Adoption of Crypto & Blockchain Goes Way Beyond Financial Markets

#crypto #bitcoin

Analysts believe that a ‘wave of decentralization’ is approaching, thanks to exponential growth in blockchain adoption across the globe. Multiple sectors, particularly the financial ones, are converging to adapt the underlying technology behind cryptocurrency, aka ‘blockchain.’ Interestingly, the federal authorities are certain about blockchain adoption, but they are wary of crypto as an investment class.

While digital assets have become a global phenomenon, they have received brutal scrutiny from global watchdogs. Regions such as China and the United States, including several others, take a tough stance on crypto. They do not consider crypto as any financial instrument or investment opportunity but deem it illegal and fraudulent. However, Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AX), one of Australia’s leading Main Street banks, has offered a very different outlook on the ongoing situation.

A CBA research found that the craze for digital assets is reaching new heights. The majority of its customers prefer to access crypto as an investment class and are already involved in crypto trading via various exchanges. Upon assessing this, the bank decided to introduce cryptocurrency trading and services on its platform. The bank believes that crypto is a good investment opportunity and is more concerned about the risks of missing out on crypto rather than those associated with its adoption.

In a statement with Bloomberg TV, Commonwealth bank CEO Matt Comyn noted, “We see risks in participating, but we see greater risks in not participating. It’s important to admit that we don’t have a view of the asset price itself. We see it as a very volatile and speculative asset, but we also don’t think that the sector and the technology are going away anytime soon.” To be noted, CBA is one of Australia’s four largest banks. While the bank’s move could spark a tremendous bullishness in cryptocurrency affinity among 25.7 million Australians, it will also create many income opportunities for them.

Despite continued regulatory clampdowns, cryptocurrency has become a global phenomenon

The world is undergoing a significant shift towards the next stage of Internet evolution – ‘​​the Web 3.0.’ Web 3.0 strives for decentralization, openness, and transparency. Therefore, blockchain-based products – decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized applications (DApps), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including others will grow rapidly and undergo mass adoption. It is worth stating that Defi is already a $155 billion industry, and games like Axie Infinity are ruling the metaverse.

From the financial sector to Hollywood,  the global bias shift is so significant that nearly every industry is getting on the path of decentralization. Here are some top projects that have driven blockchain adoption in different industries.

Given the global bias shift travel industry adopts cryptocurrency

Not long back, booking travel tickets was a dull experience. It involved numerous middlemen, and the payment currency was only fiat.  However, Travala.com is striving to enhance a customers’ experience by disrupting the traditional travel market. To be noted, Travala has emerged as a leading blockchain-based travel platform that enables users to make payments in over 50 virtual currencies, including its native token $AVA.

As per the U.S. Travel Association, the domestic travel industry lost over $492 billion in revenue compared to 2019, “an unprecedented 42% decline.” While the industry suffered a significant loss, Travala reported an “explosive growth” during Q3 2021, with over $1 million gains every week. CEO Juan Otero attributed this growth to cryptocurrencies and noted, “With more people holding cryptocurrencies and more businesses accepting them for real-world things, travel is naturally a desirable experience to use crypto.”

Besides this, Travala offers 3,000,000+ travel products, including accommodations, flights, and activities in 90,124 destinations in 230 countries around the world. While $AVA – the platform’s native token is a good long-term investment, it offers an unmatched loyalty program with real value token rewards that can be saved or spent for all types of travel.

Crypto.com rewards visa debit cards holders

With over 10 million users and 3,000 employees, Crypto.com is another leading player in the cryptosphere. The Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange gained critical acclaim from enthusiasts after it signed a 20-year contract deal worth $700 million with the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to buy the naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles. On November 16, when the deal was announced, $CRO, the platform’s native token, rallied 24% within 24 hours. Worth noting is that the coin has been up 2500% since its launch in November 2018 and is trading at $0.738 at the time of writing.

“We are community-building the future of the internet: Web3.” Per Crypto.com’s website. The platform seeks to take cryptocurrency adoption to new heights. In keeping with the motive and Web3 wave, the exchange allows users to trade digital assets, store them in an online account and access them with a Visa Rewards debit card. The platform also has an NFT wing and several other products in the works.

