Digital Currency and the Financial Inclusion Drive: The Journey So Far

It is largely believed that one of the primary reasons Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin (BTC) was to solve the financial inequality amongst people.

The design of the digital currency and the blockchain backing the new form of money has largely driven new innovations into the space. 

From the surface, it appears that big corporations are cashing out more from the digital currency ecosystem based on the enormity of their investments. However, in reality, retail investors are the biggest beneficiaries of the crypto revolution. This is because the rules that have been established by the mainstream or traditional financial system that naturally gives advantage to institutional advantage do not apply in the decentralized world of digital currencies.

The Equalizing Game

Cryptocurrencies are an innovation that seeks to offer the same products and services as the financial institutions offer, but in a more flexible and decentralized manner. One of the ways this innovation is being brought to life is via Decentralized Finance (DeFi), a financial system coordinated by a predefined set of codes called Smart Contracts.

There are various expressions of DeFi and through developers’ creativity, lending, swapping, and derivatives, products now exist in the digital currency world. Unlike traditional brokers, where requirements are necessary to be met before being granted access to these products, accessing DeFi lending is free from bureaucracy, paperwork, or vetting processes inherent amongst banks.

Other products in the DeFi space are like that, and funds are free from monitoring as individuals keep custody of their digital currencies by themselves through unhosted wallets. 

Thus far, many different people have access to crypto-related products, regardless of their nationalities, races, education, age, and economic status. No financial innovation has given the insight to integrate as many people as cryptocurrencies have done from history. From the millions of crypto users around today, one can conclude that the journey towards mainstream financial inclusion has been quite promising across the board.