A Brief History
In 1983, the American cryptographer David Chaum conceived an anonymous cryptographic electronic money called ecash. Cryptocurrencies have been around for a while now and we are well past the phase where people were doubting their long-term potential. There were some initial worries that the crypto market is nothing more than a passing trend and that it will all come crashing down eventually. And while we did see some major ups and downs along the way, certain cryptocurrencies have now established a proper place for themselves on the global financial market and it’s clear that they are here to stay.
Many companies have started to take advantage of this as well, and the business landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years as a result of that. Investing in cryptocurrencies as a business, not as an individual, is a perfectly viable approach these days for multiple reasons.
Digging Deeper
Wide Adoption
Number of bitcoin transactions per month (logarithmic scale). Graph by Zhitelew.
The adoption rate for some cryptocurrencies is through the roof at this point. When the news broke that Microsoft now supported Bitcoin for funding users’ store accounts, many realized that things were about to change fast. And they did. It is not uncommon at all to see Bitcoin and other popular coins included as payment options at many storefronts these days, and some stores may even give you special deals when you use cryptocurrency to shop at them.
We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg, too. Many experts predict that adoption rates for cryptocurrencies are going to jump even higher in the coming years, especially with growing concerns about privacy and other similar issues in many countries.
Customer Expectations
Bitcoin ATM. Photograph by Martin E. Walder.
This has led to a change in customer expectations as well. Many people now expect crypto support as a default, and depending on the market you are involved in, you might draw some negative responses if you choose to ignore this. It is not even hard to implement at this point, with lots of publicly available resources that can get you started, as well as specialists ready for hire.
You can also follow market trends easily with the help of the right tools. Live cryptocurrency data can be at your fingertips at any time, and as long as you have the capacity to process it fast enough and make the right decisions based on market shifts, you can easily keep responding to customer expectations in an appropriate manner.
Synergy Potential
Fintech meetup in Sri Lanka. Photograph by RajuRagus2018.
Cryptocurrencies are more than just a payment tool, too – they can be a useful technological solution to a wide range of problems. Even better, it is often not hard to integrate certain specific cryptocurrencies with your own business and see great results on both ends, which is especially easy with smaller cryptos that are not yet established on the market because their developers are typically looking to generate as much hype as possible and are more open to specialized contracts with other tech companies.
Some have even based their entire business models around the crypto market. And while this used to be seen as a foolish venture just a few years ago, that is no longer the case now. It is actually perfectly possible to set up a successful business that generates income entirely by providing services for the crypto market. Integration with fintech is also easy for people involved in that field.
Watching all of this unfold has been nothing short of amazing so far, and we have many reasons to believe that the cryptocurrency market is going to get even more exciting in the near future. Those who invest in the right parts of it stand to gain a lot right now, and it’s not a bad idea to start scouting out viable opportunities from early on if your company is in a good position to take advantage of them.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Casey, Michael J. and Paul Vigna. The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order. Picador, 2016.
The featured image in this article, a collage by voytek pavlik of various different crypto currencies logos, is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
