The crypto frenzy has been going on for a while now, and it has gotten to many industries. Now, the adoption of crypto became so popular in 2021, and as of 2024, there were more than 562 million people who own crypto around the world. In fact, statistics show that approximately 40% of American adults currently own crypto, a 10-point increase between 2023 and 2024. Well, just a few years ago, most people were skeptical about these digital currencies, individuals and businesses alike. However, today, many businesses have adopted crypto as one of the common forms of payment.
Solana, for instance, has become one of the most popular crypto in 2025. In fact, a report by CoinGecko named the Solana blockchain most popular in 2024. You see, it’s actually easy to use this token as the Solana price is in a range that is favorable for almost everyone. For instance, as of the day of this writing, Solana was trading at $197.9 USD. Adding to the low price, Solana has multiple advantages that make it stand out among its competition. However, today, our main focus is not on this crypto alone.
Now, apart from just the market value of the tokens, there are a variety of reasons why the love and appreciation of crypto continue to grow. We will be opening up some of these reasons and coming to a conclusion, whether they make sense or it’s just hype.
Protection from inflation
One of the biggest menaces in the financial world is inflation. In periods of economic crisis, governments tend to print more money in order to provide stimulus requirements for their citizens. However, all that this does is lead to money losing its value. For example, a 2020 report by McKinsey Global reported that governments produced a total of $10 trillion by July 2020 in order to match up the havoc that had been created by the global crisis.
Now, with crypto like Bitcoin, supply is fixed. This means that you cannot mine more than the capped 21 million bitcoins. The fact that an asset has a limited supply means that there cannot be an excess of it, meaning that it is not affected by inflation. In 2020, Bitcoin attracted a good number of investors and entrepreneurs who saw it as a potential hedging for inflation. Other tokens with limited supply include XRP, Cardano’s ADA, Avalanche’s AVAX, Stellar’s XLM and Sui.
Apart from limited supply, stablecoins have also been at the forefront to hedge against inflation. These cryptocurrencies are pegged against less volatile assets, like fiat currency or commodities, in order to maintain a consistent value. Stablecoins that are most popular are the ones pegged against the US Dollar, such as USDT and USDC, and the gold-pegged Pax Gold (PAXG). Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa are the market leaders in adopting stablecoins for retail and other professional use, with a YoY growth of more than 40%. By pegging their assets to stablecoins, individuals and businesses are able to preserve their purchasing powers and protect their assets from the volatility and depreciation of local currencies.
Cross-border transactions
Making transactions across international borders has been a problem for most entrepreneurs, individuals and businesses alike. People are tired of the high transaction costs and slow rate of transactions when operating with traditional financial institutions. In a study by PYMNTS, the research found that more than 50% of Citibank’s clients thought that the high cost of transactions was a major pain point when making cross-border payments. Another 59% said that slow speeds were a menace. And here is where crypto comes in.
In the same study, Brooks Entwistle, vice president of Ripple, told PYMNTS that businesses need to move value faster even as they become bigger. That’s the main reason why businesses that want to scale to international ranks embracing crypto. You see, crypto offers cheaper ways to transact at a faster rate. In fact, the Solana network processed approximately $1.4 trillion worth of stablecoin in cross-border payments in March 2024 alone.
When it comes to cross-border transactions, blockchain offers a significantly higher advantage over conventional financial institutions like banks. To start with, blockchain has high throughput. This means that it can cover more transactions over a specific time. For instance, Solana can process up to 65,000 TPS. Another advantage is low transactional fees and also the 24/7 availability of blockchain platforms. The main advantage is the speed of transaction, owing to the fact that crypto payments are near-instantaneous, while traditional services might take even weeks when there is downtime.
In conclusion
Crypto is proving to be a top technology for making transactions across various industries. In fact, crypto is spreading across almost all sectors like wildfire. However, this is not just because of the hype of new technology; it’s because of the advantages it brings to the table. And as one CEO of a reputable crypto exchange said, people don’t care about crypto. They care about its practical uses. From hedging against inflation to solving the issues of cross-border transactions, crypto has proven to be worth the fuss it is carrying.
