Is Crypto Becoming Centralized?

Centralization is always a concern, but how do you stop it in crypto if it means mass adoption? The only tool we have is education. Let’s talk about the many ways the industry is being centralized and what to do instead.

This is my 544th episode/article. I put a great deal of work into this content so if you find it valuable, please do like, share, comment and subscribe!

Let’s cover all the important crypto news happening lately and over 2022 to get a better view of the increasing acceleration of centralization within the crypto industry.
• FTX + VISA – Visa partners with FTX for prepaid credit cards.
o https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/07/visa-partners-with-ftx-in-a-bet-that-shoppers-still-want-to-spend-cryptocurrencies-in-a-bear-market.html
• Mastercard + Binance – Mastercard and Binance also partner for prepaid credit cards.
o https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2022/08/25/the-future-is-here-visa-mastercard-and-binance-are-suddenly-making-bitcoin-ethereum-xrp-solana-cardano-and-tether-payments-a-reality-despite-price-crash/?sh=3f504e461ae0
• Mastercard + Banks – Mastercard recently partnered with banks to help offer direct crypto trading through Paxos who also manages Paypal leading me to assume it will be very restrictive.
o https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/17/mastercard-will-help-banks-offer-cryptocurrency-trading.html
• Blockchain IDs in South Korea – Blockchain IDs are the future, but for now it seems they will be mainly used to tax you a lot more.
o https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-16/south-korea-aims-to-boost-economy-with-digital-id-on-blockchain?leadSource=uverify%20wall
• Google Accepting Crypto – This is a sign bigger authorities are getting on board with crypto and boosting other centralized players like Coinbase & USDC.
o https://www.googlecloudpresscorner.com/2022-10-11-Google-Cloud-and-Coinbase-Launch-New-Strategic-Partnership-to-Drive-Web3-Innovation
o https://dune.com/phabc/usdc-banned-addresses - This is the ban list for USDC. Did you know that to simply check these 88 addresses before every transaction actually makes USDC 40% more expensive than DAI to use?!
 https://cryptoslate.com/usdc-blacklist-cost-users-an-extra-3-6-million-per-month/
• Metamask Bank Transfer – This is innovative but it’s trading privacy for convenience by connecting your bank to your private wallet.
o https://consensys.net/blog/metamask/metamask-integrates-with-sardine-to-bring-instant-bank-to-crypto-option-for-u-s-users/
• NFTs on Twitter & Instagram – You can now utilize collectibles on Instagram and you can connect to your wallet to display an NFT profile picture on Twitter. Mass adoption of NFTs is here, but the NFTs themselves aren’t really that great without utility in my opinion. Instead, this is more of a win for Ethereum and crypto in general for finding more ways to adoption. –
o https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-digital-collectibles
o https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/tech/twitter-nft-profile-picture/index.html

I believe this will likely be bullish for cryptocurrency in the short term, but in the long term, it will lead more people astray who opt for convenience over security and true ownership which is giving up quite a lot. Our job now is to educate people on why you need to do the extra work of trading crypto where you can withdraw and store it on a wallet that you solely have access to and own.

Stop leaving your crypto on exchanges and platforms. Avoid the temptation to get a crypto VISA or connect to your bank and provide KYC for everything. Even just linking your social accounts to your wallets for NFT clout is another easy way to subtly achieve a “KYC-lite”. Soon you’ll have to also avoid the temptation to buy it with your bank.

Do you see this as a large problem too? Is KYC as bad as I believe? Is this good or bad for crypto in the long run? Let me know what you think about this in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe!
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*Disclaimer: This is not financial advice and is purely for entertainment purposes. What you see, hear, or read is my personal opinion, and any statements made are based on my views and should not be misconstrued as fact. My crypto portfolio may or may not be simulated*

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