3 Reasons Why Crypto Currency Is On The Verge Of Mass Adoption
Crypto currency has come along way since the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto’s development of Bitcoin. Satoshi’s idea was to develop a decentalized, “peer to peer electronic cash system”, meaning that no individual or institution had control over it. This however proved perfect for black market activities such as the Silk Road.
After several years bitcoin started catching the public attention as stories of individuals using if for day to day activities began occurring, such as the man who bought 2 pizzas for 10000 bitcoin in 2010. Had he saved those 10 000 bitcoin he would now have $120 000 000 Usd. Despite bitcoin being adopted by more people and having legitimate uses, there were and still are many barriers to it being mass adopted.
However, coming in to 2018 most of the barriers are down and all of the foundations for crypto currency to become mainstream are in place.
1. Adoption by Governments, banks, investors and public figures
For a long time governments and regulatory bodies were threatening to ban crypto currencies (many still do), banks and large investors were all saying that it is just a fad, or a bubble that will pop. Thus, to no surprise many people were very skeptical and hesitant to invest.
Governments are now beginning to open up to crypto currencies, many of which publicly acknowledging its place in our future and even showing strong support by backing a number of crypto currencies. Examples of which consist of:
- SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission) recently has a convention which resulted in United states green lighting crypto currencies and stated they will, for the sake of coming generations, limit regulations to allow for crypto currencies to grow and continue innovating.
- Vechain (VEN) recently partnered with Chinese Governments very own National Research Consulting Center (NRCC) in January. The goal of their strategic partnership is to,
“ implement blockchain and IoT solutions to collect user data and send it back to internal supply chain entities so that they can develop more tailored products for end users. The hope is that this will reduce distribution bottleneck, increase revenue, and save manufacturing costs.”
China has had a lot of media attention and a large influence over the crypto currency markets as China contributes to a large potion of crypto’s trade volume. They have had a detrimental impact due to the media spreading unjustified fud (an acronym for fear, uncertainty and doubt). In addition to media’s meddling the Chinese Government did in fact ban crypto currency trading for an extended period of time, which caused one of bitcoins biggest crashes since its rise to popularity. Evidently this partnership indicates governing bodies chaning perceptions and release of control. There is still a way to go but we have made sound progress.
- The last example will be the crypto that is backed by over 100 banks worldwide, otherwise known as Ripple (XRP). Not only is it very popular with banks but it is also very popular with investors as it has a fantastic team, significant resources, low transfer fees and fast transaction times and in 2017 it jumped on every bodies radar due to its 1000% + increase
You might ask how do these examples prove that crypto currency is on the verge of mass adoption, the answer is simple. Governments, authorities and banks such as previously mentioned are now backing and utilizing crypto. This boosts its reception by the public as trusted and legitimate establishments are supporting it.
For crypto to be truly trusted and promoted big names and influencers need to get behind crypto and this is exactly what is happening. Shark tank investor Mark Cuban initially shunned the notion of crypto, he has since retracted his statements and has invested millions into it as have many renowned investors. Tai Lopez a successful social media influencer and entrepreneur is also frequently promotion crypto currencies and bringing it to the spot light and Facebook’s very own, Mark Zuckerberg made a statement on his page earlier this year,
“ I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services.”
Not only has it been suggested that Facebook will implement crypto currencies but other big companies such as Kodak and Telegram are also developing their very own currencies.
With this new stream of partnerships, announcements and support from various organisations and individuals crypto is being thrown into the spotlight more and more.
2. Education
Being human, we have one pressing fear that affects us all and that is the fear of the unknown. People don't trust what they don’t understand, often they aren’t willing to go out of their comfort zone and if they haven’t done proper research they are easily persuaded by rumors and misinformation. For society to truly open up to crypto they need to learn about all of it’s benefits and how much it can improve our daily lives once it is integrated into our society.
This is readily being addressed, Tertiary education institutions are now offering crypto currency courses. Melbourne’s RMIT s offering an online 8 week bitcoin course. New York University and Stanford both offer crypto currency curriculum subjects and there is even a university exclusively for blockchain, have a guess at it’s name…Blockchain University.
These are renowned education institutions and via offering courses to educate those willing, more people will understand the applications of crypto and how it will benefit our futures.
3. Real use cases
Who would want to risk their hard earned savings to buy a digital currency that belongs in volatile markets, too some has no inherent value and until recently had few use cases? I’ll give you than answer, almost no one. Why would anyone be inclined to invest hard earned money into a risky, volatile market, hard to liquidate and has few use cases?
Thankfully, this is no longer a problem. Where to begin, crypto has been implemented into almost every single industry health, finance, marketing, gaming, social media, you name it. Not only do crypto currencies offer a great investment opportunity but they also can be used in our day to day lives.
Use Cases:
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Buying and selling products
- Paying taxes if youre a resident of Wyoming
- Cafes
- Airports
- Education (University of Nicosia now accepts bitcoin)
- Car dealerships
- Oh, and Atms!
The list goes on.
Conclusion
Crypto currency has come light years from where it was during its inception. Over the last 5 years it has grown tremendously in popularity and since 2017 alone it went from a market cap of $20 billion to a market cap of $800 billion at its high in January.
It is a rapidly growing industry and now that governments, investors and social media influencers are all getting behind it, it will continue it’s meteoric rise in popularity.
Not only is there more support but crypto currency is now being taught by prestigious educational institutions such as Stanford University and such the public’s knowledge and regard for crypto will continue to improve.
One of the big limitations of crypto currency was the lack of use cases. As I previously addressed there are numerous ways for investors to use the crypto currencies they have received, meaning their funds are more accessible, which will incentive's more individuals and businesses to invest.
Finally, through large achievements such as partnerships and ongoing developments within the crypto industry it’s popularity has increased drastically and it is showing no signs of slowing down. With education, government support and real use cases crypto currency has everything it needs for it to truly be integrated into our daily lives at a mass scale.
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