Why hasn’t crypto taken over the developing world?

We’ve all heard the hype, that crypto banks the unbanked, and so on. But largely, we’ve seen the developed world take up the lion’s share of attention and investment in crypto.

This isn’t to say it isn’t making inroads into the developing world. It definitely is. It just isn’t (yet) on the same level of financial inclusion as what we’d like.
Here’s some of the biggest reasons this hasn’t happened yet.

The developing world can’t afford to lose money on volatility
If Bitcoin or Dash (or whatever) goes down 15% over the course of a week, a US or western European merchant can handle that risk on a few small payments.
But a merchant in the developing world may not be able to make bills. Their position is much more precarious, and volatility is a real adoption killer.

The developing world doesn’t have on-ramps/infrastructure
In the US and Europe for example, it’s super easy to buy crypto: link your bank and debit card and you’re good to go. You can also spend it on bills and more through many companies that make this convenient.
Elsewhere, the same infrastructure just isn’t there. Fewer on-ramps, fewer users have access to banking services to buy it in the first place, fewer cash on-ramps, and so on. It’s much harder to acquire a new user this way.

The easier money is in the developed world
Sad truth, but the crypto world has chased easy gains, and the easier gains are from high net worth individuals who can grow capital in the project.
The value you get out of an acquisition in the developed world is much higher for roughly the same cost, especially in this heavily-speculative world. Reaching the unbanked is the hard path forward.

But, we don’t think this state of affairs is good enough. Dash is money for the world. We’re working on some solutions.

A stablecoin denominated in the US dollar (for example) is a valuable anti-volatility tool. We’re working hard on getting some stablecoin options on the new Evolution chain. This will make our job of reaching the developing world a lot easier.
Yes, being tied to fiat valuations isn’t ideal, and longer-term (or right now for those who can take the risk), Dash as the base currency unit is the way to go. But stablecoins can onboard the more risk-averse until Dash starts to lose its volatility.

We’re working on tools for bill pay etc. in the developing world
We’re in open conversations with infrastructure providers who could help us service the developing world. Stay tuned as we onboard more!

We’re working on ways to earn Dash
We’re working on partnerships that would allow people to earn Dash natively, without having to buy with fiat first. We believe this will be a killer app which would allow users everywhere to start participating in the Dash economy today.
It’s a long road to service the whole world, but we’re committed to it. Dash is freedom money for everyone.