Cryptocurrency Adoption: A Breakthrough?

[deisik]

A fresh entry on stealthex.io blog: Cryptocurrency Adoption: A Breakthrough? I invite you to share your thoughts below – feel free to speak your mind
Short Version TLDR

Under the current circumstances of fiat currencies falling apart (we have just begun), the launch of the Binance payment card can greatly facilitate cryptocurrency adoption (as a means of payment), at least as far as altcoins are concerned (e.g. Litecoin). If the card proves convenient, cheap, and actually usable in terms of a daily shopping routine, it may turn out a game-changer after all, and still more so if Binance competitors will have no other choice but to come up with something similar or even better

Long Version 2LP

You have probably read dozens of articles dedicated to this subject before, and likely skipped even more. So why write another one, let alone read it? The short answer is times have changed. Well, times always change. Still, the point is that we may be amidst a paradigm shift in the cryptocurrency space right now even if we don’t feel it yet.

Such a fundamental change is possible due to a confluence of several factors. Some of these factors are external and therefore not related to crypto. Others are internal and represent the value-oriented nature of cryptocurrencies. It just happened that all of them got activated under specific conditions at a certain point in time, which is today, give or take.

Economic woes in a post-Covid-19 world

You wouldn’t be far from the truth if you claimed that we haven’t yet pulled through the pandemic, to begin with. Unfortunately, it only makes matters worse unless you are a cryptocurrency investor and don’t care for the rest of humanity. Anyway, the damage has been done, and nothing can change that. We are now entering the phase that is technically called “competitive devaluations” and colloquially known as currency wars.

You could also argue that if it didn't happen at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, it is not going to happen now. The sad truth is that we are only starting to feel the real pain. Even the deadly coronavirus doesn’t take over the body instantly, while it takes some time on the scale of a few months up to a couple years for the economic disease to spread through the fabric of society, evolve, and then erupt with inflation rates shooting through the roof, among many other nasty things. Please take your seat.

The world reserve fiat, the American dollar, is sinking like Titanic, slowly but surely. We can’t say the same about less lucky currencies, though. We won’t dwell on the Venezuelan bolivar and Zimbabwean dollar as they are altogether beyond redemption, but fiats like the Brazilian real and Russian ruble are also balancing on the brink of another landslide devaluation, which they have seen many in the past. Sharp minds in the cryptocurrency space have been telling us about this development for ages. It all looked like a remote possibility in some distant future that as we felt deep down wouldn’t have a chance to come up in our lifetime.

As it stands, we were wrong, and the events described are now starting to unfold right before our own eyes. In a strange twist of fate, large-scale cryptocurrency adoption is about to occur along with them, but not through some technical breakthroughs and innovation, or even the much-hyped DeFi, but primarily through the failure of conventional financial systems based on fiat currencies. Rest assured, the top dogs in the cryptocurrency pit are well aware of this dynamic, and they are not going to wait any longer.

Grayscale Investments, a multi-billion dollar company behind a host of cryptocurrency trust funds, started to frenziedly buy up bitcoins a couple weeks ago. All in all, it acquired over 17,000 BTC adding to its already quite impressive stash of Bitcoin, now totalling almost 450,000 coins under its management. Love it or leave it, but that amounts to 2.4% of all bitcoins mined to date, including lost, burned, or left for dead as dust in Bitcoin wallets. In essence, it means that their effective share is way higher.

But while Grayscale definitely sits at the top of the cryptocurrency investment chain, it is not the only company that went on a buying spree lately. MicroStrategy, a company largely unknown to the wider public, suddenly got religion and swapped over $400 million of its capital into 38,250 BTC. Even Barry Silbert, CEO of Grayscale, commented on this feat in his tweet. So whenever there is a hint at price correction, someone comes out of the shadows and picks up a handful of bitcoins from the market propping up the price.

Why are they doing this? You already know the answer.

Paradigm shift

In different words, all that cryptocurrencies had to do was to last long enough until fiat started to fall apart. It does now, and paradoxically such times are also times of great opportunity, Baron Rothschild’s way. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has been pushing its cryptocurrency payment card since April when it acquired Swipe, a firm focused on crypto-to-fiat payment cards. At the time of the acquisition Swipe already supported 20 cryptocurrencies and fiat transactions in major currencies.

