If You Still Think That Bitcoin Is Fake Money, Get This: Cryptocurrency Is Already Mainstream.
Shockingly, many people are still in the dark.
Enough.
I’m tired of all the naysayers out there who make unsupported, opinion-based claims about Bitcoin.
I keep reading articles talking about why Bitcoin (and more generally cryptocurrency) is:
Fake Money Created out of Thin Air
Or A Ponzi Scheme
- They Laughed When I Told Them Bitcoin Is A Glorified Ponzi Scheme. | by Llewellyn (Lew) Daniels | Technology Hits | Medium
- Bitcoin Is A Ponzi Scheme, According To Taleb | by Alberto Guerrero | Coinmonks | Medium
Or Worthless:
- Bitcoin is worthless. The only thing that underpins bitcoin… | by Keith Parkins | Light on a Dark Mountain | Medium
- Miners are exiting and bitcoin will become worthless, say economist | by Giulio Prisco | ChainRift Research | Medium
- What does Taleb think of Bitcoin? | by Lukas Wiesflecker | Chainexplained | Medium
Or Not Going to Become Mainstream
- The Simple Reasons Why Cryptocurrency Will Never Be Mainstream | by Sean Landon Clarke | Nov, 2021 | Medium —[Update: This Story Has Been Deleted]
(The list is not exhaustive, please feel free to suggest more articles that you may have come across, in the comments!)
If you believe any of this, you may be surprised to know that cryptocurrency is well on the way to mainstream adoption. In some places, it already is.
Banks Are Offering Clients Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies
The first indicator that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are already mainstream is the fact that banks are finally offering clients access to trading them.
Why?
Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was invented as an alternative to the traditional financial system. A network that needed neither governments nor banks to operate.
In fact, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase (at time of writing), still believes Bitcoin is worthless.
Yet, he’s going to offer access to Bitcoin to his clients. (How ironic!)
He can’t afford to lose out to other banks who will offer it if he doesn’t.
Banks can’t stop the rising tide.
Just look at how many banks have started offering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In Australia, the Common Wealth Bank of Australia is going to launch a platform to allow retail customers to trade cryptocurrencies.
Why are they doing this?
Because they need to compete with their competitors like Square, Paypal, Revolut, and other fintech firms that have been offering clients access to cryptocurrency.
“Starting with a pilot this year, the bank said it would offer the ability to buy, sell and hold 10 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. More features would be rolled out in 2022 and it would explore options including offering crypto payments for goods and services, it said.” — Australia’s CBA offers crypto trading, breaks ranks with industry | Reuters
DBS Group, from Singapore, has been awarded a license from the government of Singapore to offer cryptocurrency trading.
In the United States, megabanks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs are all dabbling in cryptocurrency, either offering it to clients, or trading it in-house as in the case of Goldman Sachs.
I could go on, but I think you get the message.
Do you think really believe that banks would throw money and investment into this space if they really think that that cryptocurrency was too fringe to bother with?
Countries Are Finally Waking Up to Cryptocurrency
You may have heard this year that China decided to issue a complete ban on all cryptocurrencies. China has always hated cryptocurrency so I was not surprised at this. Since negative news is more impactful than good news, I also wouldn’t be surprised if you got distracted by this, and missed out on all the signs of cryptocurrency’s maturity and the transition from the fringe to being frankly speaking, quite mainstream.
El Salvador made the news this year for being the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Now, adopting Bitcoin as legal tender means that, quite shockingly, in El Salvador, Bitcoin wallets are actually more mainstream than traditional bank accounts! More people have a digital wallet than a bank account.
Singapore, where I am from, is fully embracing cryptocurrency as the future. No doubt, with China’s full crackdown on crypto, with the growing integration of Hong Kong into China, Singapore stands to win big as the Asian crypto-hub.
If there’s one thing I can say about the Singapore government, it’s this — they are agnostic, practical, and super-realistic. Notwithstanding the government’s entrenched position on drugs, for everything else that makes money that’s not inherently evil, they go for it. Including finally allowing casinos in 2005, by the way.
If you can’t stop a rising tide, ride with it, and maybe you will come out a survivor potentially richer.
Yet, Many People Still Remain Woefully Uneducated About Cryptocurrency
So, if there are all these developments happening around the world, why do people continue to believe that cryptocurrency is either hype, or a scam, or not a big deal?
Do they not know that the cryptocurrency total market capitalization has already reached 2.8 trillion USD? (Source: Cryptocurrency Prices, Charts And Market Capitalizations | CoinMarketCap, Data as of 14 Nov, UTC Time 13:23).
Mind you, that’s the GDP of France, or the UK, or India.
I think I have an explanation.
I found an interesting survey that was done in the US, Mexico, and Brazil.
While I’m not sure how the sampling was conducted, apparently, 98% out of 1000 people who took this “Crypto Literacy” quiz didn’t understand the basics of cryptocurrency. (Defined as achieving 60% of the total score).
By the way, if you’re interested in testing out your knowledge, you can try out the quiz here: Crypto Literacy Quiz | Crypto Literacy.
If so few people are uneducated about the basics of cryptocurrency, then surely this is the real reason why so many people are still in the dark.
But make no mistake, cryptocurrencies are already mainstream.
If you still don’t have any idea how they work, it might finally be the time to educate yourself.
Stop being in the dark about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. You certainly don’t need to buy or trade them.
But you certainly can’t afford to ignore them.
The future is here, and there’s no avoiding the future.
Note: This is not financial advice to buy or sell any asset, digital or otherwise. Please do your own due diligence before trading or investing in any digital or non-digital assets.
The author writes on a wide variety of topics. His key topics are Japan, society, culture, modern work, and cryptocurrency. Discover his most-read stories here.
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