What problem does it solve? Where does it get its value? What can it be used for? Can you buy anything with it?
All of these are questions that people ask. So far, the main use case for cryptocurrency is speculation. When we look at the industry, we see it is overwhelmingly just the green candle gang. They simply are concerned about price go up.
We can tell this is the case simply by the terminology they use. These people are not builders. They refer to "bulls" and "bears". They want to talk about the market with regards to the financial, not as in market share. To them, crypto is nothing more than another asset to trade.
There are some initiatives that are taking a different approach. They are looking at building platforms that provide utility to people. This is incorporates both commercial and financial applications. Here is where cryptocurrency is evolving into payment systems, lending platforms, and collateralization.
Naturally, this is a step in the right direction. However, this is not where the future resides.
Image generated by Ideogram
To present this concept within the proper framework, we have to start with the basics.
Cryptocurrency is a development that arose in the digital realm. It has always resided here, never operating in the physical world. This is an important point.
We are in a period where, with each passing month, our world becomes more digitized. With the rapid progression of artificial intelligence, we are seeing how the world of computers is expanding.
Naturally, this brings in many of the naysayers along with doom and gloomers. That aside, we are witnessing the greatest opportunity in human history with regards to growth, economic productivity and wealth generation. All of this is going to provide the global population with access to resources they never had before.
Consider the impact of the smartphone. This single device provides more than 5 billion people with access to the world's knowledge base. That was something that was not present for much of the planet just a couple decades ago.
All of this pales in comparison to AI. Of course, that is not really a valid comparison as the smartphone is a product whereas artificial intelligence is an overarching term similar to "technology". There are many different forms of AI being worked upon.
Nevertheless, most grasp the basic concept here. We are talking about an artificial system of machines that are basically driven by math. That is what is at the core of most of this.
So what is the future of cryptocurrency? Like many things in the financial realm, it is not human.
Cryptocurrency is machine money.
With the projected path of AI, we can easily conclude that machines will require a way to transact. It is unthinkable that the transfer for value is not going to be something that machine require. To me, this is going to be standard practice.
Hence, machines are going to need their own form of money. This is what cryptocurrency is. Again, it was created in the digital realm, thus instantly aligned.
For those who are having a tough time grasping this, let's look at Bitcoin.
How is that created? Machines "mine" the currency by solving complex math problems. Where is it stored? The coins reside on blockchain, which is a distributed ledger that is kept by unrelated nodes (computers). How is it accessed? Bitcoin is accessed by using a digital wallet that has the proper key to authenticate with the system, allowing for the transfer of the coins.
Here is a question: where are the humans in that?
We can see this is a computer driven process. Everything from creation to the maintaining of the ledger is machine driven. This is true today and, more importantly, was that way from the start.
Naturally, this wallet system can be automated. If software is written with its own wallet, complete with the access via the private key, it can transact just like a human.
All of this can be done without Visa or a bank. Those human innovations serve no purpose to the machines (although these entities have their own automated machine driven systems).
The real use case for cryptocurrency is to capture and transfer value tied to and by machines. Human interaction is going to be reduced.
This starts with machine payments, which seems to be the easiest concept for people to grasp. It is, however, just a small part of a larger system.
Artificial intelligence is going to generate trillions in value. This is going to be driven by machines "growing" in capability. As the entire digital world expands, this will compound to levels we have never seen before. The progress over the last 40 years will be dwarfed over the next 10-15.
When looking at this, the key driver is not really the machines, although robotics holds great potential. The key truly is the software. That is what AI really means. It is mathematics bundled into code.
Hence, AI is really nothing more than data that is wrapped in algorithms and processed on powerful computers. Then, once trained, it is accessed via other computers (called inference), providing output.
Depending upon the situation, the output can have great economic value. Here is where cryptocurrency enters.
All the capabilities of the software expands, more of our lives will be automated. At the same time, machine communication is going to increase, as we are already seeing. Since there is a cost to processing, transfer of value must take place.
When dealing with compute under one corporation, this is no problem. The company builds it in as a cost of doing business. Hence, we do not get a computer processing charge from our bank (yet). It owns (rents) the network. The same is true for Visa, Netflix, and our mobile phone carrier.
What happens when we start to deal with different networks? How is it handled when devices, that are owned by different entities, provide processing to other machines? What is done to compensate for that cost?
The answer is cryptocurrency.
It is going to be the currency of the future because it is machine money.
And guess what is increasing in number (and scope) on a daily basis.