For European users the Binance card was officially made available in August, and the exchange plans to enter the US market soon. Given its dominance in the crypto arena, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the surge in the cryptocurrency use as a means of payment thanks to this. It is unlikely that people would spend their precious bitcoins, but the packmaster is not the only member of the pack that Binance handles. Cryptos like Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash can easily become currencies of choice to use with Binance debit cards.

But what truly makes it a game-changer is the current turmoil in the global economic affairs which may turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for crypto to pick up where fiat currencies leave, or fail, to be exact. On the other hand, it may be a natural development after all, set in stone by the very first Bitcoin transaction and cemented for good when it got confirmed. Now things start to arrange themselves to fit their preordained layout. We have taken our time.

As cryptocurrencies are not internally linked to, or tied by, the lunatic policies of monetary authorities, that is to say, no central bank can ask or force miners to mine more bitcoins, we have the first element in place in the layout for the cryptocurrency mass adoption to occur at the most basic level. In fact, it has always been there, so we just had to wait until the two other elements arrived, even though it took longer than most of us were ready to wait.

The second required element in the grand picture of cryptocurrency adoption is the change in attitude toward wealth evaluation. So far the vast majority of people involved in crypto, including its most die-hard supporters, valued their cryptocurrency holdings in fiat terms. Without doubt, it was the US dollar, regardless of your home currency. But when fiat collapses or enters a long period of runaway inflation, people will be ready for a dramatic change in their approaches toward capital assessment as well as spending habits.

And here comes the most important part where Binance hits the nail on the head. If you are unable to effortlessly spend crypto in your everyday life, the first two components cannot trigger this change in attitude on their own. We need this third element to make use of what has existed and take advantage of what has come around. In a way, what Binance did, and what its competitors are no doubt going to do as well if they don’t want to miss out on the opportunity, appears to be the part that snugly snaps into place when we finally get there.

With Binance payment card, you can “buy the things you love with crypto”. So now the ball is in your court to support the full-scale cryptocurrency adoption coming up. Kidding aside, with fiat turning into trash by leaps and bounds all over the globe, this looks like a very enticing payment option for both the crypto purists and the unbanked. We have seen quite a few such cards in the past, but Binance seems to be adamant on making its variety really popular and actually usable. And then you can ride volatility waves to your financial benefit.

If Binance succeeds, that may herald a new era of cryptocurrency adoption, a breakthrough of sorts after so many years of stagnation in this department.

Repercussions and ramifications

It is not like only we, traders and investors alike, see these trends. Governments are also taking notice and paying close attention. They can’t remove cryptocurrencies and they can’t help inflating their national currencies. However, they can still crack down massively on this and similar endeavors, trying to nip them in the bud. We don’t know yet what Uncle Sam is going to say but some muslim countries have been quite vocal in this regard.

For example, Egypt has issued a fetva which prohibits bitcoin transactions as being against Sharia, an Islamic religious law. Another mostly Islamic country, Indonesia, has banned the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. Russia, though not strictly Islamic yet, is hellbent on effectively outlawing most cryptocurrency operations despite passing earlier a law on digital assets which is essentially neutral to crypto.

To conclude, we must be aware that once things get serious and governments see that their monetary supremacy is being threatened, that they can no longer play their favorite game of inflation tax, they will leave no stone unturned to prevent mass use of crypto as an alternative means of payment. And cryptocurrency payment cards are hands down one of the best tools available for this use on a down-to-earth level, groceries and whatnot.

Now you know what their target will be.

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[The Sceptical Chymist]

You can call me a moron, blind, whatever you like--but I have to ask you:  what evidence can you point me to that fiat currency is falling apart?  In certain countries like Venezuela and Zimbabwe where they've had hyperinflation, I'd certainly agree.  But the rest of the world?  I just don't see any sort of general currency crisis emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yes, I'm aware of all the money printing and debt accumulation, but I don't see any evidence in my day-to-day life that things are as dire as some people think.

I think it's great that Binance might be releasing a crypto debit card, though I'm not sure how popular it'll turn out to be--and of course I probably wouldn't even be allowed to try it because of the state I live in. 

[Haunebu]

You can call me a moron, blind, whatever you like--but I have to ask you:  what evidence can you point me to that fiat currency is falling apart?  In certain countries like Venezuela and Zimbabwe where they've had hyperinflation, I'd certainly agree.  But the rest of the world?  I just don't see any sort of general currency crisis emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yes, I'm aware of all the money printing and debt accumulation, but I don't see any evidence in my day-to-day life that things are as dire as some people think.

