Over the past 10 years, there is little doubt that cryptocurrency has grown from something that was relatively unheard of into something that crosses the everyday vocabulary of the average financially literate person. Even looking at recent history, a report by Chainalysis shows that crypto adoption was up 881% in 2019, a figure that rose 2300% more by Q2 of 2021.

In a very short amount of time, cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm. However, with the rising awareness around this digital form of currency, the barriers that are preventing mainstream entry have become more and more apparent. In this article, we’ll cover the main barriers to entry for cryptocurrency and look at how leading crypto trading platforms aim to dismantle them.

Let’s get right into it!

What Are The Main Barriers To Entry With Cryptocurrency?

Although cryptocurrency is rising in popularity, users of this medium still only make up a small percentage of the world. In fact, only 6% of citizens in the US own cryptocurrency. This is incredibly low when compared to other countries like Nigeria and Vietnam, which come in with 32% and 21%, respectively.

Clearly, cryptocurrency uptake has a long way to go. This is mainly due to a series of limitations, either of blockchain, trading platforms, or the public itself. The primary barriers to entry with cryptocurrency are:

• High fees
• Lack of knowledge
• Security Risks
• Difficult onboarding process

Let’s break these down further.

High Fees

One of the most significant barriers that stop people from investing their money into cryptocurrency is the high set of fees that are associated with this medium. Many crypto platforms will charge fees for depositing money, fees for trading crypto, and fees for withdrawing. When hit multiple times by different fees, the potential value of trading within this medium is dramatically impacted.

Many people prefer to stick to stock trading because it’s a much more predictable medium. Due to its extreme popularity, brokerages have had to offer ridiculously low fees to attract customers, making sure that stock trading is accessible and easy for everyone.

What Are Crypto Platforms Doing About High Fees?

Seeing that the high fees associated with trading cryptocurrency are a major repellent for many users, many crypto platforms are turning to reduce the fees they charge. Many of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world are reducing their fees as much as possible, trying to offer competitive rates.

Currently, if you’re looking for a crypto exchange that has low fees, there are two runaway businesses. The first of these is eToro, which is known for having the lowest associated fees when trading cryptocurrency. Within this site, you’ll be able to trade with low fees, making the process easier than ever.

Similarly, another platform that’s great for low fees is Roobic. With absolutely 0 fees associated with both depositing and withdrawing capital, Roobic allows users to start trading cryptocurrency without spending a cent. Alongside these free deposit and withdrawal fees, there are also very low associated costs with blockchain transfers and currency conversions.

Due to the rise of popular platforms, this barrier to entry is fast becoming a thing of the past.

Lack of Knowledge

A preventative factor for cryptocurrency uptake is the fact that some people simply do not know enough about cryptocurrency to start placing their money into the market. While 86% of Americans have heard a little bit about crypto, only a very small percentage of those same people invest themselves.

This is mostly due to the fact that as cryptocurrency is such a new medium, people are less familiar with what it actually is. Bring in the idea of a virtual currency, and it’s no wonder that people are worried about investing their money within this new financial stream.

What Are Crypto Platforms Doing About The Widespread Lack Of Knowledge?

Although perhaps the most widespread barrier to entry, it is also the one that’s the easiest to fix. Where there is a lack of knowledge, education must be sought out. Realizing this, crypto exchanges have begun to develop and release free educational modules about cryptocurrency. These aim to teach users about what cryptocurrency is, why they should be interested, and how to trade using their exchange.

A great example of a platform that offers a range of educational modules is Binance. Within Binance, there is a section called The Binance Academy, which lists a range of different courses that users can take. These courses will span across anything from ‘What is the Metaverse’ to explaining the functions of individual cryptocurrencies.

Due to the widespread availability of information on this platform, users who are interested in cryptocurrency but don’t know where to begin will be able to work through the modules available on this site. By doing this, they become more confident in cryptocurrency and therefore are more likely to invest in the future.

Security Risks

2021 saw an unheard-of level of cryptocurrency scams, exploits, and hacks. Some of the individual hacks alone reached values of over $600 million, showing just how extreme these exploits have become. These hacks have put a lot of people off cryptocurrency, seeing it as an unstable medium that’s prone to breaches.

Even as recently as early February 2022, a popular layer one bridge that connects Ethereum and Solana, Wormhole, saw a hack that resulted in $320 million being liberated from the platform. With numbers like these occurring frequently, it’s easy to see why people are worried about investing in any cryptocurrency exchanges.

What Are Crypto Platforms Doing About Security Risks?

Increasing the digital security of both platforms and users has been a primary goal of cryptocurrency exchanges over the last few years. First of all, one factor that puts most investors’ minds at ease is the fact that all the money stolen from users within cryptocurrency breaches is almost always returned directly to the users.

Due to this, individual users have relatively little to fear, as even if they were hacked, their money would be returned to them. However, that’s still not quite good enough for most platforms, with security drives being established that attempt to push forward the layers of digital protection available.

For example, the platform Roobic offers an advanced level of digital security. With these additional layers, secure and private keys that users create have additional aspects that protect them from being hacked. Due to this, any money deposited into a wallet on this platform is significantly safer.

Other platforms have also started to adopt further security measures, effectively reducing the number of hacks and scams that occur on their platforms.

Difficult Onboarding Process

One of the final barriers that literally stops people from getting a crypto wallet is the hard signup process. With some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, like Binance and Coinbase, the presence of a range of identity verifications and security steps (while making the platform safer) significantly slows down the signup process.

Typically, users will have to go through a long identity verification process that notoriously flags users, even when they have all the required documents. Due to this stressful and elongated process, some users get halfway through the process before stopping altogether.

What Are Crypto Platforms Doing About A Difficult Onboarding Process?

While identity verification is important, some cryptocurrency exchanges are allowing users to create a wallet without having to confirm every aspect of their identity. This allows users to become onboarded before then having to fill out their accounts at a later date. While this is only a small change, it is dramatically reducing this barrier to entry, ensuring that more people sign up to crypto platforms.

Once a user is actually on a platform and is ready to trade, they’re much more likely to make transactions rather than being stuck in the signup process.

Final Thoughts on the Accessibility of Crypto Exchanges in 2022

While there is still a range of barriers to entry with cryptocurrency, mainstream exchanges are trying their best to overcome them. One by one, major exchanges are turning their sights towards these barriers are creating innovative solutions.

As time continues, these tech platforms will continue to roll out ingenious new features to ensure that more and more people can sign up for accounts with ease. As people want more accessible exchanges, steps are made every single day to ensure this is a reality.