Since the beginning of 2017, Crypterium has been working on a digital solution to let people pay with cryptocurrencies with the same convenience as with cash or credit cards. The app’s idea has been excitedly received by 400 000 people, including co-founder of TechCrunch Keith Teare and legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper.
We decided to ask all the people following and supporting Crypterium about the reasons for their eagerness to pay with cryptocurrencies. The answers we got were too valuable to keep them for ourselves, so here’s a list of the top reasons:
Lower Cost
The primary reason is pretty obvious: many people have already realized the burden of paying extra for bank services. This may be hard to immediately recognize — they hit your account balance gradually — but bank fees can really pile up: the average American spent $329 on them in 2017, according to Chime Bank’s Bank Fee Finder Summary Report. This is how a Crypterium supporter from Brazil puts it: “I want to be free from banks’ abusive fees.” And another one from Norway adds: “I like how crypto works without a middle man.”Higher Speed
The second most popular reason has to do with another well-known benefit of the blockchain technology — the speed. Not only are standard bank transfers expensive, they can also take days to process. And don’t even get us started on waiting for bank approvals.
As soon as you turn to crypto, you notice all the flaws in traditional banking systems and start to appreciate the blockchain advantages. “I do like being able to spend my crypto on my terms without having to cash out and wait on bank approvals,” — explains our supporter from the United States.
- Same solution for every country
This is another overly popular reason: the Crypterium app is widely anticipated by those who travel around the globe on a regular basis. Consider this: instead of looking for an ATM, trying to find the best rates and finally exchanging money into the local currency, you’ll only need your smartphone to pay for anything, anywhere. It’s easy as that!
“Easier to shop when crossing the border,” — states a Canadian follower. In accord, Crypterium supporter from England recounts his problems with fiat currencies: “With fiat, I have to exchange currency every time I travel, then exchange on return and pay high fees.”
- Being in control
As soon as you deposit money in a bank, it stops being fully yours. You don’t have access to your funds 24/7: for instance, you may not be able to make an urgent transfer somewhere around midnight. Moreover, your money will be compromised in case of any problems the bank might encounter.
This is why cryptocurrencies are preferred by those who like to be in full control of their own funds. “I own my own money” and “It allows me to control my own currency and be my own bank” are both frequent answers from the survey. “I prefer to be in control my own money 24/7, the getaway from big corporate banks is just the bonus,” — adds a respondent from Denmark.
- Distrust of the fiat system
The fiat system is old and has gone through countless problems. The latest financial crisis of 2008 was a vivid example. Inherent flaws of the global fiat infrastructure coupled with the suboptimal performance of financial institutions have led to disastrous results at various points in the past.
Thousands of people have lost their jobs, accumulated enormous debts and even gone homeless. It’s only logical that the distrust of the fiat system has been steadily increasing. “I don’t trust the fiat system,” — states an Australian respondent in no uncertain terms. “I am against the current banking system, which must be replaced quickly. In this sense the solution is crypto,” — agrees a Portuguese follower.
Additionally, subpar monetary and economic policy of the government can result in inflation and even hyperinflation, as seen in Venezuela right now. This only accelerates people’s transition to cryptocurrencies, as Crypterium supporter from Brazil sums up perfectly: “I prefer crypto due to the large devaluation of the fiduciary currency and a not very prosperous economy in my country.”
Higher Security
This one is pretty self-explanatory. The fewer middleman institutions there are between you and your money, the lower the chance of scam or fraud is. Also, “no card details — no security threat,” — notes one of the respondents from the UK.Tax implications
At this point, governments around the globe are only working out the tax policy regarding cryptocurrencies. This means that in the end, crypto may or may not be different from fiat when it comes to tax implications.
Still, quite a lot of people see tax benefits in using crypto right now. Why, you ask? “There’re no tax implications for making a profit on your crypto, if you never change back to fiat,” — answers an Australian supporter. Two other supporters from Brazil and South Africa agree: crypto helps to decrease the tax payments.
Crypterium analysts are doing a research on taxation of crypto in different countries, and we’ll share our findings with you once we’re done.
- Having a choice
Living in a country implies using that country’s national fiat currency; you don’t really have a choice — that is, unless you are willing to constantly lose money on conversion costs. So you are bound to use British pounds in England, rubles in Russia or pesos in Mexico.
With cryptocurrencies, it’s completely different. You can choose any the coins and tokens that you like as your preferred way of payment, and many of our followers find this idea very attractive. “I want to be able to decide on my own which coin/token I want to use,” — says one of our US followers.
- Crypto is the future
“Cryptocurrencies are technically superior and more convenient than fiat currencies, they are ideologically better as well. Global money is the future, now I want convenience anywhere in the globe,” says our supporter from Brazil, and our beliefs just couldn’t be expressed better.
There’s another great note from our Polish supporter: “Different from country to country, fiat currencies are obstacles for further development. The introduction of crypto payments will allow to unite nations on a vastly larger scale than today.”
We may be used to paying in fiat right now, but sooner or later new technologies will prevail. Crypto is the way towards lowering transaction fees, reducing bureaucracy and taking the global financial infrastructure to a whole new level, and we want to go down that path.