralized, there will be outer limits on just how decentralized/federated those systems can and will become. If we want truly free software and hardware, we need to free the money-layer as well.