I think it's great that Binance might be releasing a crypto debit card, though I'm not sure how popular it'll turn out to be--and of course I probably wouldn't even be allowed to try it because of the state I live in. 

Spot on. Why do people here tend to over-exaggerate everything due to various reasons like the current COVID crisis etc? FIAT is going nowhere and that is a fact which is why op's argument suggesting that this centralized FIAT system is collapsing doesn't make sense.

FIAT has survived far worse problems over time. Even chaotic countries like Venezuela etc still depend on FIAT to a large degree even though they are in a messed up state currently.

Cryptocurrency adoption requires several factors like low volatility, fast TX times, low TX fees etc to optimally rise over time.

[Darker45]

You can call me a moron, blind, whatever you like--but I have to ask you:  what evidence can you point me to that fiat currency is falling apart?  In certain countries like Venezuela and Zimbabwe where they've had hyperinflation, I'd certainly agree.  But the rest of the world?  I just don't see any sort of general currency crisis emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current state of fiat currency might indeed be falling. The fiat system which is predominantly cash-based will certainly shift into a cashless state and eventually into a digital state. However, all these changes do not mean fiat has turned into something else. It is still essentially fiat. It is simply physical change as compared to chemical change if we are to use chemistry analogy.

And even in those countries mentioned above, it is not actually the failure of fiat per se. It is the failure of a certain country's economic, financial, and monetary systems. As a matter of fact, what saved their people from hyperinflation was fiat itself. When the Zimbabwe dollar and the Venezuelan Bolivar became worthless, it was the USD which became the primary alternate currency. It was simply a case of a fiat currency taking over another fiat currency.

[deisik]

You can call me a moron, blind, whatever you like--but I have to ask you:  what evidence can you point me to that fiat currency is falling apart?  In certain countries like Venezuela and Zimbabwe where they've had hyperinflation, I'd certainly agree.  But the rest of the world?  I just don't see any sort of general currency crisis emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic

The Russian ruble lost like 30% against the dollar during this year

And we are not done yet. That I can tell you with certainty. What evidence do I have? Well, I visit malls and can see where the prices are going. They are going up. And the price inflation is way higher that the changes in the exchange rates, which means the dollar is depreciating too (though not as much, of course). Indeed, fiat is not going away. It is just going downhill. At least as long as the Russian ruble is concerned

and of course I probably wouldn't even be allowed to try it because of the state I live in

That's the whole point

Cryptocurrency adoption requires several factors like low volatility, fast TX times, low TX fees etc to optimally rise over time

High volatility is an advantage. All other things become irrelevant with a good crypto payment card

[Coyster]

Over here in my country our fiat currency is also losing value and things don't look to get better, with possible inflation in the coming months, I don't think there's actually any fiat currency that's not felt the negative impact of this pandemic, including the USD, thing is, it's all on a different scale, but truth still remains that devaluation/inflation is happening and prices of commodities are gradually climbing higher that before, if the government will be able to stabilize things and shift the economy back on track is still to be seen.

Cryptocurrency adoption is a good thing, but definitely not a total panacea to this current economic situation, even the governments are coming up with their own centralized digital fiat, I'm talking about CBDC's, and even if they are no different from fiat currencies, and nothing like decentralized crypto, they are still going on with it for political reasons and also to weigh the effects it could have in boosting up their economy & fiat value. This year is good time for Bitcoin and crypto adoption for many individuals and corporations as we've seen with firms like 'MicroStrategy' and few others already, "Fiat is not going away", but it looks like it'll continue to lose more value going forward, and assets that can hedge the value of funds can be used to counter that.

[Xembin]

Many countries are now cryptocurrency adoption which is very good for the citizens consumption. During the pandemic many currencies lose value but cryptocurrencies still maintain stable and valued in the exchange in the market areas.
I think this will be a breakthrough to some country that have never adopt cryptocurrency in their country. Cryptocurrency adoption is a good one which it can help the country to find solution to all the challenges the lockdown has caused in their economy.

[Lorence.xD]

Many countries are now cryptocurrency adoption which is very good for the citizens consumption. During the pandemic many currencies lose value but cryptocurrencies still maintain stable and valued in the exchange in the market areas.
I think this will be a breakthrough to some country that have never adopt cryptocurrency in their country. Cryptocurrency adoption is a good one which it can help the country to find solution to all the challenges the lockdown has caused in their economy.

