Armwrestling: Cryptocurrencies can leave the struggle

World of crypto is buzzing with the ETFs -bitcoin and etherium ones. This is the central theme, that's the most interesting, that will give it a huge jolt for the development of the industry. But what if it is not as important as many think?

Cryptoverse sees ETF as a Holy Grail, that will ascend crypto to the next level. And Vitalik Buterin does not buy that “I think there's too much emphasis on BTC/ETH/whatever ETFs, and not enough emphasis on making it easier for people to buy $5 to $100 in cryptocurrency via cards at corner stores. The former is better for pumping price, but the latter is much better for actual adoption”, said ethereum co-creator in his twitter.

And some companies agree with Buterin and already act, even if it’s not making it to the headlines. For example, Binance, which declared partnership with crypto financial organization Libra Credit is offering their clients loans in crypto, backed by the native exchange coin - BNB.

And Binance is not the only one who sees potential here - Around a week ago, Mike Novogratz and his bank Galaxy Digital Ventures LLC invested $52,5 mln in BlockFi, dealing with crypto loans, backed by crypto assets.

And if we are talking about other ways to spend crypto - industry got you covered too. For example, at Chili cryptocurrency exchange Cryptomkt announced the partnership with a local online payment service that allows it's customers to pay for everyday goods and services with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Stellar at over 5,000 merchants, enabling the daily use of crypto.

But when it comes selling crypto in small amounts - Buterin’s suggestion hasn’t amused anyone, Furthermore, he was criticized for forgetting about the bigger picture and forgetting about the nature of BTC and ETH.

This means that both currencies are not just an investment too - they are medium of exchange/commodity. ETFs simplify the investment aspect, but cards overall won’t change that much, while for good and healthy development of the industry there is a dire need of a balance. Otherwise, it might spiral into the brick wall and turn into monstrosity.

And Vitalik’s idea about pre-paid crypto cards isn’t new, back in 2013 - 2015 there used to be companies that tried to make a name for them in that field, but they were crushed against IRS “heart of stone” and bad intentions of the SEC that were reasonably paranoid about the whole crypto business and basically made normal functioning of the system impossible.

But this situation is quickly changing: more and more payment systems showing interest towards crypto, various services on the base of crypto becoming far more common and banks are slowly stopping to block all accounts related with crypto. In fact - right countries leading the cryptoverse are being formed. It’s evident that the rejection of the ETF did not hinder the growth of crypto industry. Which makes one think - maybe Vitalik is right?