Blockchain Adoption in Developing Nations is more Realistic

When looking at the general state of blockchain technology, it’s easy to say that most of the development is happening in developed nations. Places such as Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom are at the forefront of the industry.

However, no matter how many projects they develop, or how many problems they solve, it becomes more and more apparent that the heavily regulated market of developed countries is simply too hard to penetrate without real-world examples of the technology’s usefulness.

Because of this, I truly believe that the adoption of cryptos needs to happen in developing nations rather than the already clustered markets of a first world country.

Here are some of the examples that blockchain developers can already use as arguments for cryptos in their home countries.

Cryptocurrencies are saving Venezuelans

Blockchain is all about decentralization, right? Well, I think that Venezuela is one of the very few countries that managed to experience that to its fullest.

In my view of the blockchain, it’s something of a relevant alternative to a financial or legal framework to an already existing, government-installed reality. Therefore, whenever the government makes stupid decisions and ruins something that the citizens were building for so long, blockchain comes in as a safe haven to avoid any of the consequences of that mistake.

I see that unfold in Venezuela on a completely different level. The inflation is through the roof, people have to survive on almost $1 a day, and getting one’s hands-on daily necessities is almost impossible.

Basically, if you’re a Venezuelan, living in Venezuela and coping with the local reality, it’s extremely hard to survive. But in the process of this struggle to survive, people managed to adopt cryptocurrencies as alternative means of exchange.

First, it was through tech-savvy young people that commerce began to come alive once again. But soon enough, frameworks were developed where people could send each other the Dash cryptocurrency through SMS notification. All of the calculation and mining was done elsewhere and storage was freely provided.

In a sense, Dash managed to revive Venezuelan commerce to a point where people could rely on it much more than the local Bolivar.

Another great benefit that Dash brought to Venezuela was the means of receiving funds from abroad. Thanks to the US sanctions, as well as the aversion of the Venezuelan government to most of the outside world, USD transactions were simply not accepted, and transferring with Bolivars was simply too risky.

Transactions would take weeks or even months. And by the time they got to their destination, they were already worth half of what was intended. Therefore, something alternative needed to be created to help locals survive with the help of those who emigrated.

That’s when cryptos came into play. Most Venezuelan migrants were transferring hundreds of dollars through cryptos and delivering it to their families within seconds. The people quickly adopted this as their reality and are still doing it as we speak.

Production shift to Georgia

Another reason why developing nations are much better for blockchain adoption is due to lower costs and a much friendlier environment.

Let’s take the Republic of Georgia as an example. A post-Soviet country which is trying to increase its economy by any means possible. A lack of resources inhibits their abilities to produce exportable products, and therefore they have to rely on things such as services and etc.

However, due to a very low cost of electricity, large crypto mining firms found the country to be perfect for setting up shop. A large corporation like BitFury is currently holding most of their mining farms in the country and helping it rank #2 in terms of total mined volume.

Furthermore, the popularity of cryptocurrencies keeps on increasing in the country due to the creation of high-paying technology jobs as well as the distribution of these cryptos across the nation. More and more Georgians are stocking up on cryptos for a rainy day.

And that rainy day arrived this year in fact.

Due to some political shenanigans, the Georgian currency depreciated a lot in 2019, leaving most of the country helpless in accessing most of the international markets, simply due to increased prices.

However, the nation quickly saw the potential of cryptocurrencies, as those who had substantial savings didn’t have to adhere to the now changed reality. After such an event even the government has started looking into the technology and adapting it to its databases.

Many more stories around the world

There are dozens of similar situations all over the world. Places like the ASEAN region which is now starting to receive alternatives via blockchain for the unbanked population.

Poverty-stricken African nations which are starting to rely on cryptocurrencies as their alternative medium of exchange due to similar issues as Venezuela.

Hong Kong (although a developed jurisdiction) is relying on Bitcoin to avoid any type of control from Chinese authorities.

It all sounds like the blockchain is bringing about anarchy when in reality all the technology does is helps us stay more connected to the world and avoid the mistakes that people of influence make due to incompetence.