Many crypto doubters, when talking about blockchain, DeFi, and digital money, will pull this argument on you — “what is the use case for crypto, what is it for?”. And while there are undoubtedly many use cases, this question is not quite unfounded, because the use for cryptocurrencies is still very narrow and, worse still — very, very technological.
What crypto does vs. how it does it
The inherent high-tech nature of crypto and the underlying blockchain, not to mention DeFi, is exactly what’s wrong with it. Just listen to this: hashrates, liquidity mining, TX, ERC, NFT, hard forks, slashing, oracles, mining pools, proof-of-stake, proof-of-work, sharding, burning, etc., etc., and that’s just scratching the surface really.
No one, and that is safe to say, no one outside of the tech-savvy community that is heavily invested into the technology actually cares about any of this, just like nobody cares about how their debit card works — they just want it to work.
Non-tech savvy people probably don’t care about the inner workings of Wi-Fi or their car Bluetooth or their smartphone, the same way they probably don’t care about networks and protocols and forks.
The thing is — it has to be useful, so what’s important is “what does this thing do”, not so much “how does it do it”.
Imagine ordering a new car, but instead of a finished product that you can just use, you receive an enormous box of parts and a 1000-page book (read whitepaper) that tells you how to put it together in order to get in and drive. Actually, some knowledge of engineering, math, chemistry, and physics would be needed as well. How many people would buy cars then? That’s right — around 4% of the world’s population. The other 96% will just continue to walk on foot.
Is it really that different? The blockchain space can be quite problematic for people who don’t have the time or even the desire to go in that deep. No one who wants to get into crypto and DeFi should really have to Google every second word in order to set up their wallet, buy some currency, then stake it and make it work for them.
Go to a bank, open an account in minutes — done (Gordon Ramsay likes this).
This is what crypto must become.
“I’m in it for the tech”.
Okay, but what if you’re not? Because cryptocurrency is crypto (tech) and currency, i.e. money — and the majority of people are, let’s face it, in it for the money — no doubt about that.
So let’s explore some use cases for crypto and see how the mass user benefits from them.
International payments — while this is one of crypto’s most promising use cases, its actual utility remains in the realm of business transactions. Not because users cannot take advantage of it, but because it is complicated to pull off and this acts as an entry barrier — users want simplicity and for things to work smoothly and easily.
If you’re not a company/corporation, then sending money via crypto can be a hellish experience: first of all, which blockchain/project/currency to use?; second — the set up process; third — does the person on the other end know what to do? The reasons are many and vary.
Using crypto for cross-border payments is fine for the big players, because someone does it for them, but the time and effort invested by the mass user in order to get it done just beats the entire purpose.
Regulatory Compliance and Audit — again, this is mostly useful for companies/authorities, not so much the individual user. It serves as a backend.
Money Laundering Protection — same situation here.
Peer-to-Peer Transactions — the arguments about crypto’s inaccessibility from above stand, even though the potential is huge, especially in terms of remittance transfers. Crypto for Christmas? Yes, please.
Media/Healthcare/Insurance/Real Estate — blockchain has many applications here, but they are all summed up in one word: business. So again — not the mass user.
And the list goes on — cyber security, record management, big data, data storage, IoT, supply chain management, record tracking — again the focus is not the user — it’s businesses that provide services, i.e. the backend, but nobody, save for developers, cares about the backend. Have you ever heard of people talking about how their bank got an update to their software? No, didn’t think so.
*Is it really useless though? Crypto, that is?
Of course not. But it needs a new frontend — crypto’s potential and power to change people’s lives is drowning in a sea of inaccessibility. People just want an easy-to-use product that does what it is intended to do, and that’s understandable.
✅ Transfer money to your grandmother — yes, in a click.
✅ Increase your wealth by staking — yes, in two, three, four clicks.
✅ Manage your entire portfolio of crypto, official currency, and other assets in a single app — yes, with several more clicks.
✅ Have your bank account right where your crypto and favorite DeFi tools, products, and services are — yes, that too.
But no terminology, no tech talk for the sake of it, and no more gatekeeping. This is the way to reverse where the 4% stand and where the other 96% stand.
14 years of living in the Wild West is enough. It’s about time we change crypto for good, and we’re set on doing it. Join us on Twitter and Telegram to see what’s cooking.
Thanks for reading,
The ChangeX team
