[onelastjob]

If you're in rural India and don't have access to a bank account, but you do have internet access via a smartphone, then I could definitely see cryptocurrency being valuable to you. And that doesn't even take into account countries like Venezuela that are experiencing hyperinflation, where cryptocurrency would be much more useful. There are cryptocurrencies that are energy efficient and have low (or even zero) transaction fees. I doubt the author has looked into these coins.

Beyond just currency uses, smart contracts open the door to phasing out escrow middlemen for purely digital transactions (like buying/selling domain names, etc.) Decentralized lending and borrowing is another major use of smart contract coins.

[captn3m0]

Banking penetration in India is at 80+% mainly due to DBT pushing straight to bank accounts.

India’s smartphone penetration is at 41%.

All exchanges in India require a Savings Bank account for Fiat transfers. How are these unbanked people meant to use crypto really?

[onelastjob]

You don't have to use an exchange to acquire cryptocurrency. People can use sites like localbitcoins to exchange cash for crypto in person.

[seoaeu]

How exactly do you imagine that an unbanked person living in rural India would be able use cryptocurrency? It isn't like they can just enter their credit card into a website and buy some. Not to mention that even if they someone managed to acquire some, the $5+/transaction fees are going to make something like bitcoin or ethereum completely impractical.

[onelastjob]

Nano has free transactions. Other cryptos like Stellar and Solana have low cost transactions. People can use sites like localbitcoins to exchange cash for crypto.

[yannoninator]

there are other alternative cryptocurrencies working on this exact problem.

you're talking as if bitcoin and ethereum is all of cryptocurrency.