Crypto cracking out of shell: Regulation, education needed to speed up adoption

For cryptocurrency to succeed in any form, either as a payment mechanism or asset class, adoption of digital currencies must rise steadily, and education and regulation can help with that, exchange platform Bybits Igneus Terrenus told Arabian Business.

Currently, it is estimated 3-4 percent of the population has interacted with digital currencies.

Theres kind of an antagonism between the crypto players and the regulators, but that doesnt have to be the case, Terrenus, who is the companys head of communications, said. Theres a lot of people on the fence, and with regulation customers can have more clarity.

How the regulation debate continues to rage in the crypto world

If those in the crypto world are right, the system they’re developing threatens to upend the traditional, centralised monetary system – which beyond payments is used to generate government revenue via taxes

Regulators concerns around the world include how to conduct know-your-customer checks and ensure anti-money laundering, as well as make sure digital transactions arent used to move illicit goods and fund terrorism.

Our goals arent that different than regulators. We want to protect customers and we want the industry to thrive, he said.

In the UAE, the government has welcomed the innovation behind cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Dedicated incubator and accelerator programs have set up shop for entrepreneurs in the emerging tech, and regulators in Dubai have worked with those in the space.

The local regulators are very progressive in their thinking, probably only paralleled by those in Singapore and El Salvador, and that attracts us a lot, he said.

In Dubai, where crypto has been embraced, its hard to find people who havent heard of the most popular digital coin, Bitcoin. But beyond the UAEs borders, decentralised finance adoption and awareness varies greatly.

Igneus Terrenus, head of communications at Bybit.

Decentralised finance or DeFi competes with the traditional, centralised financial system comprised of banks, exchange houses and other financial institutions.

When were able to achieve decentralisation, itll be a good virtue, when everyone can achieve financial freedom and be their own bank, but is the world ready? I dont think it is, Terrenus said.

For now, many people want something similar to the traditional system theyre familiar with, he said, adding and to offer that we still need centralisation.

For companies and countries, crypto is in its nascent stages of adoption as well. Only a handful of publicly listed companies currently accept digital currencies as payment the most notorious among them Elon Musks car company Tesla. El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as an official currency, but it had done so as a means to counter a collapsing native currency.

More education remains at the heart of the adoption drive. Terrenus pointed to a large population that doesnt yet know what a digital wallet is or how to open one, though is optimistic crypto is at the beginning of the track.

You can see crypto has so much room to grow, and were still finding so many use cases, he said.