Does Crypto Actually Help People?
Main Takeaways
Crypto offers tangible benefits for people in both established and developing countries. Emerging markets can feel the benefits more strongly.
Remittances, education, and charity have all been enhanced by distributed ledger technology.
Fifty years down the line, there won’t be much talk about blockchain: it will be ubiquitous.
Learn about the real benefits that crypto and Web3 already bring to people across the globe, and what will come next.
Is it a scam? Is it all just hype?
We get it. The evolution of the blockchain industry, and therefore Web3 technology and crypto, has been a rollercoaster journey over the years. But what happens when you take away all the fear, uncertainty, and doubt? What if you boil this complex and fast-evolving technology down to its core purpose and just try to simply state the benefits?
A Step Up in Developed Markets
Binance’s vision is to improve the freedom of money globally. When you think about developed markets, there are obviously established traditional finance operators whose services are accessible to millions. Web3 technology can still play a critical role in these markets by helping smaller investors hedge against inflation or invest in art in a way that was never possible before. It also enables law enforcement in numerous ways by helping to track down illicit funds and activities online because of the transparent and open nature of blockchain technology. Smaller entrepreneurs in developed markets who are often overlooked can now raise funds in ways that were impossible just ten years ago. The developed world has certainly reaped the benefits of crypto.
Unleashing Opportunities in Developing Markets
While the value of crypto is very clear for developed markets, people often overlook the fact that its main benefits are reaped in developing countries. Financial infrastructure, remittances, funding, charity, and education – the way in which we view these topics in the developing world is shifting thanks to the introduction of blockchain and digital assets. At Binance, increasing financial inclusion is an important goal for us. We do this by offering a range of products that allow users across 200+ countries to improve their financial literacy and invest.
Access to platforms and education in most developed markets is quite common. But enabling this in developing countries can help people previously devoid of access to such opportunities build wealth and create the next wave of business leaders and entrepreneurs. The lack of access to traditional financial services and features can often leave behind underserved communities. This is where crypto technology can play a key role. Think about the older generation who rely on remittances from their children abroad. In some cases, almost 10% of the money sent is lost to fees, and transfers take a long time.
Contrast that to crypto, where the fees are minute and transfers are nearly instantaneous. Take a look at the Binance ecosystem. With products like Binance Pay, cross-border transfers are now instant and very cheap. With stablecoins, users can manage the often inordinate inflation in their nations’ fiat currencies. With Binance Earn, users can make their idle crypto assets work for them. And with Binance Academy, there’s access to education to increase financial literacy, which is a necessary prerequisite for making the most from our industry-leading trading products in the safest way possible.
When it comes to charity and donations, crypto can be more efficient than traditional banking. During the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Binance was able to act swiftly to help out. In the aftermath of natural disasters, people often lose access to traditional banking at the exact moment when extra funds are needed to help cover medical supplies, food, and other essential needs. Crypto assets are now increasingly being used to deliver financial aid to disaster victims as they provide fast, low-cost, borderless, and transparent transactions.
The Future With Crypto
In 50 years, we will not hear about blockchain technology a lot. Let’s look at internet adoption for a second. When you consider all that the internet has to offer today, do you really think about the actual technology behind it? Have you heard about TCP/IP recently? Probably not, even though these protocols power almost all internet transactions. Great technologies fade in the background as they become ubiquitous. The same will most likely happen with blockchain technology.
The reason we believe this technology is the future is the surprising adoption curve in this industry. It’s unlike any other. We’ve seen mass adoption in countries like Indonesia, Ukraine, Turkey, and Argentina, where crypto is already changing how users think of financial services, education, and wealth. And because of this, the blockchain industry’s demand for talent is expanding, creating more opportunities across the globe.
We’re just at the start of this ride, and it’s bumpy for sure. Just like the concept of the internet was novel and outlandish at its inception, so is the notion of crypto and Web3 technology. But by stripping away the fear and doubts, we can start to see how real humans are impacted and benefit at the end of the day. The more of these examples we can show, the brighter our future will be.
Further Reading
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