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Who could have imagined a year ago how different our lives would have been in just 12 months? Without any doubt, last November will remain a significant point in the history of humanity, the moment when it all began. Although “patient zero” has not yet been confirmed – if it ever will be at all – we now know that it all started in China on November 17, 2019, when the first patient reportedly presented with symptoms of a new coronavirus disease called COVID-19. according to the South China Morning Post with references to government data.
In January 2020, the city of Wuhan in central China suffered from the massive expansion of the COVID-19 outbreak and “41 hospitalized hospital patients had been identified as having laboratory-confirmed cases,” according to a publication in The Lancet. Just two months later, in March, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. One by one, governments around the world have closed national borders, suspended public events and banned gatherings of people. The conversation brought to light two terms, rarely used before, which have now been declared 2020 words of the year by the British Collins Dictionary: “lockdown” and “social distancing”.
It is difficult to imagine which spheres of our life have not been affected by these dramatic and tragic events, with the number of global confirmed cases exceeding 55 million.
Despite everything, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has also had a positive impact on the world. European conservatism, which has long relied on the traditional financial system, has been called into question as the pandemic has forced Europeans to move towards cashless payments and cryptocurrencies. Some say it has even accelerated the mainstream adoption of encryption and DLT-based business solutions globally, changing people’s understanding of money.
Related: What the COVID-19 pandemic means for blockchain and crypto
Notably, the COVID-19 outbreak has prompted Bitcoin’s (BTC) safe-haven narrative as central banks print stimuli estimated at $ 15 trillion in an effort to alleviate the effects of the pandemic on global economies. Amid rising inflation rates, people are turning to Bitcoin as their next hedge against inflation.
Related: Not like before: digital currencies debut amid COVID-19
Meanwhile, in the name of public health, governments are launching COVID-19 monitoring programs, raising serious concerns about privacy violations and tightening of centralization in the process. Without stopping there, governments have also taken another step in eroding civilian autonomy through the development of central bank digital currencies, initiatives for which they have been boosted globally due to the COVID-19 crisis. While experts see the solution to safeguarding privacy in decentralized technologies, the question of over-promised decentralization remains open.
However, the coronavirus epidemic has significantly changed everyone’s lives, creating the new normal we now live in. Yet despite all the challenges we have been facing economically, politically and socially since the beginning of the year, there is no doubt that the pandemic is spurring digital innovation and accelerating humanity 20 years forward in the technological development.
It’s too early to tell when it all ends, as COVID-19 is still gaining speed. Now, a year after the first Wuhan case, Cointelegraph has reached out to experts in blockchain technology and crypto space for their views on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the industry.
What impact did the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have on the crypto space?
Asheesh Birla, general manager of RippleNet:
“COVID-19 has exacerbated the inequalities for many people who don’t have a bank or who don’t have a bank account and highlighted the gaps we have in our financial infrastructure where those with less pay more – on average the cost to send $. 200 is $ 14. Despite the pandemic, people still have to send money to family and friends overseas. As a result, remittances continued to grow in some of the larger corridors. The U.S.-to-Mexico corridor, for example, has seen a notable increase in remittances since the start of the pandemic, with Mexico receiving $ 4.02 billion from overseas in March 2020, a 36% increase since March. 2019. Ripple can help reduce the cost of remittance payments by using cryptocurrencies and blockchains to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more reliable. Bitso, a leading Mexican exchange, transacts nearly 10% of total remittance flows from the US to Mexico through Ripple’s technology that uses XRP as a bridging currency. In tandem, there is more interest in the space than ever with big companies like PayPal and Square betting on cryptocurrencies, pushing it to the mainstream. Validation of these companies has contributed to a greater interest in the usefulness of cryptocurrencies and their ability to better serve their businesses and their customers. “
From Hongfei, founder of Neo, founder and CEO of OnChain:
“From my perspective, COVID-19 hasn’t had a negative impact on the blockchain space – if anything, it has driven a greater demand for blockchain innovation and adoption. By revealing the weaknesses of our current paradigm, COVID-19 has also highlighted the urgent need for blockchain technology. For example, COVID-19 has demonstrated the flaws of the current centralized supply chain system, revealing its fragility and lack of agility. By leveraging blockchain, we can build a decentralized supply chain that can quickly ascertain and then distribute products based on the needs of a specific area. Likewise, blockchain technology could also be implemented to more efficiently track and trace cases of infection while protecting patient privacy. Indeed, we are already witnessing this transition to the blockchain in a period of uncertainty: more and more institutions and for sone are embracing Bitcoin as it is seen as a stable and traditional asset in these difficult times. If nothing else, I believe that COVID-19 has firmly demonstrated the need not only for blockchain, but also for a truly digital and intelligent economy. Moving forward, we must break our current paradigm to embrace a truly digitalized and globalized world that has the flexibility, agility and efficiency to thrive and thrive. “
Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo:
“The economic upheaval due to our pandemic times is creating changes in attitudes and a greater interest in digital assets. COVID-19 has greatly accelerated the adoption and interest in cryptography around the world. It is important to note that the determined effort of companies like ours to build a secure and compliant foundation is enabling the influx of new crypto investors, including large institutional firms such as investment banks and large custodians. Fortunately, we are able to face the moment as a result of all the hard work we have put into building a new monetary system from scratch over the past 10 years. Before COVID-19, most people didn’t pay much attention to the economic factors that make Bitcoin relevant. Frankly, they didn’t need it. If you are generating a return from the stock market, stick with what you know and don’t have to worry about learning anything new. But now everything has changed with the pandemic: Fiscal policy around the world is causing governments to wildly print money, reducing its value and causing inflation. Investors now understand that they need to move forward. They are asking far more questions and grasping the foundation of Bitcoin’s thesis: that the scarcity of an asset matters. Digital assets are a hedge against inflation and a safe store of value. Investment leaders like Paul Tudor Jones, Stanley Druckemiller and Bill Miller are proving that Bitcoin is now an important part of any wallet. This year has brought so much uncertainty, but people feel empowered to educate themselves on what they need to do to get involved with cryptocurrencies. All the building blocks are present: compliance, custody, liquidity, portfolio management and portfolio technology, as well as fiscal tools, giving investors the tools they need to invest in digital assets. “
Preston Byrne, Partner at Byrne & Storm, PC:
“The most tangible impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on cryptocurrencies has been the validation of the central cryptocurrency thesis that our societies are fragile and that math, not men, could form a firmer foundation for future organization. social. The dependence of nearly all major economies on fiscal and monetary stimuli to stay afloat has reinforced and widened the public perception of the weakness of fiat money and institutions. “Crypto”, the so-called, is a wide range of beliefs and areas of interest ranging from hard money, resistance to censorship, to secure communications. These technologies uniquely respond to social and corporate adaptation to the stressors that have dominated the headlines in the last year, whether it is “Money printers go brr”, the continuous exodus from big technology or social unrest. widespread in the cities “.
Tim Draper, venture capitalist and well-known Bitcoin investor:
“Many people, stuck in their homes, finally took the time to create a Bitcoin wallet, but the real impact of Covid was that the blockade was devastating for many families and when the government printed 13 trillion dollars to try to putting a band-aid on it, made it clear that you would rather hold Bitcoin than these dilutable, dilutable dollars. I expect “fiduciary duty” to now include owning some Bitcoins as a hedge against floods and government currency manipulations. ” .
These quotes have been edited and condensed.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
