Leah Green

How far digital are we willing to go? We all know by this point, our future is going digital. There’s no escaping it, what we need to know now is what’s next, and how does this affect me? 

Crypto; short for cryptocurrency, is a digital currency that exchanges for goods and services; maintained by a decentralized system. 

This means bad news for the government, because this means we (as citizens) can undermine government authority; in the next few years this could uproot the current financial system. 

According to The Capital, “Cryptocurrencies have the ability to accelerate global social and economic development by making it simpler to access when it comes to buying resources and availing financial services, particularly in developing countries. This implies that less-developed countries have more chances of engaging in financial markets and of raising their own economic and social status.” 

Medium adds by saying, “This will save people billions of dollars, and will speed up the socioeconomic development of countries such as Guatemala that receive more than 10% of their GDP annually from remittances.” Most of this technology has already been put to use in other places. In the Bahamas they have their own currency called the “Sand Dollar”. Since launched in October of 2020 it’s been a big success. Smaller businesses are taking less hits on fees from banks, and it’s covid safe.

For business owners this is the perfect time to start using crypto. A study completed by BusinessWire found, “There are four main findings based on interviews with four merchants that accept bitcoin and other cryptos. First, up to 40% of customers that pay with crypto are new to the merchant. Second, purchase amounts are twice that of credit card purchases. Third, crypto is less expensive than credit cards, and lastly, there are no fraud-related chargebacks.” 

Nowadays bigger chain companies are using bitcoin, a type of crypto, to allow people to buy things in the U.S. Places like homedepot. Starbucks, Wholefood, Expedia.com, and Twitch. These are all companies that people use for daily occurrences and needs. While being able to maintain privacy, and security. 

For consumers investing in cryptocurrency is the best thing you can do for you, and your future self. It allows for long term assets and wealth. 

The money you earn from trading in the stock market earns you interest, so essentially you’re being paid as your stocks grow. With discipline, patience, smarts, and a will for financial security it’s all possible. 

Roger Ma, a certified financial planner at lifelaidout and author of “Work Your Money, Not Your Life says, “What we’ve seen in the long term, for long holding periods, is that returns in the stock market have generally outperformed other asset classes. 

Experts from CNBC say “Financial experts generally recommend only putting into cryptocurrencies an amount of money that you can safely lose — in other words, it shouldn’t be all of your nest egg. Typically, having 5% of your portfolio in a high-risk asset such as bitcoin or other coins is a safe rule of thumb.” 

Others, like The Times UK suggest asking yourself a series of questions before even investing. “Do I understand what I am investing in? Am I happy with the level of risk? How much more expensive is it now compared to a few months ago? Is there any evidence to suggest prices could rise even higher? If I buy it now with a view to sell it for even more later, who do I think will buy it from me for that higher price and why? If an asset is so great, why was I not interested when it was much cheaper?” If Billionaires are investing in crypto the question you need to ask is why aren’t I? 

Using crypto right now could be a big risk, because we don’t know much or where it could go; we do know. This new age technology is on the rise not just for independent users, but whole countries. Cryptocurrency is going to end up on a beneficial rise for the economy and you don’t want to be last. Invest now and thank me later.