Usability vs Speculation

We have been reading everywhere that “blockchain technology is revolutionary”. In any news or finance website today we read that “cryptocurrencies will change the way we do business,” or that “paper cash is becoming extinct.” We read professional reviews, comparisons with other types of assets that have changed the world of business or the stock market, miraculous predictions about the price of Bitcoin in a year’s time, so on and so forth.

But how much of this is true? Is it possible to have any idea of what the usability of cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology will look like in the near future? Is there any kind of statistical indicator for this?

Nowadays, it has become so common to read predictions about booming cryptocurrency prices that the world has become used to looking at digital currencies and tokens always from the same perspective: price and volatility. With the rise of Bitcoin in December 2017, the world of small and large investors was shocked by the new possibility of stratospheric profits in such a new and immature market.

Those who bought Bitcoin before December 2017 did very well at the end of that year: the currency rose by almost 1,900% between January and December. Source: facebook.com

The effect of the rise of Bitcoin and its subsequent drop had contrasting consequences. On the one hand, it made the whole world open its eyes to cryptocurrencies and start exploring blockchain technology with more determination and interest. But on the other hand, it made all of us (myself included) focus only on the speculative side, and the promises of easy profits.

For such a disruptive technology as blockchain, it is almost an offense that most of its users are on board only for profits or to speculate on price. Vitalik Buterin himself, the creator of Ethereum (the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world in volume of transactions after Bitcoin), has already made his opinion crystal clear on the financial focus of the cryptocurrencies these days, and the opinion is not so positive.

“So, total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5T today. But have we *earned* it? How many unbanked people have we banked? How much censorship-resistant commerce for the common people have we enabled? (…) How many Venezuelans have actually been protected by us from hyperinflation? The answer to all these questions is definitely not zero, and in some cases even quite significant. But not enough for $ 0.5 trillion. Not enough.” Source: twitter.com

The speculative focus on cryptocurrencies is one of the biggest reasons behind the high volatility, and one of the biggest enemies for greater adoption of this technology by the general public. Due to the lack of stability, it is very difficult (in fact, almost impossible) to use cryptocoins for ordinary, day-to-day transactions, such as going to the market or paying bills.

But this is not the only possible use for cryptocurrencies and it is definitely not the only one for blockchain technology. This year we have seen countless excellent projects creating Dapps (Decentralised Applications). Dapps are programs or applications created on the blockchain, usually using Smart Contracts. Given their decentralised nature, Dapps are autonomous programs that do not depend on human intervention to function.

MegaCryptoPolis is a game developed entirely on the blockchain, governed by autonomous Smart Contracts, a simple but functional example of blockchain and cryptocoins outside the speculative scope. Source: megacryptopolis.com

There are hundreds of very promising projects today that use blockchain as a solution to everyday problems and that incorporate cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange within systems that once needed an intermediary to verify transactions. Nucleus.Vision, Experty, and Patron are just some of the companies with great solutions for an easier life, all of them built on the blockchain.

But for projects like these to work out, a shift in the collective perception of cryptocurrencies, in general, is needed. We need to detach ourselves from the concept of pure speculation and start acknowledging cryptocurrencies and their technology by their usability and problem-solving nature, not just to generate profits.

Bitcoin’s own creator Satoshi Nakamoto, wrote in its original presentation that Bitcoin’s nature was to facilitate transactions between two people without the need for a trusted third party. Bitcoin was developed as a problem solver, not as a digital asset to be speculated on.

Source: dailymotion.com

The paradigm shift is in our hands: to utilise the decentralised, transparent, and immutable properties of the blockchain as a catalyst for positive and necessary changes in society, giving less importance to immediate greed for a long-term benefit.

Because after all, with this paradigm shift, we have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.

This article was translated from my original article in Portuguese posted on the Novadax Blog.