Is there a chance for Bitcoin to get its Zoom Moment?

Technology is sometimes discovered by the wider public when the times are good. This happens in periods of prosperity when a particular piece of tech is introduced and adopted in an organic and gradual manner. However, there are times that are the complete opposite of that idea. Right now, financial decentralized blockchain networks, namely bitcoin are presently a growing field of desirable technology.

It also has all the right ingredients needed to rise further. These include global unemployment on a massive scale and a series of cascading sweeps of a viral pandemic that is shutting things down (but keeping the digital economy alive and kicking). This is slowly placing the world on what the writings of Satoshi Nakamoto called the everything bubble. The bitcoin network was designed to be an inoculation against all those bubbles.

Now, the moment that the crypto community waited for over ten years is finally there – things are shaking to their core and in many ways, the wheels are falling off of the traditional financial system. The governments are trying to influence this, but with the pandemic, their ability to multitask is demonstrated on a daily level. So, could all of this be the start of the big change for the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, similar to the entire world suddenly finding the Zoom app for video calls?

Pandemic Impact

The global pandemic is hitting hard all sovereign fiat currencies. The value of all traditional assets is also falling and crude oil is leading the way in that domain. As the demand plummets down in a world where airplanes practically do not fly anymore and everyone is driving less everywhere, just to name one big source of oil consumption, a barrel of crude is also seeing its price nosedive. Clearly, the modern economic system has not been designed for a population that buys only the basic needs and stays mostly at home.

This is most apparent in the case of the third-world countries that are lacking any global reserve of currency to inflate their national monetary base. If they try they will be met with hyperinflation which will negate any possible benefits of printing more money. But, in the world where esports are fast approaching the level of growth of traditional sports, alternatives are there for a change. In this case, that alternative is cryptocurrencies in their numerous forms.

Spinning Wheels

The legislative and regulatory wheels that provide a change in the way the world functions usually spin very slowly. There are a lot of good reasons for that – by being cautious and moving at a slow pace, there is less chance of something going astray. But, the same slowness usually also leads to an enormous amount of frustration, and often, the countries that lag too much are the ones left behind. The example of the US and its acceptance of blockchain technology is a good example.

However, the pandemic, among many other things, is also a showcase of necessity winning over the old systems of approvals and regulatory checks. This is why a preliminary program for a digital dollar that managed to reach the congressional aid package. Its intent is to help in the distribution of trillions of dollars of the US aid package to both jobless individuals and shattered companies. Instead of taking the traditional long way around the program aims to use digital solutions to easily distribute the same funds through means similar to cryptocurrencies.

However, the program did not make it through the entire bill and now, the individuals and companies will need to use the process of numerous forms that will then need to make their rounds through banks. The same loans will likely take months to fully process and finally give to their actual recipients.

Necessity and Invention

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of all invention. Right now, there is a big and growing need for a lot of innovation. This is how Zoom managed to come to the forefront of the chat and video conferencing field. Otherwise, the same domain is a heavily-saturated field that houses little to no unusual movement in terms of unexpected services and companies rising in it.

Yet, the sheer magnitude of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic means that old rules simply do not apply anymore and virtual conferences are no different. With schools, businesses, and many other daily activities moving to homes and leaving their official spaces behind, the need to stay in touch suddenly became incredibly prevalent all over the world. The old logic would dictate that companies like Skype would be able to fill that niche.

However, Zoom managed to overcome it, but also Facebook and Cisco as a much more sought-after alternative than any of the big guns. Reasons for this are numerous and diverse, but most boil down to the concept of having a solution that gives to most users almost all they are looking for through a bottom-heavy product. This means that anyone can easily install and use Zoom, likely much more so than any of its competitors. This is a big lesson for all cryptocurrencies.

Crypto Going Simple

For many in the present crypto community, especially bitcoin, adoption is all about things like market capitalization and price of BTC. However, as the case of the rising popularity of dapps shows, users are more inclined to check out solutions that first offer them an easy means of understanding what is going on. In crypto, things are all manner of sophisticated and unusual, but this also means they are anything but simple.

This applies to the process of where and how one can use crypto, as Mark Cuban recently also reiterated. This is the first thing that needs to change and the faster it does, the more chance there is of crypto having its Zoom moment. A moment like this does not mean giving up on the essential things that define bitcoin and other cryptocurrency networks but figuring out an application that merges its elements with accessibility and simplicity of use. Without them, the openings provided by big worldwide changes will be filled by other entities.