Fiat depreciation does not speed up adoption, it does not matter if there is a cryptocurrency adoption if the services you can access is very limited, businesses will have a hard time doing a 180° because most of their models are not suited to crypto payments, especially small businesses, it is not like system integration comes at a cheap price. For a true adoption to happen, the whole country should be flipped upside down because some parts will not survive if only a few adapts or vice versa.

[DarkDays]

You can call me a moron, blind, whatever you like--but I have to ask you:  what evidence can you point me to that fiat currency is falling apart?  In certain countries like Venezuela and Zimbabwe where they've had hyperinflation, I'd certainly agree.  But the rest of the world?  I just don't see any sort of general currency crisis emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yes, I'm aware of all the money printing and debt accumulation, but I don't see any evidence in my day-to-day life that things are as dire as some people think.

I think it's great that Binance might be releasing a crypto debit card, though I'm not sure how popular it'll turn out to be--and of course I probably wouldn't even be allowed to try it because of the state I live in. 

Spot on. Why do people here tend to over-exaggerate everything due to various reasons like the current COVID crisis etc? FIAT is going nowhere and that is a fact which is why op's argument suggesting that this centralized FIAT system is collapsing doesn't make sense.

FIAT has survived far worse problems over time. Even chaotic countries like Venezuela etc still depend on FIAT to a large degree even though they are in a messed up state currently.

Cryptocurrency adoption requires several factors like low volatility, fast TX times, low TX fees etc to optimally rise over time.

Despite the long written paragraph where it's talked about cryptocurrency being nearly around the corner and this alone will greatly impacting today's economy where fiat is default,. There is little evidence to suggest that. The pandemic has had a positive outlook in comparison to fiat but having seen the economy of the world taking a hit, so did fiat and so did cryptocurrency.

While crypto allows for more control over ones money it is not immune to the outside environmental factors, far from it. SO even if payment cards through LTC will be mass-scale produced its success is not guaranteed. People are still complacent about crypto and some still prefer fiat.

It would take a much later effort to expand over this small bubble of crypto adoption, and some of these factors include the ones aforementioned.

[Upgrade00]

High volatility is an advantage. All other things become irrelevant with a good crypto payment card

High volatility is an advantage for speculators who invest and trade bitcoins, but I do not see how it can encourage people to use Bitcoin for regular daily payments especially when it is still valued in fiat.
If I had $50 worth of BTC one day and planned to get a new outfit or gadget the next but due to volatility the value drops to $45.6, I would not be able to make my purchase and would have to wait for the price to go back up (Except, the payment mechanism (in this case binance card) converts cryptocurrencies deposited into fiat and holds it in that value). As long as there is speculative value, people are less likely to use it for regular payments.

Fiat depreciation does not speed up adoption, it does not matter if there is a cryptocurrency adoption if the services you can access is very limited, businesses will have a hard time doing a 180° because most of their models are not suited to crypto payments,

To an extent, depreciation of fiat favours alternative payment methods like bitcoin. Of course using bitcoins as a payment mechanism is still limited due to its volatility, transaction rate and fees, but it's an evolving system and there are 2nd later systems businesses can use, like Lightening Network which would facilitate transactions.
Besides being used for payments it can also be accepted as a Reserve currency over fiat and other assets.

[proTECH77]

Those countries that adopted crypto to solve some problem in their country find it difficult because they are use to Fiat money which is centralized in the world.

Fiat money is still more popular in the market than bitcoin which is decentralized in the world. I think with time many country with be use to cryptocurrency adoption in the country. Cryptocurrency adoption is a good thing which it can help the citizens to sustain their self in this pandemic.

[carter34]

Cryptocurrency adoption is a good one which it can help the country to find solution to all the challenges the lockdown has caused in their economy.

How can bitcoin solve all the problem of the country?
I think it can only help the unemployed youth to sustain themselves if they invest in bitcoin maybe for a long time or to trade it and other coins. During the lockdown, the problem that the countries had was health majorly.

[deisik]

High volatility is an advantage. All other things become irrelevant with a good crypto payment card

High volatility is an advantage for speculators who invest and trade bitcoins, but I do not see how it can encourage people to use Bitcoin for regular daily payments especially when it is still valued in fiat

Well, let's just say that you don't know how to ride volatility waves, i.e. how to turn the seemingly unfavorable circumstance into a beneficial one. Volatility is a godsend for both traders and regular spenders. If you have enough capital, you can live entirely off volatility. And payment cards solve all other issues like the ones you mentioned, so it is just you and volatility. And no, Bitcoin is too stable (read, the leverage would be too low). That's why paying with Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash is such a big deal, especially in a highly inflationary environment

But this matter deserves its own thread or even a separate article with an in-depth analysis

Fiat depreciation does not speed up adoption, it does not matter if there is a cryptocurrency adoption if the services you can access is very limited

If you can spend crypto easily and effortlessly without a lot of overhead costs, which is what Binance is striving to achieve, runaway inflation will force people to start using cryptocurrencies. It's all explained in the article above

[LeGaulois]

...

