As an investor, I like simple solutions to complex problems. If you can make someone’s life easier and remove some of the friction between them and what they want, you can probably charge a dollar or two. If you can do this at scale and charge more than you spend, then you’ve got a business.
For this reason, I sympathize with people who look at cryptocurrencies and blockchain and only see more friction. Wallets, passphrases, chains, bridges – it all seems a bit complicated.
Those of us deep down recognize the transformative potential of technology, but that means our job is to make it simple for others. If you fancy yourself a crypto evangelist, ambassador or otherwise, the mission at hand is to make crypto as simple for others as it is for you. Instead of explaining and convincing people about the benefits of blockchain, wouldn’t we be better off making cryptocurrencies simpler, by removing some of that friction?
We see this in action already. Look at revolution. An intuitive application that successfully integrates blockchain and financial technology into its operating system, providing all the services you would expect from a major bank, but faster.
The most impressive thing about Revolut is that it works just like a traditional banking app; With the powerful capabilities of cryptocurrencies and blockchain all working in the background. As a customer, you don’t have to know you’re using cryptocurrencies to reap the benefits of their versatility.
Some of the confusion people have about cryptocurrencies is due to the number of speculative projects built on short-term thinking without any real economic substance. The rise and fall of NFT markets was a classic investment bubble. The initial interest in digital ownership of art was quickly followed by market oversaturation and inevitable market collapse. The loss of money, value and time has certainly contributed to a sense of mistrust in investing in cryptocurrencies and confusion among consumers who may not have been familiar with or interested in the technology behind NFTs.
Compare this to using cryptocurrencies to transfer money across national borders. Cryptocurrency increases transaction speed, access to funds, and lowers transaction fees. All the things people want. Stablecoins provide a strong backing for traditional currencies and international transactions, and have shown resilience to the volatility that has plagued the market in the past. This is a real benefit in the real world. Once entering and exiting the blockchain becomes a less complicated task, and processes recede into the background, I believe blockchain and cryptocurrencies will become the default method for international payments.
Simple interfaces that provide clear benefits to customers are what will help cryptocurrencies and blockchain go mainstream. We already understand the “quick wins” that cryptocurrencies offer – we know how to move money quickly and securely across borders, and we understand the value of an immutable ledger. They are here to stay. What we need now is to bring the second-tier benefits of cryptocurrencies to a mass audience, without them even realizing they are using blockchain.
Another advantage of blockchain is that it does not discriminate. It is possible to expand access to reliable, efficient and secure financial services globally. Enabling communities to access traditional financial services that traditional banks cannot. This is what interests me in this sector, and as an experienced investor in this field, this is what I look forward to.
Imagine what these changes could mean for a small business, for example a family-owned coffee shop. No one will be fiddling with different cryptocurrency wallets in the morning coffee line, and no barista will spend their time searching for bridges and highways for whatever coin or cryptocurrency a particular customer wants to use to pay for their latte. But if the POS system is doing the work in the background, the system can manage all transfers and transactions seamlessly for a small fee.
It can become as reliable, fast and reliable as contactless payment. It would revolutionize travel money, reduce the costs of point-of-sale systems, and speed up payments for small businesses. Not only will the customer experience improve, but the system could make it easier to send money across borders to smaller suppliers who would otherwise not have access to such efficient financial services.
It’s exciting to build a new digital economy, but we will only succeed if the digital infrastructure we create fits seamlessly into the world we live in and interact with every day. As an investor, I will know that the cryptocurrency and blockchain economy has already arrived the moment we stop noticing that we are using it.