As technologies become more advanced, we are beginning to see every industry and sector adopt a new framework to capitalize on our civilization’s advancements. However, the financial sector could see a complete overhaul with crypto replacing paper currency.
FINANCE | Cryptocurrency has seen an influx of interest in the last few years. With more people entering the world of digital assets, it begins to raise the question: “what is the future of currency?”. Some believe the dollar will remain as it is, and others believe that our form of currency will go digital. The answer: it’s up in the air.
Notable figures such as the former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, and chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, have voiced their approval of crypto and claim that it will eventually become the new dollar. Kasparov even went on to say, “I think it’s very important that technology would offer me an opportunity to fight back [against devaluation of currency], to protect my hard-earned fortune. And I think that bitcoin – which I believe is online gold – and other cryptocurrencies are the way to the future.
I’m not a financial expert, but I would not be surprised if, in 10 years’ time, the dollar will be replaced by the basket of coins as a standard.”
Crypto’s main benefit is its inability to be devalued by adding more assets to the existing supply – an issue that paper currency has when central banks print more money. Still, crypto has many additional benefits, including instant exchange of currency from anywhere in the world, the absence of a middleman due to crypto being a peer-to-peer system, and the ability to access digital assets from anywhere.
While many support the idea of crypto becoming the new form of standard currency, many say that the dollar is here to stay. Those that believe the current financial system will withstand the test of time base their assumption on the point of cryptocurrencies’ volatile shifts in value, fluctuating rapidly throughout the day. Additionally, the current system, despite some of its shortcomings, has proven to be effective and has served as our main financial vessel for many years, whereas crypto is comparatively in its infancy.
Although there is no clear answer as to where our financial system will go in the next few years, there is certainly a turning point on the horizon. While crypto is volatile now, there is the possibility that it will become more stabilized. While the dollar has its shortcomings, there may be a way to remedy them soon. Perhaps there won’t be one system that trumps the other. We may even see integration of both forms of currency where they work cohesively off one another. The possibilities are vast and heavily varied at this current time.
