The Future of Cryptocurrency: Part 1

Background

The traditional fiat currency is centralized, comes under the regulatory framework, controlled & guaranteed by the Govt, it is mobile, it is inflationary, it is a medium exchange for trade and services.

The cryptocurrency is decentralized, borderless, governed by the protocol, code, algorithm, trust-less, it is highly-mobile being digital, deflationary, also a medium of exchange for trades and services.

The most important characteristic of money is-- it should be accepted as a medium of exchange for goods and services. In the case of fiat, it is guaranteed by the Govt, whereas in the case of cryptos it is guaranteed by the decentralized community.

The second important characteristic is that it should be divisible, both fiat and cryptos are divisible.

However, during the value transfer, the unit must not fluctuate, and for that to happen the currency must be a stable one. Cryptos are volatile in nature, but the cryptos already have a plethora of stablecoins to cater to this requirement.

In the ongoing week of #steemcryptochallenge I will detail how the future of cryptos are secured and how it will get stronger, what are the areas where it can establish a strong foothold, making it inclusive for all, conforming to the principles of decentralization.

(1) Internet penetration in rural areas(Underdeveloped & Developed countries) & potential of Crypto

The transition from developing countries to developed countries is strongly coupled with technologies and the internet. Therefore internet penetration rate is an important parameter to gauge the economy of developing countries.

Internet is not just about the optimal use of a smartphone, it also provides access to the financial system, better scaling capacity for the institutions, better information particularly for those living in rural areas, it also powers the inclusion of under-privileged section.

The ultimate destiny of digitized finance is crypto. Even the natural evolution of the legacy financial ecosystem will find its way to crypto one day, because of its immutability, distributed ledger, absolute control of the fund, transparency, sophisticated finance use-case with smart contracts.

Over the last decade, the internet penetration rate particularly in developing and under-developed countries have increased significantly and is expected to increase going forward.

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Further, the developing/under-developed countries with a thick population and better internet penetration rate make a strong use-case for cryptos as they seek opportunities to better the standard of living, and crypto always creates an inclusive opportunity for all.

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In today's reality, even an uneducated person is well versed in the use of a smartphone in India. It has happened because of the better internet penetration rate in rural areas. The smartphone may be an electronic gadget, but crypto makes it a thriving economy by creating opportunities through DeFi, through decentralized social blogging, all work-from-home, which is even more significant in a time like COVID-19.

The better internet penetration rate will further secure the future of crypto, making it mainstream. Not to mention alongside technological innovation, there is a subtle effect of natural evolution. That natural evolution is also tilted towards crypto.

(2) Fluid Merchant ecosystem(with crypto) without obligation of a Bank account

In the existing e-commerce ecosystem, both the consumers and merchants happen to set up/bind their bank account with the e-commerce platform. This also hinders the participation rate, as not all are comfortable to do so.

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Crypto will act as a quasi-bank account. Just imagine if the consumers and merchant connect their web 3.0 crypto wallet with the e-commerce platform, not only the participation rate will improve but also this ecosystem will become more fluid, as most of the value will begin to flow with a higher participation rate.

Those sections will also be addressed who are reluctant to set up/bind their bank accounts. Data privacy will also be respected. Put simply, the future is-- Crypto wallet web 3.0 as a quasi-bank account in e-commerce trading.

(3) Enabling microfinance with a trustless network(Crypto) and allowing the average to small scale traders to participate

The traditional financial system completely ignores micro-trade. In most of the developing or under-developed countries, the small-scale traders are unable to connect to international trade and services. Even if they get an opportunity the micro trade gets too expensive to afford owing to the high transaction cost. Sometimes, the transaction cost becomes the payment itself, so practically not feasible to include the small-scale traders. So this is the grey area of the traditional financial system.

Crypto offers a better alternative as it eliminates the high transaction cost. Further, it makes the trade trust-less, powered by Blockchain protocol with Smart-contracts. So when the trade becomes cost-effective and transparent(without an intermediary), the business becomes attractive to bring more players to the ecosystem. So it makes the business use-cases, and international trade & services more inclusive.

(4) Borderless currency(crypto, as the Reserve currency) with open market corridors to trade the local fiat with target fiat.

In the traditional financial system, USD(fiat) is considered as the global reserve currency. Whenever someone sends the local fiat to the target fiat, in most of the cases, it routes through the global reserve currency, because of its high liquidity. It also incurs high transaction cost through international centralized transfer facilities like SWIFT, Western Union, etc. It is time-consuming as well.

So the existing international financial network is inefficient. Crypto is a better alternative and a solution to this problem interface.

For instance, An Indian origin worker based in the US if sending his USD to the target fiat (INR) to his family, he will go through SWIFT Transfer or Western Union Money Transfer or Paypal, etc, he will incur high transaction/conversion cost, it will not be instant, neither will happen in a day.

Alternative solution with Crypto: Instead of sending via Wire Transfer, he will convert his USD to BTC through open market corridors, then he sends his BTC to a local exchange facility in India or can trade his BTC for INR through P2P market like LocalBitcoins or Localcryptos. He will be able to convert the local fiat to the target fiat within just 1 hr or less if we consider the average block confirmations of BTC. It can be much faster with highly scalable blockchains.

The only condition is that this alternative solution must ensure liquid market corridors. Today, we have exchange facilities with sufficient liquidity.

So the future of crypto is going to be more liquid with crypto(BTC) as reserve currency & with open market corridors.

Conclusion

The underlying principle of crypto is decentralization, decentralization further makes things inclusive. Value always flows into an ecosystem where it is inclusive for all.

The traditional financial system has created so many voids, especially in the context of the global economy, the trades and services from one end to the other is not that fluid either due to high transaction cost or inefficiency of the network.

Crypto has every possibility by principles, by its underlying protocol, by its geography(borderless) to make sure that the global economy gets a new lease of life.

Thank you.

Cc:-
@steemitblog
@steemcurator01
@steemcurator02

Unless otherwise stated, all the images, infographics, charts, tables, etc(if any) are my original works.

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