Opinion by: Alexander Gueff, founder and CEO of Tectum
Crypto companies have spent many years driving in digital wallets and exchanging apps, convinced that they will bring financial integration to the world. Here is the fact: 1.4 billion people remain unchanged, and crypto adoption barely exceeds 8%. For all conversations about decentralization and accessibility, the industry continues to ignore billions -billions of people who rely on cash for their daily life.
With the development of the economies of Africa, South Asia and Latin America, cash is not just dominant – it’s important. Banking services are widespread, smartphone penetration is low, and digital literacy remains a drawback. These onboard populations are expected through a process designed for tech-savvy users with Internet access is not realistic.
Pa every time Offline crypto solutions Tested, the adoption jumped. The message is clear: people are willing to use crypto but need a way to access it that fits their reality.
The global reality of relying on cash
Despite the assumptions that digital finance will eventually be replaced with cash, that is not what the numbers show. Get Romania. Interestingly, 76% of transactions still have cash-based, but crypto adoption hits 14%. In Morocco, cash remains king despite the growth of digital payments, but 16% of the population has found a way to use crypto – even officially banned.
Then there is Egypt, where approximately 72% of payments rely on cash, but crypto adoption is sitting around 3%, especially due to limited digital infrastructure. Even in India, where crypto enthusiasm runs high, 63% of transactions still occur in cash.
Throughout these markets, the pattern is clear: people want to use crypto, but the industry does not give them a practical way to incorporate it into their daily transactions.
Crypto’s real problem
Barriers to crypto adoption are more than technology. Government regulations, economic conditions and local financial habits are all role.
The biggest deficiency of crypto is not a lack of demand. This is the idea that digital wallets and banking apps are the only viable entry points. That thought ignores billions of people who still operate in cash-driven economies.
A more practical approach
Instead of forceing a digital model only in heavy cash regions, crypto should adapt. Blockchains linked physical banknotes, QR-coded vouchers and SMS-based transfers can bring crypto to the real economy in a way that makes sense for people who use cash.
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The idea is not as radical sounds. Africa’s M-Pesa, with over 66.2 million active users, operates in a simple agent-based model that allows people to exchange cash for digital value without the need for a bank account. The same approach can work for crypto, which enables users to trade records linked to cash linked to local sellers.
This is happening in the small pocket. Machankura, for example, Enables Transactions to Bitcoin through major mobile networksAttracting more than 13,600 users in Africa. In a region where almost all digital payments rely on simple mobile codes than smartphone apps, solutions like these are more viable than pushing another exchange -based exchange process.
Security concerns will always come out of physical possession, but trained agents and proper administration can ease risks. More importantly, that is a solved problem – excluding billions -billions of people from the financial system are not.
Digital purists are mistaken
Many of the crypto spaces remove out -based paper -based solutions. The idea that everything should be digital ignores how financial systems are emerging. People need time to move and systems that fit their current way of life.
Cointext, a crypto transfer service based on SMS, has spread to 50 countries before it is-not because the idea does not work, but because the industry is not ready to support it.
The same strict thought that removing SMS transfers prevents the adoption of heavy economies. A new service called Text BSV has emerged, enabling the seamless peer-to-peer (P2P) Satoshis payment by SMS — No app downloads, registering or prior knowledge of Bitcoin (Btc) is required. It works on any phone, even non -smartphones.
If crypto adoption remains stuck at 8%, it is not because people do not want it. This is because the industry is insisted on a approach that does not work for most of the world.
A $ 50-billion chance
The financial reversal of crypto integration into cash economies is huge. Similar markets can be observed if Romania, with a 76% of cash hopes, can reach a 14% adoption. That translates to a $ 50-billion opportunity worldwide as crypto enters economies where trillion dollars have moved into informal cash transactions each year.
A network of cash-to-crypto agents can generate $ 10 billion income by 2030, reflecting the success of mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa. Although crypto exchanges will benefit from taping in non -prevailing markets, interacting with the gap between digital and cash economies.
Regulators may hesitate in paper-based crypto because of transparency concerns, but financial integration on this scale is difficult to ignore. If governments see a potential of $ 50 billion in new economic activity, they are more likely to work towards solutions instead of blocking the development.
Cash meets crypto
Crypto should change financial access, but it remains out of reach of billions -billions of people. Looking for these communities to leave cash in full and jump straight to digital dompet is unrealistic and a bad approach
The solution is not to wait for these economies to change. This is to meet people where they are. This means experimenting with cash-compatible solutions, working with telecom providers, and rotating agent-based models that allow people to use crypto in a way that feels familiar.
The current stall of adoption will be permanent if the industry does not make these changes. Instead of a backward step, the paper-based crypto may be the bridge that finally connects to billions of people in the future of finance.
Opinion by: Alexander Gueff, founder and CEO of Tectum.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be done as legal or investment advice. The views, attitudes, and opinions expressed here are unique and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of the cointelegraph.
