Cryptocurrency might be the Future of Money, but that is not why most people are getting involved with it.
Even with the belief that crypto will replace traditional currency and forever change the financial world, most people are just seeing it as a way to make money.
It is their personal casino where they could win big if they bet on the right crypto.
So why do people get involved with Cryptocurrency?
To Make Money
Making money is the biggest reason that seems people are currently drawn to getting involved with crypto.
They think there is a chance that they will make a lot of money out of it.
They can see the returns that have previously been made and think that it is possible that they could make these types of returns for themselves in the future.
By getting in early, the prices will rise and they will make money from the growth. While crypto has been around for a while, the amount of people and institutes that are heavily invested in it is still very small, so it can feel that we are still in the early stages.
What crypto can do, why it is created, what it is trying to achieve is secondary to these people, it is just will it make them money.
Often if a project is not going up in value or making someone money, then people consider the project failed.
Some people see acquiring crypto as a hedge or a way to diversify their portfolio.
If money is the driving factor then going up in price is a success, if going down is a failure. That it is being used and doing its job is irrelevant. It means that the price chart is going to be used to determine the success or failure of a crypto project.
But any way you spin it, it is just looking at it at the value it is now and what you expect it to be in the future with no other conditions of what the project is trying to achieve. This means that a project that is price manipulated is going to be more attractive then one that is run well and being more used.
Out of Necessity
In some countries the government can have a strong hand in the financial systems that can cause a person to have to or want to use an alternate financial system that is not controlled by them.
There have been cases where someone’s identity has been stolen or confused with another person that has made them appear to be a risk and operating in the financial system does not work.
It might be because you are wanting to send money to another country and sending it through the current system either is not allowed, is financially prohibitive, or just takes a long time.
Using crypto can be fast, effective and can have less charges.
One of the features promoted with crypto is its censorship resistance. You do not need permission to use crypto, just a device connected to the internet.
This will mean some percentage of users will end up moving to using crypto because they have no choice.
For the Enjoyment
Another reason some people get involved is not because they want to get rich, but just because they like playing with the technology and find it interesting.
I am sure a lot of people who were in bitcoin in the early days were in it more for the pleasure of being involved with the tech than if they were going to be rich.
Until bitcoin was actually used for a transaction it had no monetary value.
There are lots of projects that are interesting and just working and getting to understand them can be entertaining. Watching them grow, change and see how things evolve.
Makes life easier
We are moving to a cashless society. This was slowly starting to happen, but because of the way we interacted with business and service during covid, this has been accelerated.
It is easy to load money onto your phone, and you don’t need a wallet any more because you can use your phone for payments and all your cards have been digitised.
Crypto is fast, efficient, and cheap. It makes a good replacement for cash.
Ok we are not there yet, but this is where crypto needs to become.
With the move to a more cashless society, this is where crypto should have shone, but instead the Visa card controls the cashless society.
There are some things that Visa can not do, mostly be censor resistant. So as long as crypto is fast and cheap and is simple for people, there is an opportunity here.
What about you?
So what is the draw to crypto for you?