Are we focusing on the wrong market in crypto?

[Russlenat]

I think everyone who uses Bitcoin has their own purpose. Some may use it for regular transactions, while others hold it long term because they believe the value will rise with adoption. And regardless of how many Bitcoins are locked up in supply because people are holding, transactions are still possible, the only effect is the price might increase.

Think of it this way: does holding affect adoption in a good way? The answer is yes, because it gives people confidence to use Bitcoin when they see big companies and investors trusting it and buying huge amounts. At the end of the day, it depends on which country we live in and our financial status, we have the freedom to use Bitcoin however we want.

As long as there’s demand, it means adoption is happening.

We are just not there yet for the adoption to be coming to the lower levels, so to speak.

As for now, regulations come from the suits for the suits (mostly), but in the future, who knows how it will be.

I hope, of course, for all the opportunities for the people to use crypto / BTC freely

The right process is it always starts at the lower level. Investors only step in once they see adoption happening, so they buy and hold expecting a higher price in the future. Even the US, which was once not a fan of crypto, started regulating it because adoption was already happening.

Take the gambling industry for example, crypto gambling is very popular now. That’s one form of adoption. But when it comes to using crypto as a payment system for daily needs, there are still options out there that are quicker and cheaper than Bitcoin for transactions.

[Danica22]

It is no coincidence that the United States is the center of the global financial markets, nor is it a coincidence that most of the world watches and follows them in most areas, not just the financial markets.

Although they are not the largest or most populous country, they are the leading economic power, and the country with the most influence on the global economy. Therefore, whether we accept the truth or not, the future of cryptocurrencies or any industry depends largely on them.

Not only crypto but any industry can hardly develop without their support. Many people may not like this but it is the truth.

[mirakal]

Rich people buy Bitcoin for payment purposes, as they do with fiat money. While poor people are buying Bitcoin for investment purposes. From this situation, all countries can have the chance for their adaptation, but here is the question. Are we all willing to spend Bitcoin knowing that its value is increasing, and we can earn some profit on it?

That is why I can't blame people for holding BTC for money. But of course, I appreciate people who use this as currency. However, we can't say we are focusing on the wrong market because what happens is people look for what is best for them.

[mindrust]

People need crypto in various ways. Some people only chase price action, that’s why they only care about any kind of wallstreet news. Some other people use crypto to sell their merchandise. These people mostly care about real world crypto adoption. The more people use crypto, the more potential customers for them. Casino owners especially are the majority of this group. If we only focus on the adoption that happens in the developing countries, then we’ll lose the track of what’s happening in wall street and to me, that’s equally important. We can’t focus on one spot and forget the existence of the other one.

[Z-tight]

Rich people buy Bitcoin for payment purposes, as they do with fiat money. While poor people are buying Bitcoin for investment purposes.

Do you have proof of this. Institutional investors are buying and holding BTC either through etf's or in their own self custodial wallets. Companies and countries are buying BTC and setting up strategic reserves for the future. I don't know where you got the idea that it is the wealthy that buy BTC to spend it, when they can spend fiat or even usdt.

Take note that majority of people who buy BTC, and this includes institutional investors, do so to make profit from its price volatility. I can even argue that retail investors are more likely to spend some of their BTC's, either in a physical store or online.

[davis196]

Most headlines talk about ETFs, Wall Street adoption, and U.S. regulations… but what if the real crypto story is in developing countries? In places like Argentina, Nigeria, and even here in the Philippines, people use crypto for survival -  fighting inflation, sending remittances, and daily expenses.

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

We live in a "western-centric" world, where countries like Argentina, Nigeria and the Philippines would always stay in the periphery(and nobody cares about them). I find it pretty normal that most news about crypto are centered around the USA(the biggest financial market in the world).
If China and Japan were more Bitcoin-friendly there would be more crypto news about China and Japan, but this isn't the case(unfortunately).
And yes, the future of crypto is shaped predominantly by Wall Street and the institutional investors. They are the forces behind the Bitcoin price growth to levels above 100K USD.  

[Josefjix]

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

What do you think?

