Opinion: Alexander Guseff, founder and general director of Tectum
Cryptographic companies have spent years pushing digital wallets and exchange applications, convinced that it will bring global financial inclusion. Here is the reality: 1.4 billion people remain necessary, and cryptographic adoption barely exceeded 8%. Throughout the whole conversation about decentralization and availability, industry still skips billions of people who rely on cash for their daily lives.
In developing economies of Africa, South Asia and Latin America, cash is not only dominant – this is necessary. Banking services are scarce, smartphone penetration is low, and the ability to read digital remains an obstacle. The expectation that these populations will be on board through a process designed for users who know technology with internet access, is unreal.
However, offline cryptographic solutions were tested whenever, adoption jumped. The message is clear: people are ready to exploit cryptography, but they need a way to get access to it that suits their reality.
Global reality of cash dependence
Despite the assumptions that digital finances will eventually replace cash, the numbers do not show this. Take Romania. In particular, 76% of transactions still exist based on cash, but cryptographic adoption reached 14%. In Morocco, cash remains the king despite the raise in digital payments, but 16% of the population found a way to exploit cryptocurrencies – although it is officially banned.
There is also Egypt, in which about 72% of payments involve cash, but cryptographic adoption is about 3%, mainly due to confined digital infrastructure. Even in India, where cryptographic enthusiasm is high, 63% of transactions still take place in cash.
In these markets, the pattern is clear: people want to exploit crypto, but the industry does not give them a practical way to integrate it with their daily transactions.
A real cryptographic problem
Barriers in cryptographic adoption go far beyond technology. Government regulations, economic conditions and local financial habits play the role.
The biggest crypto defect is not a lack of demand. This is the assumption that digital portfolios and banking applications are the only real input points. This thinking ignores billions of people who still operate in cash economies.
More practical approach
Instead of forcing a digital model to ponderous cash regions, crypto should be adapted. Physical banknotes related to blockchain, coupons coded by QR and SMS transfers can introduce crypto to a real economy in a way that makes sense for people who already exploit cash.
Last: Stop creating a cryptographic elaborate
The idea is not as radical as it seems. M-PESA in Africa, which has over 66.2 million dynamic users, works in a straightforward model based on agents, which allows people to exchange cash for digital value without the need for a bank account. The same approach can work for Crypto, enabling users to exchange cash banknotes related to blockchain to local suppliers.
This is already happening in petite pockets. For example, Machankura enables bitcoin transactions via basic mobile networks, attracting over 13,600 users in Africa. In a region where almost all digital payments are based on straightforward mobile codes, not on smartphone applications, such solutions are much more profitable than pushing another exchange -based implementation process.
Safety concerns will always be associated with physical assets, but trained agents and adequate supervision may reduce risk. More importantly, this is a problem with the solution – excluding billions of people from the financial system is not.
Digital purists understand this badly
Many in cryptographic solutions based on papers reject paper solutions as obsolete. The idea that everything must be digital is ignoring the evolution of financial systems. People need time to pass and systems that match their current lifestyle.
Cointext, a cryptocurrency transfer service based on SMS, spread to 50 countries before its closure-not because the idea did not work, but because the industry was not ready to support it.
The same stiff thinking that rejected SMS transfers currently prevents the acceptance of ponderous cash economies. A up-to-date service called TEXT BSV has appeared, enabling trouble-free peer-to-peer (P2P) payments SATOSHIS via SMS-no download, registration or previous knowledge of Bitcoin (BTC) is required. It works on every phone, and even non-artists.
If cryptographic adoption remains stuck to 8%, it will not be because people do not want it. This will be because the industry insisted on an approach that does not work for most of the world.
Chance of $ 50 billion
The financial advantage of the integration of cryptocurrencies with cash economies is huge. Similar markets can occur if Romania, with 76% of cash, can reach a 14% party. This translates into a chance of $ 50 billion around the world, because the crypto enters the economies where billions of dollars move in informal cash transactions each year.
The network of agents with cash to Cyrż can generate revenues of $ 10 billion by 2030, reflecting the success of mobile cash platforms such as M-PESA. Even the exchange of cryptocurrencies would benefit from the exploit of these underestimated markets, filling the gap between digital and ready economies.
The regulatory authorities can fluctuate on paper crypto because of fear of transparency, but it is hard to ignore financial inclusion. If the governments see the potential $ 50 billion of a up-to-date business activity, they are more likely that they will work on solutions than block progress.
He meets the crypto
Crypto was to revolutionize financial access, but is out of reach of billions of people. Waiting that these communities will completely abandon cash and jump straight into the digital wallets is unreal and bad strategy
The solution is not to wait for the modernization of these economies. He has to meet people where they are. This means experimenting with compatible solutions about cash, cooperation with telecommunications suppliers and implementing models based on agents that allow people to exploit cryptocurrencies in a way that seems to be familiar.
The current draft of the party will become constant if the industry does not introduce these changes. Instead of a step back, paper crypto can be a bridge that finally connects billions of people with the future of finances.
Opinion: Alexander Guseff, founder and general director of Tectum.
This article is used for general information purposes and should not be and should not be treated as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are themselves and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