I didn't know the Russian ruble was in such a situation, but that doesn't surprise me. In any case, the dollar could follow a similar scenario in 1 year or more. The dollar supremacy as the 1st reserve currency started to end. Added with their economy during this Covid19 period which only slows down, it gives a weak economic growth...
However, when you talk about the Binance card as a means, I wonder. What's so special about it? Because it is not the first BTC card to appear on the market...

...

A centralized digital currency won't change anything. If a currency is losing value, all the forms of this money lose value. So the CBDC will too.
It also won't boost the economy. It may facilitate transactions but nothing more.

...

@OP wanted mainly to argument a crypto debit card can help to overcome a currency lolsing value. The same as what Venezuelan citizens were doing some months ago.

[lifeOK]

Those countries that adopted crypto to solve some problem in their country find it difficult because they are use to Fiat money which is centralized in the world.

Fiat money is still more popular in the market than bitcoin which is decentralized in the world. I think with time many country with be use to cryptocurrency adoption in the country. Cryptocurrency adoption is a good thing which it can help the citizens to sustain their self in this pandemic.

Yep, It's inevitable. However, In order to implement that we should reconsider the decentralized thing in crypto world. Regulation is on the way since without it we will never get mass adoption because majority of us won't trust it. Anyway, people have different mindset and I respect that.

[so98nn]

Under the current circumstances of fiat currencies falling apart (we have just begun), the launch of the Binance payment card can greatly facilitate cryptocurrency adoption (as a means of payment), at least as far as altcoins are concerned (e.g. Litecoin).

Focusing on the mainstream launches, payment card isn't new concept and many of the projects are already issuing such cards. Well let us consider that Binance is popular platform and user base for this payment concept would be pretty great as compared to others. However, there is huge crowd on the platform who doesn't care about the features like this. Consider the factors like underdeveloped countries, developing countries being the biggest crowd on the platform.

>  Obviously this is based on my assumptions but it seems reasonable.

If the card proves convenient, cheap, and actually usable in terms of a daily shopping routine, it may turn out a game-changer after all, and still more so if Binance competitors will have no other choice but to come up with something similar or even better

This is what concerns me when I stated that it may get limited to shorter crowd. I mean ho wmany countries does have BTC or ALT coin payment solution available? Or may be acceptable by the local community?

The world reserve fiat, the American dollar, is sinking like Titanic, slowly but surely. We can’t say the same about less lucky currencies, though. We won’t dwell on the Venezuelan bolivar and Zimbabwean dollar as they are altogether beyond redemption, but fiats like the Brazilian real and Russian ruble are also balancing on the brink of another landslide devaluation, which they have seen many in the past.

Definitely USD is falling apart and if the reserves are not reset to the original value / volume / output then it will give opportunity to rest of the currencies to come up in the market. However this will only happen if those rest of the countries make that much efforts for it.

There is one thing noticeable here, huge business agenda is dependent on america so in long term it will serve as boundary for the rest world and impact in bad way rather than good one.  

Sharp minds in the cryptocurrency space have been telling us about this development for ages. It all looked like a remote possibility in some distant future that as we felt deep down wouldn’t have a chance to come up in our lifetime.

Indeed correct. It was the long vision of creators who had Plan-BTC. They knew it, one day the economic collapse will imbalance world's largest currencies and that's what happening. It's agreeable statement. The only path that went wrong is, crypto currencies got wrong identity and they became instrument of trading and cold storage stuff. But none of them though about it as real currency for day-to-day life.  

As it stands, we were wrong, and the events described are now starting to unfold right before our own eyes. In a strange twist of fate, large-scale cryptocurrency adoption is about to occur along with them, but not through some technical breakthroughs and innovation, or even the much-hyped DeFi, but primarily through the failure of conventional financial systems based on fiat currencies. Rest assured, the top dogs in the cryptocurrency pit are well aware of this dynamic, and they are not going to wait any longer.