When i interacted with many European and United state of America citizens about bitcoin, many of them often ask what its about which always sound too embarasing to me. In the United State, what makes them easily access crypto and could be able to use it for spending in because of Cashapp, almost everyone in US have Cashapp payment but 70% of them dont know not and care not about spending with crypto on cashapp.

If not coinbase and Cashapp that had made crypto easily accessible to the US citizen, these people do not make use of crypto payment as a form of day to day expenses, rather, they view it as another ETF related discussion point.   

[Iranus]

We live in a "western-centric" world, where countries like Argentina, Nigeria and the Philippines would always stay in the periphery(and nobody cares about them). I find it pretty normal that most news about crypto are centered around the USA(the biggest financial market in the world).
If China and Japan were more Bitcoin-friendly there would be more crypto news about China and Japan, but this isn't the case(unfortunately).
And yes, the future of crypto is shaped predominantly by Wall Street and the institutional investors. They are the forces behind the Bitcoin price growth to levels above 100K USD.  

But even as China and Japan become more bitcoin-friendly, the future of cryptocurrencies will still be shaped by Wall Street. As much as I hate to say it, as you said, the US is still the largest financial market in the world. We will have to depend largely on them, and as long as the US and the West remain the dominant powers in this world, that will not change anytime soon.

I even believe that bitcoin would hardly have survived and thrived to this day if it had faced attacks from the US. But fortunately, before approving a bitcoin ETF, they also did not issue a blanket ban or show hostility towards bitcoin in the past 15 years.

[pawanjain]

Most headlines talk about ETFs, Wall Street adoption, and U.S. regulations… but what if the real crypto story is in developing countries? In places like Argentina, Nigeria, and even here in the Philippines, people use crypto for survival -  fighting inflation, sending remittances, and daily expenses.

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

What do you think?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/wrong-crypto-market

The US and EU are looking the wrong way
Compare the above with the US and EU, where Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds, institutional custody and regulatory turf wars usually dominate discussions about digital assets.

This is a misreading of the global landscape. These issues may matter for major financial markets, but they do little for the unbanked in one part of the world or the remittance sender and gig worker in another.

People in the US are investing a lot in cryptocurrencies especially in bitcoin.
But if we talk about adoption as in really using bitcoin to tackle problems then may be the developing countries might get ahead in this comparison.
I just did a little search and found that developing countries are indeed ahead as per the chainanalysis reports from the Global Crypto Adoption Index.

[kotajikikox]

Most headlines talk about ETFs, Wall Street adoption, and U.S. regulations… but what if the real crypto story is in developing countries? In places like Argentina, Nigeria, and even here in the Philippines, people use crypto for survival -  fighting inflation, sending remittances, and daily expenses.

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

What do you think?

Bitcoin's real utility will be maximized by any country but most especially those countries with problems with inflation since we know that this is directly what bitcoin can be used against at. But without the big countries, the smaller ones may not be as brave to try and use bitcoin. The reason why some small countries go into crypto is because they are trying to follow the big countries.

[john_egbert]

Most headlines talk about ETFs, Wall Street adoption, and U.S. regulations… but what if the real crypto story is in developing countries? In places like Argentina, Nigeria, and even here in the Philippines, people use crypto for survival -  fighting inflation, sending remittances, and daily expenses.

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

What do you think?

Bitcoin's real utility will be maximized by any country but most especially those countries with problems with inflation since we know that this is directly what bitcoin can be used against at. But without the big countries, the smaller ones may not be as brave to try and use bitcoin. The reason why some small countries go into crypto is because they are trying to follow the big countries.

IMF will always be on their tail, whether they like it or not.

Alas, that's what you get to try being different.

[Mate2237]

The effects of crypto currency is evenly distributed both in the developed countries and the developing world like Nigeria, Argentina, that use rightly meaned. What you should understand is that the effects of crypto currency will be different in the developing world as compared to the developed world.


