9 Barriers to the Mass Cryptocurrency Adoption.

It’s been more than a decade for cryptocurrencies existence and cryptos are succeeded to attract more eyeball in just 10 years.

But still, cryptos are not reaching the point where it becomes mainstream and attracts the people.

What are the barriers holding cryptos to becoming mainstream?.

Here is a list…

#1 Hard to Understand.

Understanding technology and concept behind cryptos are not easy for, especially non-techie people.

When outsiders from crypto community hear that the Bitcoin is an anonymous and safe secure way to transact then realize it is not completely anonymous and safe, to them this certainly seems to further the idea that it’s not as beneficial as pundits continue to claim.

Day by day it even becoming hard for an outsider to get into the cryptos, because not able to cope up with recent developments in the technologies.

Now to spread the awareness of cryptos many nations governments coming forward with university courses, P.H.Ds and several programs to educate the general public also there are many courses online, including free podcasts, and YouTube tutorials that help individuals to learn about cryptos. But these steps were not helpful until we tighten the narrative and start on simple useful education initiatives to provide much-needed clarity.

#2 Vast Number of Cryptocurrencies.

Did you know, according to Coinmarketcap there are more than a 5 thousand cryptocurrencies exist?.

In this number, the majority of cryptos not made with the intention of mass adoption some are for gamers, some for agriculture, some for music or art and the number is increasing day by day.

Until we cut out the useless cryptos, it is becoming harder and harder for the average person to know which cryptocurrencies offer the best value and benefits for him also mass crypto adoption will be hard.

#3 Volatility.

Below is the 24-hour price chart of the famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

You can see the price of Bitcoin changing in minutes.

There are several reasons for the price fluctuation.

While holding the cryptocurrencies for few days, fluctuation could cost you hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars. Even the situation becomes worse, when you’re making any transaction, the value could change considerably.

This volatility character creates fear in any newbie who wants to enter into the crypto world. That’s why this character needs to be eliminated or lessened considerably for becoming mainstream.

#4 Criminal Association.

Bitcoin buzz started with the Silk Road incident.

Silk Road is the dark web market place using Bitcoin as a currency for buying almost anything including Drugs, Guns even anyone can hire a hitman with a Bitcoin. The market place shut down when its founder got arrested.

Also, Bitcoin used as a payment method for cybercriminals in 2017 ransomware attack.

Not only Bitcoin, now cybercriminals using mineable cryptocurrencies for cryptojacking attacks. In cryptojacking attacker plant a virus in the machine unbeknown to machine owner or operator for mining certain coin.

Anyone knowing all the criminal activities associated with cryptos would hesitate to make move towards cryptos.

#5 Scams and Hacks.

In the crypto world, government involvement is almost zero, that means no policies or rule and regulations to control the crypto activities, this leads to more fictitious activities.

Without any trusted third-party involvement in crypto activities, a lot of scammers are waiting to get the advantages to scam the newbies using different methods.

Even there is no guarantee for the crypto deposits on the exchanges because there’s no insurance policy on most exchanges or clear regulation in place, your money could be there one day and gone the next. The best example is the MT.Gox, Bitfinex attacks.

#6 Immutability.

Once you make any payment in crypto, then the payment is irreversible.

Once a transaction recorded on the block, it becomes immutable no one can change or alter the block data.

Since there are no authentic third party involvement and strick rules to make any crypto transactions it even becomes hard to trust any unknown person or platform to make crypto transactions knowing transactions are irreversible.

#7 Scalability.

Bitcoin can process up to 27 transactions per second, and Etherium can process 20 there are other cryptos like EOS and Steller can process more than 1000 transactions per second.

But on the other hand, centralized global payment system Visa alone can process 24,000 transactions per second, can you notice the difference it is huge!.

We can’t support the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies when it takes 10 minutes or more for a transaction to clear.

#8 Regulation.

As I mentioned in the above points, there are a lot of countries consider cryptocurrencies are illegal and even more countries still not came to conclusion to regulating it.

These kinds of disagreement between jurisdictions helpful for increasing more shady activities in crypto space. However, there are small countries like Malta came up with new legislation for cryptos, but there are still far too many grey areas.

While setting a global standard in regulation may not be possible (or even desirable), at least a basic agreement on KYC/AML practices could prevent further crime and encourage more people to enter the space.

#9 Impact on Environment.

These days concern about the environment is increasing rapidly but on the other hand cryptos like Bitcoin uses the Proof of Work mechanism which need the computation power that consumes electricity and produces heat to create new coins and validate the transactions.

To tackle the problem with Proof of Work developers developed a solution in the form of Proof of Stake, but it’s less secure and more prone to centralization than Proof of Work these kinds of the problems make cryptos to depend upon Proof of Work mechanism.

More sustainable mining is another problem we have yet to solve. Countries like Canada and Iceland allow for cryptocurrency mining using sustainable energy resources, but it’s not common yet.

Conclusion.

These are the barriers that holding cryptos mass adoption but remember cryptocurrencies is still emerging and only decade old. In time, the technology will improve and crypto will become better, more sustainable and easier to use.

However, people already having trouble with today’s tech, such as smartphones and social networks. They will have trouble dealing with cryptos.

Originally published at https://ccoingossip.com on January 21, 2020.