Unfortunately, the reality of the current cryptocurrency ecosystem is most people are here to make fast money. With this in mind, crypto gambling apps, memecoins, and other highly speculative tokens get the most attention in crypto.
There’s a saying that goes “The purpose of a system is what it does, not what it claims to do”. If we take this saying at face value, then the outlook for crypto is bleak. No one cares about privacy, decentralization, or the ability to create a financial system without borders anymore.
But that’s not what I believe. I believe crypto is a system that’s still evolving. Finance is among the last industries to become fully transformed by technology. Finance is an extremely delicate, emotional, and volatile industry because of the direct connection to people’s ability to live well. I’m not here to apologize for the degenerate behavior in the crypto space but instead, I want to highlight 3 areas where crypto brings value to real people in the real world.
International Money Transfers
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of using WesternUnion or similar money transfer services, you know what pain it is.
Not only are these services slow, but they’re also unnecessarily expensive. It’s not enough for these companies to charge a transfer fee, they also make money from foreign exchange, rates, compliance fees, priority fees, “convenience” fees, and additional fees that vary with the payment method you want to use.
Some money transfer services only work if you have a bank account. Some locations only offer sending services, leaving you to figure out another method to receive. You can’t get fair currency exchange rates because the company’s profit is baked into the rate. If you need to make a transfer after closing hours, well, you’re out of luck.
Crypto isn’t perfect, but you can send money to anybody anywhere in the world within a few minutes for a reasonable fee.
If you use blockchains like Solana, Avalanche, BNB, or Arbitrum, you can expect to pay under $1 per transaction and your funds will arrive within seconds.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other proof-of-work blockchains are not the best for these types of transfers. Using these networks means you’ll pay higher fees during busy times ($10-$20 per transaction) and you’ll have to wait 20 to 30 minutes for your transaction to arrive.
The volatility of crypto is a perceived barrier that prevents a lot of people from taking advantage of faster transactions and cheaper fees. However, with stablecoins, there’s no reason for you or the transaction receiver to hold tokens with big price swings.
Once the stablecoins arrive, the recipient can withdraw to their bank account, use the crypto to buy gift cards to spend in person, use P2P services to exchange crypto for their local currency, or exchange the crypto for cash.
The only barrier in crypto payments is you need to hold a small amount (~$5) of the base currency for transaction fees. $5 is enough to pay fees for at least a few hundred transactions.
Receiving Payments As A Business Owner
The explosion of eCommerce and the Internet has been a blessing for savvy freelancers and business owners, but payment systems are still stuck in an archaic age.
Accepting online payments as a freelancer or business owner comes with a massive amount of risk. Companies like PayPal, and CashApp impose strict rules on business owners that transfer all the risk away from their company.
Disputes favor the buyer
Any time a customer has a dispute or makes a chargeback, the business owner is almost always responsible for refunding the full amount including fees. Dealing with support teams is a frustrating experience since they apply boilerplate regulations to every situation. There’s little to no nuance when discussing these situations, regardless of dishonest customers or scams, as the business owner you bear full responsibility.
Funds are frozen without warning
Even if everything goes right with the transaction, these companies have a slew of rules and regulations they can use to hold your funds. If your account is too new, if you create an “unusual selling” pattern, or if you receive a new type of transaction, these companies can hold your funds. This archaic system limits a business owner’s ability to quickly access their money and instead, they have to waste valuable time talking with support.
High fees punish successful businesses
Another advantage these companies take is by scaling fees with transaction size. The more money you receive in a transaction, the bigger the fee you have to pay. With crypto, fees are consistent (based on blockchain activity) regardless of how much money you’re sending.
When using crypto payments, social proof and the company’s reputation become everything. It becomes exponentially more expensive to scam a customer instead of simply doing good business. Not to mention, every transaction is recorded on the blockchain, making it easy for people to build arguments with undeniable proof. In this system the safety nets for customers aren’t removed, they are redefined. Crypto payments empower business owners by eliminating unfair risks while supporting customers with social accountability and transparency built into the system.
Smart Contract Escrow
Smart contracts are another innovation from crypto that brings value to the real world. A smart contract is a piece of self-executing code that runs on a blockchain. You can program a smart contract to take certain actions only when certain conditions are met.
This is a game-changer for freelancers, crowdfunders, event organizers, people executing high-value transactions, and more.
High-Value Transactions (Real Estate, Jewelry, Art)
When dealing with high-value items like real estate, jewelry, or art, authenticity and proper documentation are everything. In our traditional system, you need to pay fees to brokers, escrow agents, and appraisers to complete the transfer process.
Smart contracts don’t eliminate the need for experts but they make the process more transparent and efficient:
- Smart contracts can lock funds until a verifier approved by both parties uploads a certificate of authenticity
- For real estate, the smart contract can require a digital deed registry before finalizing the transaction.
This approach keeps experts involved without getting nickeled and dimed for fees. Smart contracts give you control over payment transfers and you can build your own custom, secure, low-cost escrow solutions.
Cross-Border Business Transactions
When people or companies collaborate across international borders, trust and logistics can quickly become complicated. Working internationally means dealing with different time zones, customs procedures, banking systems, and legal standards. Smart contracts can help people address these bottlenecks in a few ways:
- Smart contracts can automatically check delivery status, inspection documents, and compliance certifications before releasing the funds.
- With smart contracts, there’s no need to wait for business hours or manual approval which speeds up international transactions. Weekends are no longer lost days.
- Each step of the transport process (payment, shipment, border crossings, delivery) is documented on the blockchain, making dealing with disputes, audits, and logistics significantly easier.
Crowdfunding
Platforms like GoFundMe or Kickstart provide a valuable service to people, but smart contracts help keep more money in people’s pockets.
- Smart contracts allow the money to go directly to the fundraiser without paying fees to a third payment.
- The contract can be programmed to automatically release funds once a certain milestone is hit or refund all funds if the milestone isn’t met by a certain time.
- Donators can see on the blockchain exactly how the funds are being used.
Many of the thoughts in this article are idealistic but under the speculative hype of crypto, there is real utility. Fast, low-cost global money transfers change how people move and access money. Smart contracts allow strangers to automate trust and participate in enforceable agreements without the need for a third party. These new systems empower business owners with fairer rules that hold both sides accountable. In our next post on utility, we’ll explore how privacy and crypto are deeply connected—and why that matters more than ever.
Crypto Connects Capital, Commerce, & Communities