What is “cryptocurrency” used for?

When most people hear “cryptocurrency” they assume Bitcoin, Ethereum, ect want to be a “currency”. Of course, this would be ridiculous, imagine buying an apple that cost .000001 Bitcoin or .002 Ethereum tokens. No one would know how much something costs. Not to mention, the network would be too slow and expensive if the whole world decided to switch to paying for everything in “cryptocurrency” today.

“Cryptocurrency” is actually a really inaccurate name, no crypto wants to be a “currency” and anyone who actually understands the crypto space knows this. The groundbreaking problem that crypto solves is allowing people to digitally transfer value without the need for a third party or middleman. If you try sending money digitally without using crypto, you are hoping an institution or corporation will allow you to do so. They control your hard earned value (dollars) and decide whether or not you can spend it.

In addition, we, the average person, have no say in what happens to the value of the US dollar. How many dollars will be printed next year? Where will they go? With digital assets, all of these questions are transparent and predictable. So, you can imagine why people would like to put their value into digital assets. With the dollar, you are trusting a slow and ineffective government. With digital assets, you’re trusting math and code.

Currently, the crypto space is unregulated, it really is the “wild west”. So, there are thousands of “pump n’ dump” scams. Tokens that are created daily with the sole purpose of attempting to extract value from others. I think this is where people who don’t understand crypto get confused. They see the insane volatility, the scams, the lack of regulation, and think “pump n dump” is the only use case there is.

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The reality is, the use case of digital assets is freedom. The government can create infinite dollars out of thin air and doesn’t have to get permission from the hardworking people that help society function. The bank can freeze your account at any moment. For a long time, we had no alternative to this system. But now we do, and it’s just a matter of people figuring it out.

Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, digital assets aren’t perfect by any means. If too many people use them, they can become slow and expensive. However, no new invention is perfect. The cellphone used to be 12 inches long, now it’s literally the world in your pocket. Cars, electricity, airplanes, you name it, were all crappy and misunderstood at first. I think digital assets are following a similar path. Digital assets are crappy and misunderstood right now, but inevitably, they’ll get better, and people will begin to understand their potential.

Ben DuBard

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