Although 9 out of 10 people that you hear talking about crypto only mention “number goes up”. Crypto is in reality not only about just making money. The whole crypto revolution started with the idea in mind to break free from the current government and central bank-controlled financial system. Over which we have no control at all, as simple citizens.
So no, crypto is about so much more than just making money and it can really liberate people of all sorts. With many of its different functions that run on different blockchains. In this article, we take a look at what crypto really does, why people use it for making quick money, and what its place is/will be in the new digital economy of the future.
Besides making money what does crypto do?
There are many reasons besides making money that makes Bitcoin/crypto so popular. These vary from blockchain to blockchain. But we can start with a list of use cases we find in the overall industry.
Use cases of crypto besides making money
1. Cross border payment system
With crypto, you can transact any type of value anywhere in the world at almost no cost. Which can not be done cheaply and efficiently with the current fiat system.
2. Trust layer (contract signing)
Contracts recorded on the blockchain for whatever use case are there forever and can not be changed. Making it the perfect contract as everyone can see and validate its authenticity.
3. Inflation hedge
Many cryptos like Bitcoin have a maximum supply. Making it so that they do not have any inflation that can be caused by other entities or events. Some cryptocurrencies (like Polygon) even have a system that causes deflation and thus always rewards the holder/saver.
4. Separation of malicious governments and dictatorships
With crypto, no dictator or malicious government can stop you from transacting. This means that with crypto you can buy a newspaper that might say something bad about your government. And the government can not stop your transaction by going to the bank.
5. Tokenization of normally non-value digital items like game items
Now that almost everything is or moves to an online environment we interact with a lot of points or tokens in games or social platforms, that are usually bound to that platform. With crypto, you can take these points of the platform and choose to either use them somewhere else (if that is possible) or pass them on/sell them to someone else, when you do not need them anymore. This way you create value out of something you put your time into online.
6. A more secure industry for computer power and file storage
Big websites and platforms need to have a provider to host their data and send it out to someone else. Many companies provide this service with data centers etc. However, if a data center (or in some cases 2) would be destroyed all the data on it will most likely be gone. With blockchain tech, it is possible to distribute this data to many different computers giving file storage and web hosting a more secure backbone. That can not be destroyed that easily as it is distributed among many computers.
Crypto is still quite new as an industry and the use cases mentioned above will most likely not be all. Because the cryptocurrency industry is just like the internet and can be built upon and innovated upon. Making it possible for more and more use cases to be developed in the future.
This innovation comes from a growing industry and just like innovation on the internet created the blockchain industry. The blockchain industry might create whole new industries on top of it. As the base layer of value on the internet.
Why is crypto used to make money?
But you might wonder if crypto is so good and innovative, why do I only hear all my friends and their uncles talk about how crypto can make you money, etc.
Well, that is simple, blockchain technology can function as the value layer on top of the internet. And because of its limited supply of value (which protects against inflation), the value of the network coins/tokens will go up with more adoption. This was the same with other industries and the internet. The only thing that is different this time is that there is a limited amount of tokens that represent the value of a blockchain network. Making it so that the price goes up over time.
This increase in price is of course very attractive for many people which drives a lot of adoption from people looking to make a quick buck. However, as we mentioned before, crypto is not at all about just making money. Still, we see that most people coming into crypto do come in for the money, and a small percentage of them stay for all the other reasons. This group is usually separated from one another when the markets go into a downturn and there is not that much money to be made anymore for that season.
Because of the simple nature, we find in crypto, we will always find a lot of money-hungry people in crypto. But if you look beyond them there is a whole ecosystem of innovation and freedom ideologies and much more. And yes you can make some money by supporting and building on that system. But please try to look around that and see what this industry can do for humanity.
How to not make money in crypto
If you had that friend or family member tell you that crypto is the place to make some good money. You probably also noticed that at some point they completely stop talking about it. That is because, without a good understanding of what the crypto market is for, you would be basically gambling and falling for scams. Just like someone new with a credit card on the internet would be scammed very easily.
The chance is that that person who only talks about crypto and making money, has most of the time, no idea what crypto or the industry really does (and has probably no investing experience either). This results in them buying just tokens and coins that went up before or have a good marketing team. In a bull market (a market that goes up) this can make them some good money. But as we usually see is that they do not know what to do in a bear market (a market that goes down). This normally results in this person losing a lot of their money and then selling at the bottom, with a loss, and never talking or touching crypto again.
This is a super common thing and sadly a reality that many go through. However, with the right education about the industry, this can be prevented. When users buy into a use case of crypto instead of the idea that they are going to be rich. But like with everything that holds value the price can go up or down. So never expect a return from it, that you need at a later point.
How to simply use crypto
Using crypto should and will be the end-stage for crypto networks. When the industry becomes more evolved, more people will probably use it for its use cases than to try to become rich. To get to this point we need more education on how to use crypto for whatever purpose you might choose. You could do this by practicing crypto, or just reading and learning more about it.
If you decide to want to try it out, you can also do so and play around a bit without investing in Bitcoin or buying crypto. Especially now that Bitcoin gets more and more integrated into small games, you can simply earn a small amount by playing mini-games, and then use it with the Zebedee lightning wallet, which was made especially for gaming.
This way you can use crypto and not necessarily invest or make a fortune with it.
What role crypto could have in the digital economy?
In this digital world, crypto will have a bigger and bigger role. Especially now that inflation springs up all around the world. The use cases of crypto will be more needed. First to protect against inflation and later on in the form of payment and utility tokens in the Metaverse. And all the other use cases we mentioned before at a larger scale.
But finally crypto works as a value layer, so it can and always will be used as an economic system, which some use to earn money. The important thing to remember is that crypto is not just about that and that the economical aspect of it improve significantly compared to the current financial system. Wherewith crypto you can trade 24/7 on a DEX and participate in all sorts of money markets that would normally only allow huge investors and very rich people to join. Making it so that even the small fries like you and me can be part of a global financial ecosystem. And with many platforms like NEXO and Coinloan that offer high interest on your cryptos, you can be much better out than with the small interest that people receive on their bank accounts.
Final word
We hope this blog taught you a bit more about what crypto/blockchain ecosystems are meant for. And made you see that it is not just about making money or getting rich quick schemes. If you like our content, then do not forget to follow us on Twitter. And if you are stuck with any other crypto-related questions, ask us on our socials so we can answer you there or write an article about it next time.
.webp)