Unlocking the Power of Crypto: A Comprehensive Guide to Crypto Utility in 2023
Intro
Cryptocurrencies have gone a long way over the years going through the phases of bear and bull markets (yea that’s not the first and not the last one out there right now), gaining more and more popularity as payment methods and as a speculation opportunity.
Essentially, cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that don’t need a bank or other middlemen to do transactions. That means faster, cheaper, and more secure transactions, which is dope!
The big challenge with crypto is that a lot of people still don’t really get it.
Not many places accept it as payment. Not many large products actively communicate their use of blockchain technology, even though there’s a bunch of integrations within giants like Microsoft, Shopify, Stripe and others.
And there’s a lot of exciting products out there that are trying to change that. They’re making it easier to buy stuff online, send money to your friends, distribute and store files, and do all of the daily things — on blockchain.
Crypto gets developed faster than the regulatory framework which makes it hard for both the tech space and adopters to navigate the potential ways of integration.
As of 2023, there are estimated to be over 420 million crypto users worldwide.
Bottom line, crypto has the potential to change the game in a big way. It could totally transform industries like finance, healthcare, and supply chain management. These tendencies already are visible in the world. But for that mass adoption to happen, we need more people to start using it and therefore, more utility to choose from.
What is Crypto Utility?
When talking about crypto utility, people usually refer to how useful a specific cryptocurrency, a blockchain or a dApp (decentralized application) can be in the real world.
The most obvious example of crypto utility is using crypto as a payment method. Stablecoins, such as USDT, USDC, DAI and others are popular for their price peg to USD dollar that makes them super attractive to the people doing their regular daily payments in crypto. For the payments use case many crypto projects such as Binance, Gemini and others are integrating crypto debit cards that you can use to seamlessly spend your crypto balance for purchases.
There’s a lot of native utility tokens on the blockchains as well — such as BNB coin that is used to pay the fees on BNB Smart Chain and ETH on Ethereum that is also used for gas fees.
However, this is just the top of the iceberg of crypto utility as such.
In this article, we will go over more interesting and innovative ways of how crypto can be used in our real world lives.
Why Do We Care
- Blockchain as a technology heavily depends on its adoption.
The more people use cryptocurrencies, participate in the networks, engage with protocols — the more liquidity and interest there’s about the whole ecosystem.
Crypto that makes it outside the small niche group of crypto folks automatically brings more adoption to the technology.
One of the ways to make it to the big world out there — is to showcase the utility.
- When utility steps into the game, price speculations value less — bringing more stability and reduced volatility into the space.
That, definitely, makes the whole thing more attractive to people not willing to play games but willing to use technology.
Challenges? Yes
Of course, as with any new technology that brings new projects into space, there’re challenges involved.
Because there’s still not enough education and understanding about crypto (if you are a crypto folk — don’t be surprised. We live in a bubble, people still do not know about crypto), adoption and use cases are limited to the certain extent of careful testing.
Recent events bring regulatory uncertainty that forces many products to focus on keeping the existing users in the ecosystem rather than acquiring new adopters.
Security risks, that we’re all aware of, also do not make it easier to get involved. DYOR (“Do Your Own Research”) is one of the most popular crypto slangs — and not without a good reason!
How Crypto Can Be Utile
Nevertheless, there’s a lot of well-established projects that proved their reliability and utility.
Moving forward, we will cover some of them.
We are Shping — Australian-based mobile app and ERC20 token founded in 2018.
Shping is focused on providing the mobile app to plan your shopping, compare prices, and maximise savings across multiple stores. Built-in features to share shopping lists, leave reviews, and receipt you save allow you to earn a reward — issued in a form of SHPING tokens.
Our crypto token SHPING is a utility token, since it is used as a reward in the Shping ecosystem.
Holo is a decentralized hosting platform that allows users to host and distribute applications and websites without relying on centralized servers. Its native cryptocurrency, HOT, is used to pay for hosting fees on the network.
Golem is a decentralized supercomputer that enables users to rent out their unused computing power to perform complex calculations and tasks. Its native cryptocurrency, GLM, is used to pay for these services on the network.
Origin Protocol is a decentralized marketplace that allows buyers and sellers to transact without relying on centralized intermediaries. Its native cryptocurrency, OGN, is used to pay for transaction fees and to incentivize users to participate in the network.
Chrono.tech was founded in 2016 with the aim of making short-term employment opportunities as easy to access as any other online service. The company built LaborX.com, a DeFi platform enabling global freelancers to secure the best jobs and make sure they are paid quickly and fairly. Their token $TIME unlocks premium account features within LaborX and can be staked to earn a share of protocol revenues.
And there is much more to discover in the infinity of crypto space! For all of the projects, cryptocurrency brought several amazing advantages:
- Opened a whole new audience of people, interested to adopt the solution
- Allowed access to the decentralized payment network, data storage, data transfer and communication
- Provided an extra opportunity to reward the loyal users
Future of Crypto Utility
Crypto utility as a space for discovery has a great potential to uncover.
The Shping App aims to become the ultimate shopping companion for every shopper, helping them make smarter shopping decisions. Meanwhile, the Shping token is set to become a universal reward token, powering engagement between brands and consumers worldwide.
In the large space of crypto, utility is taking a new turn via these domains (and many others!):
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
This trend involves using cryptocurrencies to provide financial services in a decentralized manner, without intermediaries like banks. DeFi projects like Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound allow users to earn interest on their crypto holdings, borrow and lend crypto, and trade crypto assets without the need for traditional financial institutions.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
These are unique digital assets that can be used to represent ownership of a variety of things, from art and music to virtual real estate and even in-game items. NFTs use blockchain technology to create a verifiable digital record of ownership, which makes them perfect for things that require proof of ownership and authenticity.
Social tokens
These are cryptocurrencies that are designed to represent the social capital of individuals, communities, or even brands. Social tokens can be used to reward users for contributing to a community, or to incentivize certain behaviors. Projects like Rally and Roll allow creators to launch their own social tokens and build their own economies around them.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)
Several countries around the world are exploring the possibility of creating their own digital currencies. CBDCs could provide a more efficient and cost-effective way of conducting financial transactions, while also reducing the need for physical cash. China’s digital yuan and the Bahamas’ Sand Dollar are two examples of CBDCs that are already in circulation.
Therefore…
As one of the active crypto utility believers and evangelists, we see a great importance of increased education around cryptocurrency in general and support towards the products that connect the technology with real world use cases.
We believe that by introducing real people to how crypto can help them with their daily needs rather than storming them with price predictions and passive income speculations is a way to gain mass adoption as a solution and as a crypto community.
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