The real reason Bitcoin will continue to grow: The unbanked
Two Billion adults. That's 2 000 000 000 adults. That's a lot of zeroes.
Two billion adults in the world do not have access to a bank. No bank account. Think about that number for a moment.
How many adults are there... in the world? Somewhere around 5-6 billion. So, around a third of the world's adult population does not have a bank.
So when a person works in a foreign country and sends their money home to family in a developing country, they use services like Western Union or other international money transfer services. These services can be pretty pricey relative to the amount of money being sent. Users often pay around ten percent in fees on their money transfers. This is a significant cost to users who are sending their money home to support their families and is, frankly, pretty exorbitant.
Even though 2 billion adults in the world are unbanked, access to internet, even in relatively small town centers, is available. These same people could send their money globally through Bitcoin or a number of other cryptocurrencies at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. They do not need a bank. They have a bank on their smartphones and computers.
It is this massive base of consumers that is, at this time, pretty much untapped. If only a tiny fraction of this portion of the global population adopts Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, the market would grow exponentially. At the moment, Bitcoin is wrestling with scaling issues, which could soon be minimized with implementations of SegWit wallets and dedicated pay channels. In time, it will grow to handle larger capacity demands. Other coins that are fast and light on transaction fees might also grow greatly in popularity.
And that time may be very soon. In the developed world, Bitcoin is being adopted by a broad range of investors, mostly on speculation, and as a store of value. In other developing parts of the world, it will soon be adopted for its originally intended purpose; the transferring of value. It is this emerging market that will usher in this new economic paradigm.
This is no exaggeration. Think about it. Again, I will say it. Two billion adults. That kind of quantity simply can not be overlooked.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to donate, please donate to...
BTC address:
1FadQUp6PxQcbt1sicLRDE3f7v2kQPpVBq
Thanks!
image source:
www.bizwithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/flat-globe.jpg