LocalTrade’s Solutions To Solve The Literacy Issue In Crypto and DeFi

DeFi, an integral part of the crypto industry, is on its way to change the financial world as we know it. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of myths and misconceptions around, which are contributing to dragging its mass adoption. The market is just too big to ignore, considering its capitalization has recently reached $74 billion, an increase of more than 400% since the beginning of the year 2021. This is why we believe that financial literacy should certainly include DeFi and crypto literacy, too. 

Myth nr. 1: DeFi, through cryptocurrencies, is mostly used to fuel illicit activity.

Criminals may have utilised cryptocurrency for illicit purposes in the past, but that does not mean this is the standard. The reputation it gets is undeserved; the illicit share of all cryptocurrency activity was less than 1% in 2020, or $10.0 billion in transaction volume. Therefore, one can see that it is much less frequent than people commonly think.

Myth nr. 2: The DeFi space is unregulated.

Although it is true that some countries, such as China, banned cryptocurrency activity, most countries are actually open to digital money adoption. What is more, all anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism regulations already apply to crypto transactions, too, not only the fiat ones.

The Financial Action Task Force, which is an inter-governmental body, is particularly focusing on crypto lately, since it issued recommendations for the regulation of virtual assets in 2019. These recommendations are taken seriously and are being implemented in 200 countries around the world.

Myth nr. 3: DeFi transactions are untraceable.

Blockchain is all about transparency. It is possible for anyone to look up an entire history of transactions on public blockchains. 

Myth nr. 4: Concerns of DeFi liquidity.

It can be difficult to put one’s trust in a system that is so much smaller than the traditional financial systems, but these concerns are largely misplaced. Even though the DeFi ecosystem is not as advanced yet, it brought with itself significant benefits, such as: immutability, transparency, and tokenization. 

Due to these misconceptions, it is an unfortunate truth that most cryptocurrency buyers at the moment share the same profile. They are well-educated, male, high-income, young – the so-called  elite”. With how promising this field is, it would be a shame if we did not try to change this paradigm. For the purposes of equity, everyone should be able to reap the benefits of the growing economy.

Changing The Narrative Through Literacy

Various cryptocurrency firms, such as LocalTrade, are trying to change the perception of the industry. LocalTrade’s is on the mission to make crypto and DeFi accessible for all investors, not only the hardcore ones. Set up as a one-stop cryptocurrency exchange and financial products ecosystem, the company aims precisely to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the crypto industry. And they want to do so by providing the most profitable, efficient, and safe financial instruments to all crypto market players and retail investors.

The company’s mission is to “democratise crypto” for all.  According to their team, they are “the first platform that allows anybody, even with a fiat bank card and a small $10 check, to have seamless access to the most profitable DeFi & CeFi products”. Of course, it is the community that is the driving force behind decentralised products; therefore, LocalTrade’s Ecosystem, “will be built on a revenue-sharing model and DAO governance, with a marketing incentive system on top of the whole ecosystem”.

Moreover, LocalTrade’s card offering is an attempt to make it more convenient and accessible to use crypto day-to-day. Right now, only a handful of places (both digital and physical marketplaces) currently accept payments in crypto, and this fact, when coupled with long transaction processing time, is what slows down global adoption.

This company wants to change that: “LocalTrade’s Visa Card is developed to address these inefficiencies and provide users with a viable payment option, allowing them to utilize crypto with full fiat convenience”.

According to their roadmap, the company also plans to open a LocalTrade University. This can be understood as a space where users can access to get their doubts solved. 

The LocalTrade University will be based on two main principles: deep knowledge by providing educational materials on blockchain, crypto and trading topics, published regularly on the platform and a more proactive educational proposition in the form of  trading masterclasses. These masterclasses, carried out by professional crypto traders will deliver knowledge and skills to better perform in -and understand- the crypto market.

All in all, this industry is growing and is not going to disappear. And companies in this space are starting to take the responsibility to convince more and more users that it is safe, reliable, and legal.