Ever since the world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin was launched in 2009, lots of misinformation has been spread about it, terming it as a fake currency or currency that will create more problems globally than it solves.
But, this has been proved to be wrong many times by Bitcoin which has seen many ups and downs in its market. The only reason cryptocurrency has earned a bad name is its very high volatility.
As there is no third party to control it, cryptocurrency always moves by the sentiments of its community. The more and more people want to own it, the prices will increase, the more people want to sell it, the prices will drive down.
But, aspects of cryptocurrency have been promoted by its adversaries with much more enthusiasm than the benefits it brings to a larger audience.
High volatility is not just one myth, but there are other myths that people need to know about.
Crypto is a bubble
The world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) was launched in 2009 when the world was going through a financial crisis. Inflation was very high in every part of the world. Crypto was launched as an alternative to the financial system and it has stood the test of time, as the value of Bitcoin has been increased from just a few cents per BTC to over $43,110 per BTC today. It was even close to touching $70,000 in 2021.
After the launch, more cryptocurrencies were launched and today there are thousands of cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of over $2 trillion, of which more than hundreds of nations’ GDP. Today, BTC accounts for over $820 billion and Ethereum (ETH) accounts for over $395 billion in market capitalization, both taking a market share of over 60%.
Today, over 100 crypto projects have a market capitalization of over $1 billion and it has been increasing ever since the adoption of crypto is increasing globally.
What can be said looking at these statistics is that cryptocurrency is not a bubble, but an alternative for the traditional banking and finance sector which will soon take a stage of mass adoption.
Cryptocurrency has the power to provide financial freedom and bring the unbanked under financial inclusion in poor and developing nations.
Crypto is very hard
Financial experts say that crypto is very hard to understand by the general audience, which gets confused by the technology crypto is based on.
But, in reality, crypto is very easy. To own crypto, users only need an account in crypto exchanges, complete the registration process and start trading.
It is always live, unlike the stock market which is only open for a few hours.
To invest in crypto, users can be based in any part of the world, but to invest in the stock, users have to be based in a specific country.
Crypto allows real-time trade, whereas stock and mutual funds trade are very time-sensitive.
Klever Wallet makes crypto simpler and users can start trading in crypto with their debit and credit cards within minutes.
Crypto will replace fiat
Financial experts caution that in the next decade if the adoption of cryptocurrencies goes on at this pace, it will soon replace fiat.
This argument is totally wrong, even after 13 years of its launch only one nation, El Salvador has declared it as a legal tender and that too, it has been facing lots of pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to roll back legal tender status in return of the loan.
To counter crypto adoption, countries have started working on their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), many have even launched it officially, China is the first, while India is looking to launch it by the end of this year.
Today, there are not many countries left that accept cryptocurrency as a mode of payment, so it is very early to say that cryptocurrencies will replace fiat in the next decade or so.
Cryptocurrency is a scam
Cryptocurrencies are now accepted as a mode of payment by many merchants and retailers abroad. People are also accepting it as a personal mode of transaction. Many people are also being paid for their work in crypto, so it is not a scam.
Scammers are in all the businesses, take the stock market for example. When the stock market started to operate, many companies listed their stocks, many were scams, but still, people believed in them and kept investing in the companies that they believed were good in the long term.
In the same way, there are over 18,000 plus crypto projects that people can choose from. If a few hundred are not doing well, that doesn’t mean that the whole crypto sector is a scam.
As crypto is totally digital with no product only codes that have a value, in general people believe that it does not have any future.
Cryptocurrencies are not secure
Based on distributed ledger systems, cryptocurrencies are the most secure built-on blockchain technology today. It is not like Fiat, which can be faked or reprinted. It has a limited supply and not unlimited, like Fiat. As crypto has a distributed database, its encryption techniques and technology are very difficult to break.
Each and every transaction is recorded on the ledger and it is open to the public to view every transaction, which can be cross-checked by anyone based in any part of the world.
But, unlike banking transactions that are verified only by bank officials and the public cannot view it, making it a private process and that too not very secure, when compared to crypto.
Cryptocurrencies are for criminals
After drug lords in Mexico and Columbia, elsewhere have shown interest in getting there in crypto, cryptocurrencies were seen as new cash for criminals. But, across the world, when crypto exchanges started following government directions on implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) and other verification processes, criminal activities have come down heavily.
Cash has been the first preference of criminals for generations and to overcome this, governments have taken various steps, the same way the crypto community has taken steps that confirms that cryptocurrency is not only for criminals.
Crypto myths have been busted and it is clear that crypto is here to stay for good and bring positive change in the lives of millions that are looking for an alternative to emerge from extreme poverty.
