Crypto 24 / 7 News

Will Crypto take a very different path to adoption? A cluster of islands lies at the Asia-Pacific rim.It’s a traveler’s paradise, home to thousands of local residents.One day, an early warning system detects a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean.Warning bells have indicated that waves of up to 100 feet would arrive at the island within a few hours.Elken, one of the tech-savvy residents of these islands, does something different even while others are rushing to pack their belongings to flee to the hills or to fly out on planes.Elken logs on to his crypto exchange and purchases more crypto currency than he already possesses.In fact, he empties out his bank account, purchasing a mix of bitcoin and ethereum.

His worry is that the island bank, although well established, does not have a large enough customer base and is not a global bank.

The flood could even destroy it.His actions are then akin to protecting his investment or the well being of his family.

Scenario’s like this are becoming increasingly likely in a future where climate catastrophes can ravage or possibly even submerge small islands in the blink of an eye.For individuals like him, crypto is a godsend.There are other instances too where crypto has had to come from behind to emerge as the lifeline where other national options have failed due to a list of causes ranging to instability, war or even sanctions.Instability & Sanctions [Afghanistan](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/afghanistans-crypto-lifeline.html) is a good case where individuals have now started to trade in crypto in large numbers.What other option would you have if your country is strained by sanctions and the economy is in the doldrums? Ever since the US quit Afghanistan, it has frozen its aid and seized a large portion of the financial assets it had provided Afghanistan with.

Almost overnight, [crypto](https://cryptoforinnovation.org/crypto-and-afghanistan-financial-lifeline-in-the-midst-of-crisis/) emerged as a promising alternative, and adoption has been increasing ever since, despite Taliban threats.[Ukraine](https://www.eiu.com/n/war-torn-ukraine-embraces-crypto/) is another more recent example, with lots of support from well-wishers across the globe.In fact, millions of dollars in crypto have flowed into Ukraine since the conflict began.

Money that was and is being used by Ukraine to support its war.In fact, even Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Etherium, has donated significantly to Ukraine’s war effort in crypto.

Economic Stability [El Salvador](https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/08/07/two-months-in-el-salvador-the-ground-game-for-bitcoin-adoption/) leaped into the news two years ago at a bitcoin conference when its premier announced (clearly without any prior intimation) that his country would accept bitcoin as legal tender.Since then, the adoption rate has been mixed.The country has neither progressed nor slumped behind in growth, but an area of concern is that the public has yet to adopt it completely, despite the infrastructure the government put in place to enable it.Soon to follow, the [Central African Government](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/central-african-republic-adopts-bitcoin-an-official-currency-2022-04-27/) decided to throw its hat in the ring with crypto, albeit for very different reasons.

The reasons given were the need to move away from their existing Central African CFA franc, a regional currency that seems to hold them back to colonial days.Whatever the reasons, the crypto march seems to be on.While countries on the periphery are not shy about adopting crypto currencies, the big-nation states are not in a hurry, allowing their central bankers or regulators ample wiggle room to put restrictions in place.In the interim, there is a mixed approach to crypto investments: either tax them or let them be.While taxing crypto investments serves as an impediment, letting them be puts the risk entirely in the hands of the investors.The result of doing this was visible in the 2023 SBF crypto crash!! The warning signs were there for all to see just before the 2008 crisis, just like they were around for crypto in 2023.Which is why it was quite strange that people lost a ton of money when SBF finally drowned in the crypto market’s dream run.It seemed like even Binance couldn’t save itself from the onslaught of Gary Gensler of the FTC.

Jumping off the cliff Like most assets are said to be able to reach their inherent value only when away from public glare, the same applies with crypto.From its lowest ebb in Q4 2022, bitcoin has since gained [100%](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/in/investing/cryptocurrency/why-is-crypto-going-up/).Needless to say, if you had bought into bitcoin at the bottom of the barrel when Sam Bankman was being arraigned in court, you would have doubled your money by now.

Why didn’t we see this coming? It was so obvious!! Thriving scrupulous fly-by-night operators like Luna and Tornado Cash initiated the crypto downslide, which culminated in the decapitation of its torchbearer, Sam Bankman.This made us feel that the entire crypto industry was on the verge of collapsing.What even made it worse was that this environment emboldened regulators globally to take their kid gloves off and go after this segment with a vengeance.Shortly after this, [Gary Gensler](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/05/1180132574/sec-ftx-binance-cz-changpeng-zhao-crypto-exchanges) took out his knives and took Binance’s CEO, widely known as CZ, to court for failing to register their entity with the SEC before operating as a platform and taking users money.Crypto’s Guardian Angels The crypto industry actually does have a few guardian angels.

I’m referring to the investment bankers who have, for the last few years, been launching crypto offerings to their clients.This, of course, was triggered by their clientele wanting exposure to cryptocurrency as a different asset class.

One of the players to watch is JP Morgan who have increasingly been investing in blockchain and decentralised finance over the last few years.Recently their natively-built platform [Onyx](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/10/11/first-mover-americas-jpmorgan-goes-live-with-first-blockchain-based-collateral-settlement/) that runs on the Etherium platform transacted a large financial settlement on tokens.Gradually, the idea of officially categorizing crypto as a separate asset class surfaced.The shot in the arm came earlier this month when the SEC approved a [bitcoin ETF](https://www.reuters.com/technology/bitcoin-etf-hopefuls-still-expect-sec-approval-despite-social-media-hack-2024-01-10/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2FNEW%20YORK%2C%20Jan%2010,and%20the%20broader%20crypto%20industry.).This, among many other things, allows the clientele of these big firms to indirectly hold cryptocurrency.While little has changed in terms of guardrails in the crypto industry, this move is quite certainly going to result in a significant inflow.Whether it ends up making crypto more volatile remains to be seen.

Soon to follow, for sure, could be an Etherium ETF and a few more, possibly stablecoin ETFs.Store of Value or Medium of Exchange.An asset is, in many ways, a store of value, and perhaps this is the first step that crypto would need to take before moving forward to ever be accepted as a medium of exchange.Nevertheless, many cryptocurrency purists object to the idea of an ETF because it contradicts their vision for the technology: to establish a new decentralized financial system where daily transactions occur in cryptocurrency and are not governed by a single organization or government.This looks like a long way off, at least for the time being.The fact that it took the world almost 15 years to get an ETF out of crypto is a good indicator as to how strongly the establishment (for whatever reasons) can stall or push back something that does indeed threaten its survival.From another angle, the ETF could be the beginning of a path in this direction.

When Elken’s family reached the mainland, he was finally able to connect to his crypto exchange and, for a short fee, convert his coins to hard currency.His money wasn’t lost, and his way of life was preserved.Isn’t this how the system is supposed to work? Visit us at [DataDrivenInvestor.com](https://www.datadriveninvestor.com/) Subscribe to DDIntel [here](https://www.ddintel.com/).Have a unique story to share? Submit to DDIntel [here](https://datadriveninvestor.com/ddintelsubmission).Join our creator ecosystem [here](https://join.datadriveninvestor.com/).[DDIntel ](https://ddintel.datadriveninvestor.com/)captures the more notable pieces from our [main site](https://www.datadriveninvestor.com/) and our popular [DDI Medium publication](https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/).Check us out for more insightful work from our community.

DDI Official Telegram Channel: [https://t.me/+tafUp6ecEys4YjQ1](https://t.me/+tafUp6ecEys4YjQ1).