583 views

Why Cryptocurrencies Could be the Salvation for Immigrants

A 2019 statistic showed that a total of 44.9 million immigrants resided in the U.S alone, making up 13.7% of the nation’s population at that time. Ideally, immigrants move from one country to another for better job opportunities, improved living standards, family reunification, or even escaping violence. 

However, whatever the reason could be for their movement, immigrants encounter significant challenges acquiring basic needs such as financial services. Moreover, lack of proper documentation makes immigrants ineligible for acquiring such services as the rest of the population.

Due to this reason, many foreigners are turning to cryptocurrencies as a solution to the financial exclusion they face. Undocumented migrants barred from accessing jobs and banks can now experience a financial breakthrough with the help of digital currencies.

Cryptocurrencies: The Ultimate Solution for Immigrants

The digitization process is slowly taking charge in almost every sector, including the financial industry. Currently, cryptocurrencies pave the way for a modernized future that exposes the vulnerabilities existing within the traditional financial system.

Despite the skepticism surrounding digital currencies, most users worldwide are witnessing the impactful benefits of crypto investments. Furthermore, the overall market is rapidly growing with digital assets as data records more than 8,000 cryptocurrencies at writing. As such, leveraging cryptocurrencies will save immigrants in the following ways:

Ability to Make Cross-Border Transfers

Sending money to recipients in other countries can be a hectic process that can take more extended periods and, in most cases, incur senders hefty fees to make a transfer successfully.

Cryptocurrencies provide a viable solution for immigrants to conduct cross-border payments since there are no intermediaries involved. In addition, the absence of third parties allows for quicker global transfers at cheaper transactional fees. 

Immigrants can, therefore, send funds to their families/friends without the hassle of going through any bank.

Cryptos Circumvent Identity Verification

Usually, financial institutions require users to submit their identity details to receive any form of service. Thus, while KYC checks assist in monitoring bad financial actors, it exposes users to various issues such as identity theft and impersonation. 

Immigrants using digital currencies stand to benefit from the anonymity feature, which shields their true identities from cybercriminals. A 2020 research article also points out that numerous immigrants use peer-to-peer payment markets like Paxful to acquire and send Bitcoins without undergoing KYC processes. In addition, users in the crypto-verse mainly carry out transactions using their wallet addresses only, thus removing the need for identity verification procedures. 

A Doorway to Financial Freedom

Even with the proper documentation to receive banking services, immigrants are still denied financial liberation since the institutions will control their holdings. On the other hand, cryptocurrencies employ financial freedom as there is no central authority to manage a user’s holdings. 

The decentralized architecture of digital currencies also instills financial liberation since immigrants can actively make critical decisions on specific crypto projects.

Additionally, the availability of loans in the crypto world is another aspect that encourages financial freedom. However, getting a loan through the traditional channel can challenge migrants, particularly those without legal papers.

Nonetheless, cryptocurrencies open up immigrants to a lending economy where they can operate as borrowers or lenders. Examples of lending platforms available in the DeFi space include Compound, Aave, Maker, InstaDapp, and many more.

Security and Transparency

Blockchains enable the storage of transactional records taking place within a crypto network. Furthermore, it guarantees users of transparency when all these records are publicly displayed in the ledger. 

Besides ensuring honest trading activities, blockchains grant security to transactional details since no entity can alter or delete any record. Furthermore, unlike other payment systems, cryptocurrencies utilize advanced encryption methods, which safeguards them from hacking or other cyber-related activity. 

Cold storages also turn out to be helpful when storing digital assets. Here, immigrants can acquire their cryptocurrencies from exchanges and transfer them to a secure cold storage location away from internet connections.

Cryptos Create Investment Opportunities

From an investor’s point of view, engaging in crypto investments will help immigrants maximize profits. However, in most instances, migrants have limited chances of participating in any business to generate substantial incomes. It, therefore, becomes necessary to initiate several investment strategies as highlighted below:

  • Hodling: this method poses as one of the safest earning strategies in the crypto space. Here, users hold their digital currencies for longer periods until these assets appreciate beyond the initial buying price.
  • Staking: This strategy will allow immigrants to secure dual earnings from holding virtual currencies in a wallet and supporting the operations of a blockchain network. Staking is only available to PoS-based cryptocurrencies such as Tezos, Ethereum, Algorand, to mention but a few.
  • Day trading: Users here make adequate incomes by analyzing the market trends and making decisions based on the analysis. It is a practice whereby traders buy and sell cryptocurrencies at various intervals within a day.

Final Word

Immigrants face a lot of seclusions before they can settle in a different country. Moreover, it becomes harder for migrants without legal documentation since financial institutions need identification details to render their services to customers. 

Bitcoin live price
Btc
Bitcoin
$27.941
price
0.89264%
price change
TRADE NOW

However, cryptocurrencies allow migrators to leverage and earn adequate incomes to sustain their needs in a new living environment. That way, virtual currencies allow these foreigners to establish themselves and encourage financial inclusion, which was only meant for a specific portion of the population. In the end, the cryptocurrency market gains significant value and gradually builds global mass adoption.

Stay up to date with our latest articles