The article can be found also on Good Audience.
By Tomas Kurtansky
Even though cryptocurrencies are becoming more mainstream — they need to fight and regain the confidence of investors, the public, and the media.
According to ING’s International Survey, at least 60% of Americans, Europeans, and Australians are knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies.
But only 8% of Americans and 9% of Europeans own any cryptocurrency.
Here’s the big question, what is needed to make the crypto markets break the mistrust from the public?
Could it be the establishment of an ETF? Regulation, or self-regulation of crypto exchanges? More transparency from ICOs?
Investors have lost faith and the public have been showered by negative remarks from the media. It could very well come down to one thing — trust.
The trustworthiness of cryptocurrencies
Here are some of the most common arguments against cryptocurrencies.
People view them as being extremely volatile, are in fear of scams, pump and dumps — that’s why it may come as no surprise that people question the trustworthiness of cryptocurrencies.
And of course, there’s the lack of options for buying items in stores with crypto.
Imagine, if your local Walmart allowed you to purchase items in your preferred choice of crypto — now that would be amazing, and in the future, this may very well come true.
But for right now, the simple truth is that there are still not enough people who trust cryptocurrencies.
The financial world right now
Blockchain technology could be used to restore confidence in the financial markets.
As an example, CoinBase was created thanks to the NYSE capital. And, behind the project stands Wall Street (which is as old as the old financial world itself).
Today’s connection between the old and the new world is imbalanced, that’s because traditional finance and government regulation have grown to become too impartial — especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
In reality, the whole concept of cryptocurrencies threatens the very existence of governments, financial institutions and the like.
Could you imagine what it would be like if ETH/BTC etc., is more valuable than the USD?
Well, I bet that has been something the U.S. government has heavily contemplated.
Right now, the financial world is coming to grips with cryptocurrencies and it doesn’t really know what to do, or how to respond.
That’s why the whole financial markets are in discord.
Is the world ready for cryptocurrencies?
The physical financial world needs to be democratized in order to create a new digital dawn.
Blockchain could very well be the driving force for this revolution. However, we arrive to the problem of ‘internal asset value.’
If the cryptocurrencies are to be the driving force for change, they cannot be constantly rejected by their own problems and dependent on unpredictable “market” conditions.
This begs the question, how can we achieve this?
When you follow a dollar, you know that the FED Chief’s statement can directly impact the stock market both positively and negatively.
Or, the results of a company and the scandals associated with the CEO could affect their stock prices.
But what do we know about cryptocurrencies?
If cryptocurrencies are connected to real-world assets, then this will ensure liquidity, enabling crypto investors to have less volatile assets in their portfolios.
The VP of Apple Retail, Angela Ahrendts, believes that it is “no longer possible to think of physical and digital as two different worlds.”
In hindsight, if assets can then be packaged and offered via professionally managed funds, and backed by real-world assets — then this could persuade the masses that there is an alternative to investments.
And there is a really big space for this to work.
