Cryptos have been back down since their highs of last week. Bitcoin even dropped back down below $7,000 briefly. This is not a catastrophe, yet if one looks at the rest of the currencies, even big ones like Ethereum, the numbers are way down. So why are the pundits continuing to predict big numbers for cryptocurrencies, when the prices constantly swing up only to fall back down.
It is important to remember that there will always be those self described “influencers” that have tried to push prices higher by creating a buzz with extreme predictions. It should be noted that cryptos are a long term play that are still in their infancy in many respects.
Volatility is a given, when institutions have yet to figure out how to “play” the cryptomarkets. Furthermore, there has been very little education passed off in a coherent and comprehensible way to the wider investor community on what we are really dealing with.
The challenge goes beyond creating hybrid exchanges like soon to be launched Ternion is doing or securities backed custody accounts, which Coinbase is promoting. Investors must understand what makes cryptos tick and why they are here to stay. Understandably, this is not an easy feat at all.
“Traditional assets are quite regulated and safe. While crypto currency assets are still yet to become safe for everyone. That’s why there is a need for education.”
Rudolf Medvedev CEO of Ternion says the following on the need for education on cryptos: “The whole idea is that when you have rapidly growing crypto markets. And already safe traditional investment markets. You have to be careful with the whole deal regarding cryptos. Traditional assets are quite regulated and safe. While crypto currency assets are still yet to become safe for everyone. That’s why there is a need for education.”
After all, cryptocurrencies were born out of the desire and essentially the need to challenge the status quo. Investors are always onboard when something new comes along, as long as the model in which to make money is easily explainable, but cryptocurrencies are a completely different beast. In a sense they are outside the typical investor model, because they are not an investment, but rather a revolution in how we relate to money.
Think about it. Cryptocurrencies are offering a chance to break free of a model that has existed for the last 500 years. Since the Goldsmiths of England started to open deposits for people and normalized money exchanges people have gotten used to banking as we know it. The idea that we need banks to store our money or act as an intermediary to transfer our funds to one another is ending, but a lot of investors are stuck within this thought process. Not only that, the entire financial system is under attack by cryptocurrencies and yet in many ways we need these investors to come on board.
Education is key to shifting investors out of the old consciousness. The more we focus on this and not only rely on offering smoother and easier ways to invest in cryptos, the more crypto prices will grow and stabilize without the current volatility.