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Is cryptos’ recognition long overdue?

Crusaders tout cryptocurrencies as the future of finance.

‘Blow people’s minds’ and ‘force traditional finance to wrestle with the phenomenal growth’. Among other things, these are the descriptions stemming from the much-anticipated listing of Coinbase on the Nasdaq today, and the hype is warranted.

While Bitcoin’s explosion may bring more questions than answers, one thing is clear: cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Crusaders tout it as the future of finance, the rewards of which can be prepped up for reaping today. Sceptics argue that it’s too early to tell at the least, a big fat ‘no’ at the most. Even the biggest, most reputable establishments and individuals are divided, Warren Buffett and Elon Musk among them.

The fact that cryptocurrencies will now be a publicly-traded commodity also proves the first point above. Traditionally, investors banked on conventional wisdom in placing their bets in the market; today — thanks in large part to the eye-opening coronavirus pandemic — the gamble now hinges on trends and what-ifs, too,

Many a successful business were never given an opportunity to list, grow their operations to huge scales and made shareholders happy with returns. Cryptocurrencies, to certain degrees, have proven that it is a viable asset. As with any investment vehicle, however, there must be rules. The secure blockchain infrastructure may not be enough, given the fact that as tech evolves, so do cyber-crooks. Regulations may and should come, but not to the extent of harming or making cryptos unrecognisable from the purest form it was intended to be.

It’s cliche to say that the digital age has disrupted several things and us, as users and consumers, have been brought down the path of accepting new ways to do things, openly or begrudgingly. Whatever the case, cryptos deserve a chance, with its pros — so far, so good — outweighing the cons. Of course, the danger in ‘ignoring’ such an asset can be both risky and regret-inducing. Think Steve Ballmer mocking the original iPhone in 2007; turned out Apple’s wonder product would out-revenue Microsoft’s entire ops some years later.

If cryptos do become successful, it will validate these crusaders’ reasonings and forward-thinking methods. If it doesn’t, well, it will all roll back to the base argument which, strictly speaking, would still favour them: It hasn’t been tried and tested en masse. But there’s a guarantee to that: This is just the beginning; acceptance — and perfection — will come, someday, somehow.