The First 100 Million Users Are The Hardest
There is little doubt that the world of cryptocurrency is growing. By any metric, we are seeing much bigger numbers within the industry. This is only powering greater height in the market, which is feeding back into the system.
According to Crypto.com, we have hit a milestone level in the world of cryptocurrency. That site is reporting we have surpassed 100 million users.
As we can see, according to their survey, we are now sitting around 106 million people. Of course, in a world with 7.5 billion, we have yet to scratch the surface.
According to researcher Kevin Wang, at Crypto.com, strong growth in Bitcoin adoption happened to be the main driver for the peak. Major events last year, such as PayPal’s decision to integrate crypto into its payment network and institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies fueled the surge. Other than BTC, the growth of DeFi allowed Ethereum to lead the crypto market’s growth in August 2020.
All of this is good news yet it does show how small the industry truly is. In fact, it also states why blockchains like Hive have an incredible future.
The above quote cites Bitcoin and DeFi as being drivers, along with PayPal's adoption. What that tells us is that, thus far, most of the engagement in cryptocurrency was done with money. In other words, people brought fiat to the table to get involved.
Here is where we see most of the public still viewing cryptocurrency as an investment, something that people buy. The next couple hundred million people will come to cryptocurrency for a much different reason.
The Thai SEC is looking into the situation with cryptocurrency investing. It wants to tighten the regulations surrounding who is allowed to invest.
According to an official announcement from the regulator on Thursday, the SEC wants public comments on some newly proposed qualifications for cryptocurrency investors that introduce certain income and trading experience requirements.
Here again, we see the desire to exclude people from participating. This is a trend we are witnessing all over the world. Using the proverbial "in an effort to protect investors", freedoms are taken away as government entities gain more control.
With crypto, however, this will not work.
One of the biggest advantages that is being provided is the ability to get rewarded in cryptocurrency. This is something that makes it completely different from any other asset class. To participate in the others, one must bring money to the table.
For example, if I want to get some stock, unless I work for the company and receive it as part of my compensation, I must set up a brokerage account while funding it. Thus, I need to put money in. The same is true if I want commodities, bonds, or even fine art.
With cryptocurrency, this is not the case. Sure, with Bitcoin, for the most part, this is how it is done. Yet, with many other cryptocurrencies, especially on a blockchain like Hive, one can open up an account (wallet) and simply get active. There is no need to bring money to the table unless that is what one wants to do.
This circumvents regulations like the Thai are trying to instill. Once someone is in the crypto realm, he or she can go wherever desired. Tokens can be swapped for others fairly easily these days. Therefore, one can earn in token A and trade that for Bitcoin if that is what is preferred.
Of course, this path also opens up the door for DeFi and putting crypto "to work". Once there is something accumulated, people can look to generate a return off the holdings. There are many options there, something that is growing on a weekly basis.
We are going to have to shift the conversation away from buying crypto to moon. This is fine for investors yet does not encompass the majority of humanity. Instead, to get another 250 million users, the time arrived where we need to start stressing the reward system that is available.
It is one of the reasons to be so optimistic about a blockchain like Hive. This has seen development accelerate to another level whereby more opportunities for token rewards exist. Simply by involving oneself with the different communities, we see how this can provide a steady stream of tokens to individuals.
Over time, anyone with an Internet connection, can partake. With more users signing onto the Web each day, this is a target market that is only growing.
We are nearing the point where we are going to see a nice basket of social media applications. This is putting Hive in a position to offer a multi-faceted social media experience, all under one account. Presently, one is forced to establish followers on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Since each is a different silo, one must cultivate the fanbase on each platform.
Therefore, in addition to having an account that one owns and cannot be taken away, the work is only done once. As soon as someone follows an account, there person will see all activities from the different applications.
The combination of blogging, video uploading, and "tweeting" is a powerful one. Soon, we will see this all offered on a decentralized basis where the content is totally protected and cannot be removed.
Web 3.0 is a legitimate concept, just as real as social media was 15 years ago. At that time, few were quick to get on board. However, fast forward more than a decade and we see how powerful this truly is.
Cryptocurrency will follow the same pattern. Most cannot see it at this time but we are in the midst of a total paradigm shift. The path of society is going to change as this industry becomes mainstream. The tentacles are going to penetrate most aspects of our lives, similar to what the Internet did.
It is nice to see 100 million users. It was tough getting to this point. However, we need to accelerate the growth rate and this will not happen by searching for people to buy large chunks of cryptocurrency. Instead, we need to promote the narrative of being rewarded in cryptocurrency.
There are 250 million people out there who are just waiting to get involved. It is time we expose them to what is being offered.
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