But again are they willing to invest their fat wallet money into the development of complex infra to run the bitcoin payment system like those traditional one? Or will they just look forward to make more bunch of billions and tan themselves on Bahama beaches!!

It might read very skeptical but I am trying to judge this phenomenon based on what we have seen until now for the bitcoin. DeFi is result of something that was alternative to a failure as you stated, will it be long lasting?

Grayscale Investments, a multi-billion dollar company behind a host of cryptocurrency trust funds, [...]acquired over 17,000 BTC adding to its already quite impressive stash of Bitcoin, now totalling almost 450,000 coins under its management. Love it or leave it, but that amounts to 2.4% of all bitcoins mined to date, [...]

But while Grayscale definitely sits at the top of the cryptocurrency investment chain, it is not the only company that went on a buying spree lately. MicroStrategy, a company largely unknown to the wider public, suddenly got religion and swapped over $400 million of its capital into 38,250 BTC. Even Barry Silbert, CEO of Grayscale, commented on this feat in his tweet. So whenever there is a hint at price correction, someone comes out of the shadows and picks up a handful of bitcoins from the market propping up the price.

Why are they doing this? You already know the answer.

This is what I have been explaining above and it is not their fault! They are giants with business to run and why would not they? Even at some point we are here to earn, invest, stabilise our finances. They only do this on the scale of million and billion.

In the long run this makes crypto look like asset for investment and nothing more.

But what truly makes it a game-changer is the current turmoil in the global economic affairs which may turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for crypto to pick up where fiat currencies leave, or fail, to be exact.

Do we really think this way? I am sure we are forgetting one thing, crypto world does not share itself with the whole world. What I mean is, crypto users are limited, it's institutional usage is growing but with limited speed/resources.

I am always focusing on the "Volume of Users" when giant project is on the run. In our case bitcoin is the project and well everyone does know it's not being used densely.  

So far the vast majority of people involved in crypto, including its most die-hard supporters, valued their cryptocurrency holdings in fiat terms. Without doubt, it was the US dollar, regardless of your home currency. But when fiat collapses or enters a long period of runaway inflation, people will be ready for a dramatic change in their approaches toward capital assessment as well as spending habits.

The question is why not gold or oil then? As you stated, only those who are die hard fans and supporter of cryptocurrency will take these steps, it may not be others. Rest of the world still rely on cold storage in the form of digital bonds, gold, silver and they getting returns on them as well.
Not everyone in the crypto understand the PoS, Stablecoins etc where they can earn money so we have one reason less to give to them.

I don't know but this whole Paradigm Shift thing is not getting digested fully by me.

Yes there will pros and cons in fiat as well as crypto but the balance is heavy on fiat side. Is it drowning? Oh yeah badly but will not come up again? It will definitely rest to original timeline sooner or later. Let's not forget 2008 crisis shall we.

With Binance payment card, you can “buy the things you love with crypto”. So now the ball is in your court to support the full-scale cryptocurrency adoption coming up.

I can't wait to see this coming and taking a card to my local store and swipe it right away. But what is the competency of Binance in my country, how are the thing on that front. At one site my Government is stating Bitcoin would be made illegal soon so I would be afraid to even swipe that crypto based card and avoid a day dream crime.

Repercussions and ramifications

It is not like only we, traders and investors alike, see these trends. Governments are also taking notice and paying close attention.

My above para depicts behaviour of my Government against the BTC. Well, your statement might just be true for developed countries, with modern ways of payment solution etc. with broad minds. But what about the countries like India, Algeria, Bangladesh which consist of large population portion. Wouldn't they miss out the fun for this one? There governments are seriously against it.


I liked this topic a lot and spent good time reading it. I was just trying to see how logically it could turn out true. Call it my hunch or gut feeling I see it similar to another Project with good intentions but the result may not be as what Binance could be thinking. Just do the forecasting based on users, infra, resources, acceptance of crypto around the globe etc.

Will it be success? Yes, in the local community or Binance fans would be premium clients for this card. But will it help overcome the trillion trillion dollar fiat currency? Surely not in this timeline.

But carrying such unique payment solution with you would be "trendy and cool".

[deisik]

Under the current circumstances of fiat currencies falling apart (we have just begun), the launch of the Binance payment card can greatly facilitate cryptocurrency adoption (as a means of payment), at least as far as altcoins are concerned (e.g. Litecoin).

