Crypto And COVID: How The Pandemic Caused Crypto To Surge
Admin
May 3, 2021
COVID-19 pandemic
During the last days of 2019, the world began to take notice of an outbreak of a novel coronavirus, first spotted in Wuhan, China. Within a few months, the COVID-19 pandemic was all everyone could talk about. As the pandemic progressed across the planet, and the desperate search for a COVID-19 vaccine gained momentum, something else was rising alongside the pandemic: the use of cryptocurrency.
Lockdowns and interventions
As many countries sought to contain the spread of COVID-19, varying degrees of interventions were put in place. Travel restrictions, economic support systems, lockdowns, and other interventions were - and in many ways continue to be - used to either halt the spread of COVID-19, or mitigate regional infection rates. This led to economic instability across the globe, and a sharp shift in the way people worked, lived, played, and managed their lifestyles.
Side hustles and job losses
Economic instability has a direct impact on the sanctity and security of one’s employment. Suddenly, as the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up, so too did significant job losses, or changes in employment. Cutbacks and lay-offs come as no surprise to a seasoned financial markets analyst, but nearly no one predicted a pandemic that would send the world into a weird freefall.
Crypto income generation
To cope with financial concerns, job losses, or to augment their income, many people looked towards cryptocurrency investment as a potential income generation tool. Setting up a side hustle as a part-time crypto trader seemed a suitable, relatively easy way to secure a portion of personal income. And, with most people obeying stay-at-home or work-from-home orders, it made perfect sense to try and accentuate their income by delving into cryptocurrency.
Crypto and contactless payments
By its very nature, cryptocurrency is a contactless form of payment. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, contactless payment platforms quickly became a popular method to transact, buy groceries, and order items online for delivery. Being able to pay for basic goods and services, and conduct traditional financial transactions, simply using crypto, is now going mainstream. The evolution of contactless payment methods has been propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand continues to grow.
Cryptocurrency investment
The economic freefall that continues to linger while the COVID-19 pandemic continues, has made many investors and companies a little nervous to invest via traditional means. Many businesses have been forced to relook their brick-and-mortar physical trading presence. Significant concern around the more typically reliable investment options rose throughout 2020, and into 2021.
Securing investments
To secure their investments and move away from uncertainty, many companies elected to invest in Bitcoin. High profile companies, including Tesla and others, made headlines as they moved away from investments based on typical currencies, such as the US Dollar, and started ploughing resources into buying up Bitcoin. No matter how the pundits may have predicted the 2020 financial year to play out, the COVID-19 pandemic directly affected investment choices, and will continue to do so for the medium to long-term.
Emerging markets and cryptocurrency
Emerging markets and the developing world have a huge role to play in cryptocurrency adoption. Many regions of the developing world are home to a large proportion of “unbanked” people, who manage their lives and livelihoods without the use of a traditional bank account. Whether due to regulatory obstacles or other hurdles, more than 1 billion adults remain “unbanked” across the globe. Financial institutions and other companies have made great strides into “banking the unbanked” but it’s cryptocurrency that offers absolute potential for adoption. For example, it’s exceptionally easy to exchange cryptocurrency using just mobile devices, without having to rely on an effective regulatory environment and stable infrastructure.
Now that we’ve got you thinking about the way the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world, and caused crypto to surge, it’s time to think differently about your crypto journey. Sign up with MEX Digital.
(All trading involves risk. Losses can exceed deposits.)