In developing countries were the economy is highly unstable and inflation rate is on the high. Crypto currency has become one thing that individuals has fallen back to and we can see that even in the way that, the people has adopted crypto currency. I think that one thing that I have seen is that developing countries sees Bitcoin as a short measure to cushion the effects of the bad economy while develop countries are the once concerned more about longe term investment this is were people talk about institutional investment.

[Virtualsnipe13]

Crypto has been banned twice in Nigeria, but the mass adoption is off the roof. Yet Nigerians use it more often, and the mass adoption in African countries is good and helpful for the local communities. EFT is more like a show to let retailers know that there are Big corporations that are also getting involved with them. Once every other country starts to see it as a way to help their economy, it will promote mass adoption, which could fuel the price that some didn't expect, which is what's showing us at the moment

[Alphakilo]

Most headlines talk about ETFs, Wall Street adoption, and U.S. regulations… but what if the real crypto story is in developing countries? In places like Argentina, Nigeria, and even here in the Philippines, people use crypto for survival -  fighting inflation, sending remittances, and daily expenses.

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

What do you think?

Bitcoin's real utility will be maximized by any country but most especially those countries with problems with inflation since we know that this is directly what bitcoin can be used against at. But without the big countries, the smaller ones may not be as brave to try and use bitcoin. The reason why some small countries go into crypto is because they are trying to follow the big countries.

It is way better for someone who doesn't know the way to follow someone who does at some point and although am referring to smaller countries following in the footsteps of the bigger and more developed countries, it is a simple life fact/principle.

Developing countries also face significant hurdles when we talk about adoption of cryptocurrency because there's, volatility which makes price fluctuation unpredictable and thus risky for holding or for daily transactions, there's the issues of inability to access reliable internet and electricity, there's of course regulatory uncertainty with some governments pointless upon how to go about it, and finally, there's the issues of digital literacy of which any user who wants to be safe and secure from scams, hacks, loss of key phrases must learn and stick to inorder for crypto currency to count as a good introduction into the economy of their country.

[ZAINmalik75]

The effects of crypto currency is evenly distributed both in the developed countries and the developing world like Nigeria, Argentina, that use rightly meaned. What you should understand is that the effects of crypto currency will be different in the developing world as compared to the developed world.


In developing countries were the economy is highly unstable and inflation rate is on the high. Crypto currency has become one thing that individuals has fallen back to and we can see that even in the way that, the people has adopted crypto currency. I think that one thing that I have seen is that developing countries sees Bitcoin as a short measure to cushion the effects of the bad economy while develop countries are the once concerned more about longe term investment this is were people talk about institutional investment.

I actually somehow agree with your points, because I can see that so many people, especially young people, have found cryptocurrencies very useful for them because of the bad economy and a lack of job opportunities. People are using cryptocurrencies and crypto trading as a way to make money and are now not dependent on jobs or are always struggling to find jobs. I know that it doesn't work out for every single person, but I know a lot of people from my country who got so much help because of cryptocurrencies.

That being said, I don't totally agree with your point where you said developed countries are more focused on long-term goals, but you didn't count developing countries in that category, but I believe that even people or entities from developing countries are always considering Bitcoin as a long-term investment option. Gold used to be the favourite before, but Bitcoin has probably taken its place for the most part.

[JiiBs]

Most headlines talk about ETFs, Wall Street adoption, and U.S. regulations… but what if the real crypto story is in developing countries? In places like Argentina, Nigeria, and even here in the Philippines, people use crypto for survival -  fighting inflation, sending remittances, and daily expenses.

So here’s the question: is the future of crypto shaped by Wall Street investors, or by ordinary people in weaker economies who actually use it?

What do you think?

There is a reason why we have the whales and regular cryptocurrency investors but, I like to focus it all on Bitcoin because, this is where the big numbers and all these news emanates.

Bitcoin market isn’t a separatist and there isn’t any peculiarity to whom does the most as per market movement. Every Bitcoin investor plays a role in the Bitcoin market and in as much as we have the ETF to provide leverage for those with minimal funds to take huge steps in Bitcoin investment, we would continue to acknowledge the regular investors that uses Bitcoin to archive defined goals.