Proof of work, proof of stake, ledger, cryptography, mining and other buzzwords are a feature of the crypto community. However, for a kind of tech that hopes to achieve more mainstream adoption, blockchain has to be put in simpler terms for larger groups of people to understand it enough to want to adopt or use it. The current pundits of blockchain tech are more likely to be starry eyed (and equally cynical) tech enthusiasts as well as traders of different calibers and experiences who are obviously all trying to make profit rather than the layman on the street who’s trying to close off a purchase (the layman could be the trader but I digress).
What’s the idea here? In simple terms, there’s an education gap in the industry that essentially is hindering or slowing down the rate at which blockchain tech is becoming mainstream. Added to the drama is the fact that many cryptocurrency platforms are not owned and/or sanctioned by world governments. While public opinion on governments may look sour from time to time, people still have a propensity for trusting authority especially when it comes to value exchange. Therefore, there is a level of mistrust in schemes not government sanctioned especially since the technology that enables it to all work is misunderstood or not grasped at all.
However, to say that a central authority’s nod of approval is all that is required would be a shaky conclusion. El Salvador just recently made the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, legal tender. It should have been a happy ever after or a close approximation of that. However, it seems that public opinion on the use of the cryptocurrency as lawful money is still in the red. El Salvadorians have been protesting a rushed adoption of the digital currency as well as the fallout from the practical display of crypto market volatility. Hours after the “Bitcoin Law” came into force, Bitcoin lost as much as 18.6% of its value.
In El Salvador, even as progressive as such an initiative seems, the rollout looks to be full of issues. One that particularly stands out at this time is the lack of education the El Salvadorian public has about a currency that they are now required by law to use. A study carried out in August questioning 1,281 people showed amongst other things that people didn’t know about or understand Bitcoin. According to the study, only 4.8 per cent of respondents correctly identified Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency and that 7 out of 10 people did not fully understand what it is. The survey also showed that 2 out of 10 people had never heard of Bitcoin before. This is mind numbing for a country that has deployed the cryptocurrency as legal tender.
Not surprisingly, there has been some opposition to its use. From the study, 68% of those polled disagreed with the use of Bitcoin as legal tender. 8 out of 10 respondents had little or no confidence in the use of Bitcoin. And, how would they? It’s apparent that many didn’t understand it well enough or at all to even develop that confidence in the first place. There have since been protests since the law came into force. Although, one cannot remove the political connotations present in the demonstrations, they still underscore a discontent at the heart of which lies a gap in education.
In other parts of the world, say, Africa, cryptocurrencies and their vast intricacies do seem popular. If you have a smart phone and internet connection that is. At the end of the day, Africa still has a comparatively low penetration of technology and internet connectivity varying based on the country in focus. The world has looked upon the rise of the blockchain industry in Africa, even calling it the next frontier because of the tremendous growth the sector has witnessed on the continent. But the big picture often hides the details, amongst which is the fact that said growth is driven largely by a specific age demographic in a handful of countries. And just as mentioned earlier, many are truly only in it to win it, casting to the side any cryptocurrency that no longer shows promise. But hey, at least some African nations are flirting with the idea of having state sanctioned digital currencies. Hopefully they do things better than El Salvador has.
