In Latin America, 96% of small businesses with a digital presence say they have maintained themselves in the last two years thanks to electronic commerce, according to data from the global survey “Visa Back to Business – 2022 SMB Outlook”.
For these entrepreneurs, accepting new forms of payment is essential for the business and digitization is no longer a means to reinvent themselves and survive, but rather a way to grow in a world of new realities. Still in the same scenario, 58% said they are already operating or intend to go completely cashless in the next two years.
The study also revealed that 97% of Brazilian consumers intend to continue using digital payments as much or more than in 2021: 50% said they intend to completely abandon banknotes and coins in the same period.
Based on this scenario, Visa pointed out some market trends that have been consolidating in recent years and that will define the future of money, including cryptocurrencies.
“Cryptocurrencies have caught the attention of consumers, investors and developers and its adoption is expected to increase. Among Brazilian small business owners, 32% stated that they intend to accept cryptocurrencies in 2022,” according to Visa.
So does this point to the future of money being digital? Will paper money continue to exist in the future? I consulted several experts to find out their opinion on this.
jeff watney
For Jeff Watney, CEO of USM Metaverse, cryptocurrencies will help shape not only the money of the future, but also the future of finance. Smart Contracts, Decentralized Finance, NFTs, Daaps, among other applications that have come to life with cryptocurrencies, are already helping to redefine traditional finance, including CBDCs that are being built in countries like China, Brazil, Estonia, among others, using Smart Contracts. and DeFi. .
“This leads us to a certainty: the money of the future will be digital. And as digital money, we can imagine that the different forms of digital money will continue to interact with each other in the future. Alongside all this, we will have a new digital economy that will take place through the metaverse and the interactions between the physical world and the digital world, which will also mean a change in the very concept of money and NFTs also played an important role. role in this new economy,” she noted.
Mani Thawani
Mani Thawani, Founder of Crypto World, highlights that the concepts of cryptocurrencies and CBDC have gained strength in recent years.
“People tend to relate them often, however, they are quite different. Cryptocurrencies are typically stored in a decentralized, secure, public ledger, where transactions are made, authenticated, and recorded, removing centralized authorities. However, CBDCs are just digital currencies that have nothing to do with the cryptocurrency industry and are fully regulated and controlled by a centralized authority or bank.”
Therefore, as he himself points out, the society of the future is heading towards decentralization, thus recovering the freedom that centralization stole from our lives.
“We cannot predict which form of money will end up dominating the market as both forms are likely to co-exist. However, we know where the world is moving.
On paper money, Thawani said that money has been a crucial part of human history for more than 2,000 years. It evolved from basic representations of money, such as raw materials, to complex representations of money, such as paper money (bills or coins). Paper money helps a country in the transactions involved in buying goods and services, but it needs to be printed by a central bank or treasury that regulates the flow.
“People have realized the problems this is causing and will cause in the future, so a small group of people started the so-called crypto economic revolution looking for mass adoption. These days, its mission is being accomplished, but that doesn’t mean that cryptocurrencies will suddenly collapse paper money. Paper money will be around for a long time and will probably be the first transition and co-exist with CBDCs, while later on paper money, CBDCs and cryptocurrencies will co-exist in the same economic model,” he said.
As he himself points out, the power to turn paper money into legend still resides with the banks.
“However, banks will eventually need to adapt to the emerging economic model, which could end with the demise of paper money. The force of the general population cannot be stopped by any individual or group of centralized authorities,” he noted.
Dan Khomenko
For Dan Khomenko, CEO of Sidus Heroes, we are now at a historic moment, witnessing tectonic shifts in the global financial system.
“For several years, fiat money has been losing people’s trust. This is largely due to unregulated money printing, which leads to permanent inflation and depreciation of savings. This is driving people towards a completely new form of payment: cryptocurrency.”
He said that today, cryptocurrency is in a rather gray legal zone. However, with a growing number of followers coupled with an increase in fraudulent activity, cryptocurrencies around the world are increasingly subject to regulatory action. This is to be expected, and if governments find a way to accept this new form of money, cryptocurrencies, including CBDCs, could replace fiat currency in due course.
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Serge Baloyan
Serge Baloyan, co-founder of the X10 Agency, an agency that works with web3 and crypto projects, points out that both types of digital currencies will exist: crypto and CBDC.
“Over the last two years, we have come to understand that cryptocurrency is not just a temporary trend, it will remain with humanity even under restrictions, financial crises and other potential problems. At the same time, CBDCs are the topic that many big governments are working on right now. And of course they are not cryptocurrencies in the way we are used to thinking of. CBDCs will be 100% controlled by the government. And it’s a question of which governments will allow CBDCs and cryptocurrencies to co-exist and which ones will restrict cryptocurrencies.”
Regarding paper money, he stressed that at some point they will be completely withdrawn from the market.
“But obviously not very soon.”
Rodrix Digital is a presenter and youtuber of Brazilian origin. He is a promoter of topics related to cryptocurrencies, blockchain, DeFi and fintech.
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