Countless countries globally have been slowly adapting to the upcoming financial system standard. Companies, banks, and countries have transitioned from paper money to digital currencies or crypto. Personally speaking, we are just beginning to see the real potential of Financial Technology and its effect on the future.
In a world where people have been spreading knowledge about blockchain technology such as Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Cardano, and many more. It's not out of the scope of the possibility that this could be the standard soon.
The traditional form of payment using paper money is getting expendable. Even businesses encourage people to go cashless with their on-site transactions. Also, in a world terrorized by a pandemic, the risk of close interaction with strangers is not a good idea. Thus, going cashless is the best.
Sadly, even with this progress, countries like the Philippines have been falling behind. and its government hasn't given signs of interest in adopting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment nationally.
Last month, a cryptocurrency called Axie caught the Filipinos' interest in crypto. Axie launched 3 years ago. Their play-to-earn feature that made their crypto famous amongst crypto enthusiasts. It may be promising for someone who has no knowledge of crypto before that, but to seasoned investors, this is just one of those crypto being launched and created every day.
Even so, Filipinos suddenly took an interest in crypto and started asking questions. But in a fast-changing and volatile market of cryptocurrencies, 3 years are equal to "old news". In short, these Filipinos are years late to the party. Literally.
That is just one proof that most Filipinos have no idea of what cryptocurrencies are. In my opinion, it is understandable that common citizens have less or no knowledge about it. Not all people have an interest in investments and trading, more so to poor and common Filipinos.
Not enough reason for the Philippine government to overlook this promising technology, though. This financial technology could even help lift the economy of the country. There are endless possibilities.
Banks in the Philippines charge insane amounts of fees. There are fees whenever you deposit, withdraw, or even just by checking your balance. With crypto assets that can be accessed online for FREE, nobody will have to pay absurd fees anymore. Deposits, withdrawals, and checking balances will have less to no fees, within seconds. You don't need to think of banking hours anymore!
Now with the recent news that China and Japan are adopting crypto, people have been wondering which countries will be next. So far, even though a fair amount of Filipinos have knowledge of crypto, it's still not enough.
With these facts laid out, maybe Filipinos need to urge their government to start taking an interest in things that matter.
I am not entirely satisfied with the locally based crypto exchanges here in the Philippines. These exchanges are profit-focused. More so, many Filipinos are listening to hype traders that have no knowledge about how the market really works aside from that there are good days (profit days) and bad days (lose days).
Unfortunately, there are these opportunity grabbers and up-to-no-good "hype" traders in the Filipino cryptomarket. Literally using poor Filipinos with no knowledge of cryptotrading to buy the coins they've bought beforehand. They'll shill and promote a coin they've bought at the bottom then dump it when it moons.
These types of traders don't teach people how to properly invest and trade crypto, they are just teaching them to be greedy and not to trust people and learn how to do it the right way. I am deeply saddened that every day, this is a situation for almost everyone who wants to start trading crypto.
Some of the popularly known culprits that I've been observing are Xian Gaza and Marvin Favis. No matter what their defense is, my mind would not change about how lousy and awful they are as human beings. They've tainted the decent Filipino traders that teach people how to trade and invest the right way. I also hate the fact that the people benefitting the most from their schemes are ready to take extra steps to shut those people who tried calling them out and their wrongdoings.
As someone with high morals, I will give you just one piece of advice you can follow. Never take financial advice from an "influencer" or self-proclaimed crypto "mentor". There is no such thing as that. But then again, you have all the freedom to choose if you want to follow my advice or not.
Trading and investing are not something to get mentored with. You can perfectly learn these skills by reading books and applying that theoretical knowledge by applying it on trading orders with careful and calculated risk.
You, yourself, are the best teacher you can have. There are also YouTube channels that share knowledge about trading and investing for free. Learning about crypto and how deep you'll know is just a matter of dedication to knowing things you have no idea before.
Hopefully, within this year or early 2022, more Filipinos will try to get in-depth knowledge on how FinTech progress like this will help the country. Also wishing that soon, the Philippines will be adopting this technology too. It sucks to be late for the party. Nobody wants to get left behind. Believe me, it's no fun being late for everything.
There should be more groups or dedicated organizations that'll teach Filipinos how to use their money right and teach them to aim for proper financial literacy and not just for the profits.
How about you? What do you think about this disappointing situation of the Filipinos when it comes to crypto? I would love to know your thoughts and opinions on this. Let's connect in the comments section.
Disclaimer: Everything I've written in this article is not a piece of financial advice. Taking action according to the content of what you read in my article is not a good idea and is a bad financial habit.