Demystifying Crypto: Here's What Everyone Must Know About The 21st Century Currency

If there’s one word that’s been making headlines in 2021, it’s got to be Crypto. Whether it’s the curious case of Dogecoin or the jaw-dropping prices reached by Bitcoin as it crossed the trillion-dollar market capitalisation a few days ago, we’ve been held in thrall by all things Crypto. 

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has been tweeting about cryptos and has created more awareness and price fluctuations in digital assets than one would imagine. Understanding cryptos is not that simple, we must say but it’s also not difficult once you begin a deep dive. So, let’s do exactly that and dive into the myriad world of Crypto, separate the wheat from the chaff and determine where India stands on this new-age technology. 

The Desi (Dis)Connect – 

Let’s start with India and its mixed reaction to Crypto. While big investors such as Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and government bodies say they wouldn’t touch crypto currencies with a bargepole, there are still many Indian investors who have put money into Bitcoin and Ethereum, two of the most famous and most favoured crypto currencies across the nation. 

India has upturned a banking ban on Crypto trading in March 2020, but the government has openly spoken about bringing in its own cryptocurrency while banning others in the as-yet unknown Crypto and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021. 

We’ll have to wait and see how the Bill shapes up before we can comment on it but initial signs are not too encouraging for cryptos in India so far even though a ban on them was lifted just last year by the Supreme Court,

It also shows a disconnect between the authorities and savvy Crypto investors who understand that the future belongs to IoT and blockchain technologies. The government can actually jump into these new-age technologies much faster if it regulates Crypto trading instead of banning it. 

We’ve all seen how connected the world has been through technology throughout the pandemic. If Zoom can help a company work with employees from anywhere in the world, is it really too much to think that Crypto can help current banking systems to transact with any other bank in the world more efficiently? 

Most legal experts and investors feel that banning Crypto is a bad idea and will only lead to the rise of an underground black market. It would also hurt the image of Digital India and may also prompt many tech giants to rethink their position.  

The Need To Learn – 

There has never been a better time than now to learn about Crypto, especially with companies like Tesla investing $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and announcing they will support Bitcoin payments for their electric cars in the near future. Even traditional companies like Mastercard have announced plans to look into how to support Crypto while PayPal now allows customers to hold Bitcoin in their digital wallets. 

With Crypto technology getting more widespread acceptance, it's important to look at digital assets from a holistic perspective rather than just see it from an Indian angle. After all, Crypto is a global asset with a robust trading activity in them. 

Unless you understand what and how cryptos work, it’s difficult to comprehend the scale and magnitude of how these digital assets plan to leverage blockchain technology in areas such as health, management, governance and finance among others. 

The Solution Providers – 

Thankfully, there’s a solution at hand aimed at demystifying the world of Crypto. WazirX, a Crypto trading platform and CNBC-TV18 present Crypto: Digital assets of the future, a show to educate investors and bust myths around Crypto. WazirX believes that Crypto is a trillion-dollar tech industry and India can benefit by way of new jobs, inflow of capital, creating tech unicorns, and leading the world to the new financial internet.