For the past 9 years we have seen cryptocurrencies go from a taboo topic to a household name. The value of decentralized currencies is clear as the world’s centralized currencies continue to prove that they cannot be trusted. The varying levels of trust for central bank backed currencies can be tied quite closely to the overall quality of life for the citizens who are reliant upon it. Simply moving the world to decentralized options would not be a cure all for economic and social issues and would certainly come with a slew of their own problems given the current volatility and lack of usability of cryptocurrencies.
When speaking with people about cryptocurrencies, a common question that often comes up is, ‘well – is anyone actually using it?’ The answer is often, ‘no, not really.’ Which, I think, is okay.
One of the biggest values of cryptocurrency is not using it to buy coffee at your local café in America or Europe, but the knowledge that an infrastructure, community, trust, privacy and network needed for an alternative currency has been established and proven – the ability to have this at your fingertips when you need it is extremely valuable.
‘When’ can be a very frightening word if used in a certain context, ‘when a storm comes, do you have a generator?’ or ‘when you get into a car accident, do you have insurance?’ To know that in the case of a disaster, you will be prepared is an extremely important piece of mind and which is why insurance is a very lucrative business. Cryptocurrencies are the financial insurance that people are starting to tap into around the world, the failure of national currencies has been the plague of people’s financial freedom and wellbeing in third world nations around the world. As cryptocurrency adoption begins to soar in Africa, we see many are cashing in their insurance policy of cryptocurrency as an alternative to their national currency. First world nations have not yet seen adoption cryptocurrencies or even understand why someone would use them, but if history continues to mimic itself, it is not if a central bank backed currency fails, it is when.