The now iconic Bitcoin was written over ten years ago by a person or entity that is known only as Satoshi Nakamoto. The whitepaper, which was only nine pages long, held enough information to transform the world, and crypto currencies have since evolved from a fringe phenomenon to a mainstream one. As of September 2021, the entire market value of all crypto assets had topped $2 trillion, a 10-fold rise since early 2020, and practically every major bank now has teams dedicated to digital assets.
The success of Bitcoin and the crypto ecosystems as viable investments continues to attract investors from all walks of life, from billionaire tech entrepreneurs to people looking to diversify their portfolios with digital assets. Money as we know it is being reinvented, and a whole new financial ecosystem is emerging right before our eyes. Although it’s difficult to gauge the extent to which crypto assets are being adopted, surveys and other indicators imply that emerging markets and developing countries are leading the way.
Building a safe and robust crypto ecosystem is based on three main factors: creating true global accessibility, having strict control measures, and onboarding legacy systems.
Even the largest cryptocurrency exchanges confront obstacles when trying to expand their services. The introduction of cryptocurrencies has transformed the way people think about transacting around the world, with traditional banking institutions no longer being the sole choice.
Blockchain networks and cryptocurrencies have the potential to circumvent traditional financial institutions. This allows consumers to manage their money without going through a centralized institution. However, there are barriers to admission for the uninitiated, primarily due to security concerns. As a result, many newcomers to cryptocurrency use exchanges as a point of entry into the financial ecosystem. Building a stable and secure cryptocurrency exchange and launching it in several jurisdictions adds a layer of complexity that takes a lot of time and effort. They must be capable of handling radically fluctuating volumes with near-zero downtime while also meeting regulatory criteria. The competition among these companies is tough, but focusing on increasing the market rather than competing for a piece of the existing pie gives them competitive advantage. Many countries have their own policies and legislation surrounding the use of cryptocurrencies and the movement of fiat currency. For this reason, running transactions across borders and continents requires innovation and adaptability. As a result, obtaining clear regulatory guidance is critical in determining the proper product offering and target audience.
Users in different markets and countries have distinct interests and habits, and crypto companies must cater to each group. Every market has its own level of awareness and knowledge gaps, thus it’s crucial to comprehend the unique requirements of customers in various places. Before launching into a new market, companies need to learn the complexities of the market so they can provide local customers with customized products and services. Another significant task while running a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week cross-continent company is to provide excellent customer service, regardless of time zone. Companies that are starting to establish operations to service the burgeoning digital assets ecosystem are dealing with the challenges of serving a global, multi-time zone, multi-language consumer base on a decentralized platform.
The second way to create a safe and robust ecosystem is by having strict control measures. Due to the lack of a single regulating authority for the cryptocurrency industry, businesses were forced to adopt processes similar to those used by major financial institutions. These processes are usually subject to stringent regulatory oversight. In response to increased regulatory monitoring, Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, in which companies collect certain information from clients to establish their identities, has become more common in the crypto market. KYC and AML guidelines – the process of validating consumers and the source of their assets – frequently go hand in hand and are the two basic practices that crypto companies must adhere to in order to operate. Compliance, on the other hand, entails more than just following KYC, AML, and other requirements, because sanctions may restrict companies from functioning in specific nations.
Since the worldwide regulatory and legal landscape is so diverse, crypto companies intending to expand should start by contacting their country’s securities and exchange commissioners and financial regulators. Given that there is no global agreement on how to categorize and regulate digital assets, crypto companies should seek competent legal guidance to ensure compliance in each jurisdiction where they do business. This will also make the licensing process go more quickly. The flexibility of a crypto company to adjust to regulatory limitations as it grows is a major factor in its success. Future successful platforms will be those that can quickly embrace and maintain the evolving cryptocurrency industry requirements.
Finally, in order to make their platforms more accessible to new users, cryptocurrency exchanges must construct fiat gateways, which requires the development of relationships and compatibility with the traditional banking system. This can be difficult because some banking institutions are still apathetic and risk-averse when it comes to cryptocurrency.
However, as authorities and the conventional banking system get a greater knowledge of crypto and blockchain systems, the wheels of progress are slowly moving. To adapt to the shifting financial landscape, more people are adopting technology. The usage of bitcoin technology will become more widespread as crypto businesses expand their global footprint.
The crypto industry is considered to be a massive industry (ecosystem) as we have mentioned quite a bit already in this article. There are definitely more aspects to it than just crypto exchanges including blockchain protocols, financial services, crypto hardware, data aggregators and blockchain analytics, crypto media and conferences, and crypto regulation.
While exchanges are arguably the most important components, Blockchain is the underlying technology that allows cryptocurrencies to exist. There are numerous blockchain protocols, each with its own set of technological characteristics, strengths, and drawbacks. To process transactions, the Bitcoin blockchain uses mining and Delegated Proof of Work, whereas another blockchain might not use mining at all and instead use Delegated Proof of Stake. Other significant protocols include ETH, Hyperledger, EOS, XLM, IOST, KIN, TRX, and STEEM, in addition to the Bitcoin blockchain. Among all of these blockchain protocols, Ethereum deserves special recognition for fostering rapid innovation across the cryptocurrency industry. The Ethereum platform, created by Vitalik Buterin, marked the introduction of a more accessible market for developers utilizing the Ethereum programming language Solidity. It revolutionized blockchain technology, ushering in a new era of decentralized applications powered by smart contracts and bespoke tokens – most cryptocurrencies today are built on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard. The Ethereum blockchain system is at the heart of the decentralized finance movement, or DeFi.
Secondly, DeFi apps based on Ethereum have an alternative version that is accessible to everyone for every service that exists in traditional finance. Users can produce stablecoins, lend money and earn interest, send and receive payments, take out a loan, trade, participate in prediction markets, invest in real estate, and much more using DeFi apps. Smart contracts are essential for enabling decentralized services since they automatically carry out pre-determined actions once certain criteria are met.
Traditional finance has evolved to provide new services targeted to the crypto environment. Some fund managers are now allowing investors to include cryptocurrencies in their portfolios, custodians are offering security services to individuals who have a significant amount of money invested in crypto, and mainstream media outlets such as Bloomberg are reporting on crypto.
As the crypto ecosystem expands to more people in more markets, financial regulators are still working on the frameworks needed to protect investors and consumers. Regulators can take very diverse approaches, and this can be difficult for businesses operating in many jurisdictions. Many initiatives took off during the ICO frenzy of 2017 and 2018, before the regulatory framework was in place, and some projects were abandoned midway through the fundraising process because they did not fulfill the criteria of the jurisdiction once they were provided. This was due to a growing understanding of how to identify digital assets, which resulted in the separation between security and utility tokens that exists today.
In an effort to create a token that can be used to store history and use data in the future, Save History has created a utility token in order for users to pay for decentralized media services. However, Save History Token is more than a token, it is an infinitely beneficial ecosystem in any field where knowledge is available. Any media outlets that want to share their stories in Save History’s publications will be able to engage with the ecosystem.
The Save History project has successfully passed the KYC verification process as well as their smart contract audit.
This project presents a high-level description of Save History, a blockchain-based, history-themed, historical data storage project. The project will allow data to be kept on both a public and private blockchain. This is the first project that has been built with future generations in mind.
For more information about Save History, click here.