Focusing on the mainstream launches, payment card isn't new concept and many of the projects are already issuing such cards. Well let us consider that Binance is popular platform and user base for this payment concept would be pretty great as compared to others. However, there is huge crowd on the platform who doesn't care about the features like this. Consider the factors like underdeveloped countries, developing countries being the biggest crowd on the platform.

>  Obviously this is based on my assumptions but it seems reasonable.

And even if the concept is not quite new, it is the details that count, i.e. how much you have to pay for the card service. Because Binance doesn't charge anything (or so they say), this alone removes the majority of such cards from consideration where you have to pay an inadequate monthly/yearly fee

If the card proves convenient, cheap, and actually usable in terms of a daily shopping routine, it may turn out a game-changer after all, and still more so if Binance competitors will have no other choice but to come up with something similar or even better

This is what concerns me when I stated that it may get limited to shorter crowd. I mean ho wmany countries does have BTC or ALT coin payment solution available? Or may be acceptable by the local community?

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange out there, and as such, it is a successful business, so the only thing that would stop them is the government regulation effectively banning this card. I wrote about that

The world reserve fiat, the American dollar, is sinking like Titanic, slowly but surely. We can’t say the same about less lucky currencies, though. We won’t dwell on the Venezuelan bolivar and Zimbabwean dollar as they are altogether beyond redemption, but fiats like the Brazilian real and Russian ruble are also balancing on the brink of another landslide devaluation, which they have seen many in the past

Definitely USD is falling apart and if the reserves are not reset to the original value / volume / output then it will give opportunity to rest of the currencies to come up in the market. However this will only happen if those rest of the countries make that much efforts for it

The American dollar will be the last to kick the bucket. And if the dollar goes downhill, the total majority of other fiat currencies will be going downhill twice as fast barring, maybe, the Swiss franc or Euro, to a degree. I think there is no use in trying to rationally challenge this point since this is already the case

Sharp minds in the cryptocurrency space have been telling us about this development for ages. It all looked like a remote possibility in some distant future that as we felt deep down wouldn’t have a chance to come up in our lifetime

Indeed correct. It was the long vision of creators who had Plan-BTC. They knew it, one day the economic collapse will imbalance world's largest currencies and that's what happening. It's agreeable statement. The only path that went wrong is, crypto currencies got wrong identity and they became instrument of trading and cold storage stuff. But none of them though about it as real currency for day-to-day life

That's why we need a trigger in the form of runaway inflation and a means to deal with it on a day-to-day basis -- Binance payment card or any other such card as handy, cheap and reliable

As it stands, we were wrong, and the events described are now starting to unfold right before our own eyes. In a strange twist of fate, large-scale cryptocurrency adoption is about to occur along with them, but not through some technical breakthroughs and innovation, or even the much-hyped DeFi, but primarily through the failure of conventional financial systems based on fiat currencies. Rest assured, the top dogs in the cryptocurrency pit are well aware of this dynamic, and they are not going to wait any longer

But again are they willing to invest their fat wallet money into the development of complex infra to run the bitcoin payment system like those traditional one? Or will they just look forward to make more bunch of billions and tan themselves on Bahama beaches!!

It doesn't really matter because they still show us how things are going to unfold

It might read very skeptical but I am trying to judge this phenomenon based on what we have seen until now for the bitcoin. DeFi is result of something that was alternative to a failure as you stated, will it be long lasting?

DeFi is massively overhyped and it won't lead to mass adoption for the simple reason it is the same money that gets moved around

In the long run this makes crypto look like asset for investment and nothing more

You wouldn't invest in something that is going to lose value, right? Further, there's a lot more to it, and a good payment card opens access to the wealth of possibilities thereof

But what truly makes it a game-changer is the current turmoil in the global economic affairs which may turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for crypto to pick up where fiat currencies leave, or fail, to be exact.

Do we really think this way? I am sure we are forgetting one thing, crypto world does not share itself with the whole world. What I mean is, crypto users are limited, it's institutional usage is growing but with limited speed/resources

Who cares? If crypto makes your life better, then go for it. You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink

So far the vast majority of people involved in crypto, including its most die-hard supporters, valued their cryptocurrency holdings in fiat terms. Without doubt, it was the US dollar, regardless of your home currency. But when fiat collapses or enters a long period of runaway inflation, people will be ready for a dramatic change in their approaches toward capital assessment as well as spending habits.

The question is why not gold or oil then?

