Crypto Academy Contest / S2W1 - How Cryptocurrency has Shaped the Financial Realm. What is Its Future? by @omerenma

Hello friend, nice to be with you all once more via this medium. It is nice to have the steemit engagement contest back to its season two.

I am starting with the crypto academy contest that has the tittle How Cryptocurrency has Shaped the Financial Realm. What is Its Future?

With the advent of Blockchain came the evolution of cryptocurrency. The Blockchain was designed to be a decentralized platform that does not have any form of control from a particular person or authority.

Thus cryptocurrency which is digital money built on the Blockchain is designed to have no central source of control. This have had much influence in the financial sector.

We are going to discuss in my writeup the extent to which digital money affects the financial sector.

Cryptocurrency is a form of money digital in nature which does not rely on a bank or financial house before transactions are consumated.

It is basically a system that relies on individuals to send and receive payments known as peer to peer. The money received in this case are digital and can simply be carried around on devices phones and laptop through which you can log into your wallet and have access to your money or digital assets.

When a cryptocurrency transfer is made, the details.of the transaction are stored in a public ledger.

The name which starts with cryp arises from the fact that it uses encryption to verify and validate its transactions which makes it s secure and safe.

Like I earlier mentioned, the transactions run a distributed public ledger known as blockchain, where all transaction records are updated online real time and seen and held by all the holders of that cryptocurrency.

This cryptocurrency units are mined, a process that includes the use of computers to solve complicated mathematical problem which generates the crypto coin as the end product

A cryptocurrency is stored in an electronic wallet and the owner have cryptic keys with which he can send and buy crypto assets without any need for a third party.

I will like show this comparison by using a tabular method.

S/n	cryptocurrency	conventional currrency
1.	Crypto currencies are intangible. Digital assets	Conventional currencies are tangible, we can feel them. Fiat money
2.	Individuals identity are anonymous	Individual must be fully known and identified(kyc).
3.	A third party is not required to consumate a transaction	A third party or an intermediary is required for it to take place.
4.	There is no central source of control or authority	There is centralized form of control and authority.
5.	This is Blockchain minted	conventional currencies are government printed and issued.
6.	cryptocurrencies derives it's value from its parent Blockchain	while the value of the currencies are tied to the dollars.
7.	Every holder of a cryptocurrency have access to the distributed online Ledger which is the database	It is only the central authority that have access to the entire database.

Just like any other innovations, crypto currencies have it's good and bad sides. On the unique beauty of crypto. it has brought about new ways of doing things in a very easy way. For example, it very easy to get access to important medicines needed for treatment, through fast payments and delivery systems. It has opened the way for agricultural products to be sold even across borders. The use of crypto have led to efficient transport systems especially more noticeable in under developed countries. Payments for goods and services are very easy and swift compared to using traditional financial system.

The use of crypto currencies have helped disadvantaged persons to take full ownership of their financial future.

Crypto adoption have brought banking to the millions of un-banked population in rural areas since it works with mobile devices.

Digital assets can help local communities to govern themselves. This they could do by using it to vote during election, access government services and even act as a check on public projects to ensure it is carried out well.

These are just some of the wonderful things cryptos can do for us.

However, there are negative sides to crypto assets as well.

° Scalability:- Scalability is one of the major issues of crypto currencies. Other payment options like VISA process a lot more transactions than blockchains. Also the speed of transaction of crypto currencies is very low.

° Security:- We have seen crypto assets subject to incessant cyber frauds. We have had various attacks on projects in it's initial stages, even after launching be attacked, causing investors to lose large sums of money. Luna case is just very fresh in our minds.

° Crypto price Volatility:- crypto assets are highly volatile which can lead to speedy loss of value for investors.

° Regulation and Logistics problem:- Since there are no regulation guiding it's operation, it is therefore a very risky investment since no one can be held accountable for misuse of power over the Blockchain. Additionally, when upgrades needs to be done, this can take like 1 to 3 months of which investors don't even have control over.

• The issue of scalability can be solved by providing technological infrastructures that have been highly scaled. Already, we have seen the introduction of lightning networks, staking, and sharding as working and proposed solutions to scalability issues in cryptocurrencies.

° Security can be increased by regular and continuous upgrade of its infrastructure and software programs.

° Price volatility can be tackled by attaching the value of the crypto currency to tangible assets like Gold and intangible asset like energy derivatives. This will serve as a base value for the cryptocurrency. Massive adoption of digital assets can also go a long way in ensuring price stability.

° There should be elements of regulation in the crypto industry. This will serve as a deterrent to many unwholesome practices that is going on right now. This developers would be held accountable and necessary punishment given to them for mismanagement. Time limits should also be set for upgrades which is also a part of regulation.

I strongly believe that there is a positive future for cryptocurrency. This is because, over the past ten years since it's evolution, we have seen changes in the way things are done and even in the distribution of wealth.

Some who never went to school can study and learn online and make payments easily due to knowledge and use cryptocurrency.

In the future continuous modifications of standards and operational modules will help in equitable distribution of wealth.

So many in the rural areas are seeing light from the adoption of cryptocurrency which will help reduce the level of poverty in those areas improving their lives in the process.

With the way many are embracing crypto adoption, I do not see a stop to its growth, rather evolution of various ways it can be used by its holders.

Recommendations

I strongly recommend that governments should not impose unnecessary laws barring its citizens from the use of of crypto currencies. Rather they should work together with the developers and find out many other ways it could be used to improve the lives of their citizens.

Cryptocurrencies have come to stay. It cannot fizzle out again as many other projects have. The benefits arising from it is much to be overlooked.

However, efforts should be made to ensure it will not be a way of swindling people of their hard earned money.

I am inviting @ngoenyi, @goodybest and @eliany to join in this contest.