Rewards Visa Card allows cardholders to earn cashback in the form of CRO tokens. CRO rewards can be exchanged on Crypto.com’s platform with other crypto or fiat currency. These visa debit cards are a series of cards. Each level of card is dependent on how much you stake – the higher the stake, the more the profit. Interestingly, the highest card, Obsidian, claims to give back 8% CRO on most purchases.

Brave Browser, the eldest kid of Web3.0

Another project that is disrupting Web 2.0 and providing additional income opportunities is the Brave browser. The browser embodies Web 3.0 as it is a decentralized, interoperable, optimized, secure, seamless, and innovation-fueled version of the Internet. Gone are the days when multiple ads popped up on every website a user visited, making their online experience a miserable one.

With Brave, a user can choose the ads they want to see and get paid for their attention with the Basic Attention Token, $BAT. Interestingly, this speedy privacy-focused browser rewards users for browsing. According to the browser team, participating users can earn up to 100 $BAT tokens per year. At the current price of around $1.46 per BAT, users can earn up to $146 a year.

Being one of a kind, the Brave browser gained severe traction after its inception. It has more than 40 million active monthly users and more than a million content creators. Recently, Brave browser announced its partnership with Solana. The merger aims to bring wallet features for the Solana blockchain into Brave’s Web3 desktop and mobile browsers in the first half of 2022.

The food traceability market may strike the $9.75 Billion mark till 2028

As food safety problems become serious for many countries, the demand for food traceability systems reaches new heights. According to a recent Emergen report, the global food traceability market has already achieved a capitalization of $4.54 billion in 2020 but is expected to reach $9.75 billion by 2028.

Launched in 2016, TE-FOOD, the blockchain-based farm-to-table food traceability ecosystem, has proven to be a great solution against problems like counterfeiting. Being an end-to-end solution, TE-FOOD provides multiple components for the entire supply chain. While the system keeps a track of items and records their data, it stores it on the blockchain for further processing and delivering it to the consumers.

TE-Food’s Blockchain (FoodChain) is a public permissioned blockchain, which facilitates both supply chain participants and consumers to maintain masternodes for decentralized traceability information. Besides this, the company currently serves approximately 6,000 business customers and conducts 400,000 business operations per day. The team also claims that food products tracked with TE-Food are available to more than 150 million consumers worldwide.

Bistroo leads the decentralized food takeaway industry

According to Bistroo’s whitepaper, it aims to be a “facilitator, never a dictator” between restaurants and their customers. Simply put, Bistro has emerged as one of the best-decentralized solutions that are revamping the game for the online food ordering and takeaway industry. It is an end-to-end marketplace where users can order food from restaurants, cafes, and other similar merchants at a low cost with cryptocurrency as a payment mode other than fiat.

Unlike other ‘supply food chains,’ Bistroo is a food takeaway startup that not only encourages the use of cryptocurrency but also pulls non-crypto users into the crypto market. To be noted, Bistroo employs its blockchain token, $BIST, to facilitate payments, gain liquidity, create loan structures for businesses, offer $BIST as a reward, and much more. At the time of writing, $BIST is trading at $0.157.

Like the Brave browser reward mechanism, the BIST token will be used as a reward for many different community actions,  including  – customers sharing data (enabling optimization and smart advertising). Providing ratings and reviews (blockchain transparency ensures these are not sponsored). Affiliate and ambassador perks (bringing other customers or restaurants to the platform).

According to analysts, a significant problem with other takeaway platforms is that they charge high fees for restaurants and seek overbearing controls. However, Bistroo allows restaurants to quickly onboard the system, offer the menu items and prices they desire. It currently offers much lower transaction fees than competitors (5% vs.>13%) and promises to keep fees low for restaurants in this razor-margin industry.

Given the unique features of the platform and its motto of encouraging cryptocurrency adoption, the platform has seen incredible growth in the Netherlands, their home market. Moreover, on witnessing the growing demand for blockchain in the food industry, Bistroo also plans expansion into Belgium, France, Hungary, Croatia, and eventually the global market.

The cryptocurrency market has registered incredible growth over the years. According to blockchain data analytics firm, Chainalysis, global cryptocurrency adoption has increased by over 2300% since the third quarter of 2019 and by over 881% during the last year. The above-mentioned leaders are driving the growth of the crypto market significantly. In particular, the food sector that did not use blockchain for a long time is revolutionizing and attracting new users with the help of Bistroo.

 

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NewsBTC, Khareem Sudlow