1. Real Situation in 2021: Europe Missed a Critical Opportunity Due to Its Focus on the USA
Economic Downturn: The Corona pandemic plunged Europe into its deepest economic crisis since World War II. The EU responded with unprecedented rescue packages worth billions to mitigate the recession. The EU’s SURE program alone amounted to €100 billion to protect threatened jobs and workers.
Recovery Programs: In May 2020, the European Commission introduced a €750 billion stimulus program („Next Generation EU“) to address the economic and social damage caused by the pandemic. Of this, €500 billion was allocated as grants, and the rest as loans. These funds were intended to flow into climate protection, digital transformation, social support, and strengthening the EU as a global actor.
Sector-Specific Damages:
- Tourism and Hospitality: These industries were particularly hard hit due to travel restrictions and lockdowns, leading to massive revenue losses.
- Supply Chains: The pandemic exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains to disruptions, resulting in shortages of medical goods and industrial products.
2. Development Without Obstruction: Capital Would Have Promoted Resilience and Sustainability
Without the gatekeepers, the entirely exaggerated disruption discussion might not have arisen. There was a belief that everything had to be dismantled. Capital complied and was rewarded in the short term by the FOMO effect.
During the Corona pandemic (2020–2022), Europe faced concrete issues with cash supply. Bank branches were closed, ATMs were overloaded, and cash was considered a potential transmitter of the virus, leading to a reduction in cash usage by up to 50% in some EU countries (ECB data). Many retailers refused cash. Online banks were overwhelmed, phishing attacks increased, and transfers were delayed.
For the WAN-anonymous Trusted WEB 4.0 payment system (Patent DE102022000532), there would have been use cases for every status of payment transfer failure for the first time:
- Status 1: Full internet connection – transactions proceed normally.
- Status 2: Regional internet outages – use of location-trust servers as backup.
- Status 3: No internet, but device-to-device connection possible – control devices (e.g., smartphones) handle validation.
- Status 4: Complete blackout – direct connection between two devices (e.g., via NFC/Bluetooth) enables emergency transactions.
- Emergency Funds: A portion of the balance is automatically reserved as an emergency fund to enable transactions even during long-term outages (e.g., power blackouts).
- Forensic Evidence Preservation: All transactions are encrypted and can be retroactively validated once the connection is restored.
Citizens who do not rely on a full-supply mentality from their state would have to deal with significantly less bureaucracy. Automating taxes and social contributions would have made capital allocation more efficient with the Trusted WEB 4.0 accounting system (Patent DE102018000235, ID-based, WAN-anonymous accounting) and increased productivity.
Events in Europe that would have changed with EU-D-S:
- Economic Recovery: Automating taxes and social contributions would have relieved small and medium-sized enterprises and increased productivity.
- Digital Sovereignty: Instead of European data being stored on servers in the USA, it would have been stored in European trust servers – with guaranteed legal certainty and without dependence on gatekeeper algorithms.
- Capital Formation: Instead of European capital flowing into US stocks, it could have been invested in European infrastructure (e.g., Trusted WEB 4.0) – thus securing long-term value creation in Europe.
If the EU-D-S had been introduced in 2004, WAN anonymity and getmysense would have been established as standards by 2021. The pandemic would then not have led to a concentration of power among the gatekeepers but to a strengthening of European digital competence. Instead of FOMO-driven speculation, there would have been investments in resilience – and Europe would be not only economically but also digitally sovereign today.
3. Perspective from the Future (2026): Bundling European Capital for a Resilient Future Against Autocracies!
Capital requires calculable risk and thus guaranteed returns. Such an environment is only found in stable societies. The gatekeepers counteract these prerequisites by promoting artificial excitement and fake news. Humans are reduced to commodities, one click away from being replaced by the next.
Another important prerequisite for the deployment of capital is protection through legal certainty. The currency of the future is our data, it is said. Since data processing increasingly excludes creators from value creation through platforms, one could go so far as to say that digital ownership only arises with the platforms – and the more value creation is shifted into the digital realm, the less capital can be formed in Europe at all.
Therefore, Article 5: Right to Digital Ownership was included in the EU-D-S Constitution:
„(1) Digital ownership and the right of inheritance are protected by the owner’s disposal authority and the state’s guarantee of legal enforcement. Protection largely equivalent to that of non-digital ownership is ensured.“
For capital providers, it is important to realize that the rules in a well-functioning digital society differ little from those in a pre-digital society. However, this requires that European capital providers prioritize investment in European infrastructures such as the EU-D-S!
GAP 2021: Missing Economic Growth Due to Corona
Carryover from Previous Years:
- 2000: Mannesmann takeover – €133 billion (loss of European sovereignty)
- 2001–2007: Unemployment due to GraTeach blockade – €18 billion
- 2004–2006: Revenue losses due to US platforms – €54.3 billion
- 2003–2020: Loss of trust in economy & digitization – €21,047 billion
- 2008: Financial crisis (10% of €5.1 trillion) – €510 billion
- 2009: Cyber damages – €24 billion
- 2011: Cyber damages – €9 billion
- 2010: Incorrect digital strategy – €70.5 billion
- 2010: GDP decline in the EU – €200 billion
- 2012: Cyberattacks – €24 billion
GAP 2021:
- Loss of Trust (21% of 2021 GDP: €14.5 trillion) – €3,045 billion
Total GAP 2021: €25,134.8 billion
However, in 2021, the gatekeepers (Google, Amazon, Meta/Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) experienced unprecedented growth:
- Stock prices rose by 30–100% (e.g., Tesla: +743% since 2020, Amazon: +70%, Google: +60%).
- New billionaires emerged at record speed:
- Elon Musk (Tesla/SpaceX) became the richest man in the world with over €180 billion.
- Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) saw their wealth increase by €17–33 billion each in one year.
- Chamath Palihapitiya (Social Capital) and other tech investors made billions through SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) and IPOs.
Why did so many invest in gatekeeper stocks?
- Pandemic Boom: Remote work, e-commerce, and cloud services exploded (e.g., Amazon: +200% growth in e-commerce).
- FOMO („Fear of Missing Out“): Retail investors (e.g., via Robinhood, Trade Republic) jumped on the bandwagon to „get rich quick.“
- Meme stocks (GameStop, AMC) and crypto hype (Bitcoin: +150% in 2021) fueled speculation.
The lack of investment in digital sovereignty and dependence on gatekeeper platforms intensified further in 2021. While Europe struggled with bureaucracy and improvisation during the pandemic, the gatekeepers used the crisis to expand their market power. The revenues of Google and Amazon reached record highs in 2021:
- Google: $257.6 billion (approx. €220 billion) – +41% compared to 2020.
- Amazon: $469.8 billion (approx. €400 billion) – +22% compared to 2020.
Without its own democratic digital infrastructure, capital did not trust the European economy to use the crisis to build new resilient economic products.
Trusted WEB 4.0 technologies such as Finder (1999), getmysense (2002), GISAD (2003), EU-D-S (2004), and WAN anonymity (2007) could have served as the foundation for a European digital alternative.
