With over 38 million coronavirus cases at the time of writing, it’s safe to say the virus is completely changing our lives. This goes for both our everyday lives and the economy. Almost all industries got affected by the pandemic but some have handled it better than the others. One sector that’s dealing with the crisis better than expected is the cryptocurrency sector. The crypto industry had handled the COVID-19 pandemic well so far but how will the virus affect in the next few months? Read on to find out.
The virus will hasten the decline of cash
For years, people have been moving towards a cashless society. While we’re still not there, it looks like the coronavirus will speed the process up. First reports claimed that coronavirus doesn’t spread through cash but according to the most recent reports, it survives on paper money for over a month. People don’t want to take any risk and they’ve been paying for stuff digitally for the past few months. Some of them decided to move on from credit cards and they started using crypto. If you need more evidence, just take a look at how people have dealt with crises in the past. For example, soon after the 2009 Västberga heist, the Swedish government started on the e-krona.
Crypto is the “new gold”
In the past few months, investors have been buying digital currencies. This is mostly because they wanted to diversify their portfolios and the more traditional options have been unavailable. Let’s take a look at gold for example. When the pandemic started, investors started stockpiling on gold as they wanted to protect their portfolios as much as possible. Soon after, the borders were shut down and transferring gold became a huge issue. As a result, investors turned to something that doesn’t come with any logistics issues – crypto. Just the fact that they can buy digital currencies with a few clicks of a button has turned crypto into the “new gold.”
Banks are starting to look at crypto
When they first emerged, cryptocurrencies took the world by storm. Many people saw it as a great investment opportunity and a more convenient way to pay for stuff. Sill, banks and regulators didn’t go after these currencies as they’ve stuck with more traditional ones. Among the banks that said no to crypto were even the banks in Switzerland where those such as Sygnum and SEBA have seen some traction. The pandemic has forced us all to take another look at how we do things and that’s exactly what banks are doing. After seeing that some of the more traditional currencies aren’t performing well, banks are starting to look at crypto.
Crypto is performing well
Earlier, we mentioned that the coronavirus had a huge effect on some industries. For example, the tourism industry is facing a $1 trillion loss and things aren’t looking well for the entertainment and sports industries as well. Some sectors, on the other hand, we’re affected that much and have already started to recover. The cryptocurrency industry is one of them and many expect digital currencies to perform even better after the pandemic. This is exactly why we saw so many people start buying crypto recently. If I want to do the same, now really is the perfect time to do so. Start by learning how to buy eToro Bitcoin and how to pay for stuff with it.
Blockchain will gain even more popularity
If you’re into digital currencies, you know what blockchain is. For those who don’t, it’s a growing list of records that are linked using cryptography. It’s the technology that makes all crypto transactions possible. The best part of it is that this tech is decentralized and you don’t have to worry about someone gaining access to your personal information. Blockchain has been subject to a lot of discussion in the past few years but its popularity may rise even more after the pandemic. In fact, some experts say that fighting the virus would’ve been easier had doctors transferred information through blockchain. In case we see the role of blockchain increase, there’s no doubt digital currencies will follow.
Mining remains an issue
Just like all industries out there, the crypto industry has experienced some issues during the pandemic. For example, the biggest setback for Bitcoin was that mining had to be slowed down due to the virus. With pandemic breaking out in Asia and over 70 percent of Bitcoin mining power located in China and South Korea, things didn’t look bright at first. Still, it’s the nature of the crypto that helped the sector go through the pandemic. Miners were able to set up their rigs at home and mine just like before even during the pandemic. While able to mine at home, miners still experienced issues updating their rigs which slowed down the process to some extent.
The bottom line
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought so much change into our lives. We’re experiencing a real revolution when it comes to currencies and it looks like the future is bright for cryptocurrencies. In case you’ve been thinking of getting into crypto, you might want to do it right away.