Because you can't spend gold or oil as easily as fiat (and I would discard oil). Payment cards, done the right way, allow you to spend crypto in pretty much the same way as fiat. And you can also ride volatility as a nice bonus

With Binance payment card, you can “buy the things you love with crypto”. So now the ball is in your court to support the full-scale cryptocurrency adoption coming up.

I can't wait to see this coming and taking a card to my local store and swipe it right away. But what is the competency of Binance in my country, how are the thing on that front. At one site my Government is stating Bitcoin would be made illegal soon so I would be afraid to even swipe that crypto based card and avoid a day dream crime

That's the only plausible reason why this effort might fail

[stompix]

You can call me a moron, blind, whatever you like--but I have to ask you:  what evidence can you point me to that fiat currency is falling apart?  

The same apocalyptic prophecies that have been around since the end of the gold standard and it makes sense for bitcoiners to love this outcome, in most cases when an event, a launch of a service a company move happens they tend to analyze the move so that it fits a certain results which they are happy with.
@deisik, I'm saying this in general, it's not directed at you!

And yes, I'm aware of all the money printing and debt accumulation, but I don't see any evidence in my day-to-day life that things are as dire as some people think.

People want to think that, there are some who need this, be it for their own finances, for vendetta for ..
A month or so ago I finished a book, A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene, and one small paragraph of it made me think about these zealots. A nun in a leper colony where the action was ongoing was saying that she is sad that there are not so many cases because of the new medicine, and they might even close it down, she was afraid of losing her place in the world more than the overcoming what joy she should normally feel seeing people are no longer sick. Same with the hardcore fans, they need to see a collapse so that their time comes, no matter if they are going to walk to the top on the sufferings of others because they think their ideal is worth suffering for, but now the suffering should be done by others.

The Russian ruble lost like 30% against the dollar during this year

And it lost 60% in 2014 and the country and the ruble are still there.
And Russia has defaulted in 1998 and look, it's still there, and the ruble is not rubble yet.

Not going to go though all of that because the fundamental is wrong.

To conclude, we must be aware that once things get serious and governments see that their monetary supremacy is being threatened, that they can no longer play their favorite game of inflation tax, they will leave no stone unturned to prevent mass use of crypto as an alternative means of payment. And cryptocurrency payment cards are hands down one of the best tools available for this use on a down-to-earth level, groceries and whatnot.

You realize that all bitcoin cards are running on Visa and Mastercard's infrastructure, one push of a button and all are rendered useless, remember WaveCrest?

[darewaller]

The adoption has been increasing ,and that’s really good for our community and the market, it’s what we have all wished for right from the beginning. As for the increase in price, Bitcoin is an asset and I have never expected the dollar or should I say fiat as a whole to have more value than it.

It’s just like buying a land property; a land I bought years back has been increasing in value, and in years coming I believe that it will continue to be worth more, that’s just how I see it, assets are meant to keep going up in value. It has been the same for other assets as well like Gold, diamond and the rest of them. Sometimes there are events that will take place and crash their value, after that they will still go up.

[dothebeats]

To conclude, we must be aware that once things get serious and governments see that their monetary supremacy is being threatened, that they can no longer play their favorite game of inflation tax, they will leave no stone unturned to prevent mass use of crypto as an alternative means of payment. And cryptocurrency payment cards are hands down one of the best tools available for this use on a down-to-earth level, groceries and whatnot.

I remember the heydays of the crypto debit card provided by WaveCrest holdings in 2015 or 2016 up until Visa cuts the service in 2018. If crypto payment cards are one of the best tools there is available in the shed, how come they are highly susceptible to an instant rejection of service from the framework and infrastructure providers that they are running on, i.e. Visa and Mastercard? I love the idea of a crypto debit card, and have used one for months back then, but I don't consider them robust and that protected against control from those who really runs the strings, that's why I'm not extremely reliant to them on my purchases and other expenses.

For the doom predictions for fiat, it has been stated since the end of the gold standard. I myself believed some of these, too, but here we are still getting by day in, day out and still nothing's happening. Prices of goods here are still the same, and some necessities are even going down despite the fact that an economic shutdown has been in place for months. If there really is a fiat collapse, it should have happened in 2008, down with the bankers and the schemes they run, but lo and behold, the economic puppet masters are just too good with what they're doing and we're still here despite the joblessness and the poor economic performance of the world.

I like seeing cryptocurrency adopted on all fronts of the economies, though I don't see fiat disappearing from the financial system any time sooner.