April 7, 2020

“I tried to explain cryptocurrency to my Mom and it did not go well. Different alphanumeric addresses, wallets, tokens… she’s never going to get it. The FIO Foundation wants to fix all that. One address for all your crypto. name@domain It’s that easy.”

Usability is the achilles heel of crypto adoption

Blockchain and cryptocurrency were founded on the idea of creating accountable, secure, efficient platforms for exchanging data and by doing so, building and sustaining trust. Unfortunately, cryptocurrency in its early stages has proven to be a difficult technology to understand, especially for those that are already unfamiliar with disruptive technologies like blockchain.

Blockchain developers have done an incredible job innovating and producing new products for the world to take advantage of, and the potential that they have unlocked is limitless. However, for cryptocurrency to move to the next level of adoption, it needs to be easier to understand and manage. People (your Mom and Dad) will need to start thinking of it as money that they can use and transact with, or more importantly they should not have think about it at all, like fiat currency they just need to use it.

If you’re familiar with the crypto space, you understand that when you’re using cryptocurrency, you must learn how to acquire it, set up wallets, store and manage your assets. Setting up a wallet the first time is a nerve-wracking prospect for most people, let alone having to manage potentially dozens of tokens.

Cryptocurrency has shown vast utility, features, and applications. It can be used for everything from sending money to a friend, buying an airline ticket or donating to your favorite charity. Crypto is amazing, but it is also just an obscure concept for most of the population. For people to feel that it’s safe and start using cryptocurrency they must understand it.

So, we know what is keeping many people from adopting cryptocurrency— managing it is complex, risky and it is hard to understand. If we can help solve these problems then we can make it easier for cryptocurrency to be adopted by the masses, and the world would be better for it.

Finding our way to mass adoption

This is where FIO comes in.

FIO is a protocol and an idea that will help drive mass adoption. FIO allows people to simplify their cryptocurrency ownership by setting up one address for managing all their cryptocurrency. Consumers love simplicity and ease of use, and that is exactly what FIO provides. With FIO adoption, consumers will focus on the benefits of cryptocurrency instead of the hardships of owning it and will be more likely to adopt it into their everyday lives.

FIO also helps expand a wallets capabilities by allowing users to request funds from one another and it allows payments to be made with a single click. This could be requesting payments from your friends for dinner or a movie. For a small business this could be sending an invoice and getting paid immediately, no more waiting 30 days.

When the FIO Foundation succeeds it will deliver the usability and ease-of-use that cryptocurrency needs to be synonymous with money. There are many “user-friendly” crypto wallets out there, and FIO adoption will help make every one of them better.

A look to the future

If cryptocurrency is to succeed and become a common currency that is used for everyday transactions, it is imperative that it is used by all segments of the population to at least some degree. To gain mass adoption, it’s important that cryptocurrency becomes easier to use and more central in the way that it’s transacted. With FIO, this becomes possible. Managing all assets with one address makes the entire topic much more approachable.

We already know the benefits of cryptocurrency and all that it can offer to the world. The next step is making it more accessible, more practical, and easier to use. FIO can accomplish all of those things and for that reason, the FIO protocol is poised to become the crypto game-changer.

To succeed we all need to participate

The launch of the FIO Mainnet is just the beginning. FIO is a building block for innovation that will support even greater crypto ease-of-use and the best part is, by supporting FIO we all get to decide where we go from here.

Okay, you’ve made it to the end of this article, it’s time for you to go add FIO support in your product and then you can talk to your mom about how easy it is to use cryptocurrency.

These opinions are my own, not those of the FIO Foundation.

About the author:

Brad Spannbauer is the founder of Currency Hub LLC. He is a 20+ year internet veteran, compliance guru and a Certified Bitcoin Professional. Currency Hub is a FIO affiliate member & block producer.

Read the original post on Medium.