Renata Rodrigues, global community and education lead, Paxful, a digital currency peer-to-peer platform, shares her views on why education on Bitcoin is necessary before investments around it.
1. What are the three best practices that today’s youth should follow when it comes to digital assets?
Education is key with any financial solution and Bitcoin is no exception. Here are some helpful tips for getting started:
- Start with a small amount. You don’t have to have a substantial amount of wealth to buy Bitcoin and you can start with whatever amount feels appropriate—you can start with as small as ₹1. This will buy you a partial Bitcoin.
- Educate yourself with trusted content and rely on more established platforms and digital assets. Join a Bitcoin meetup to learn from people in your community.
- Be cautious of red flags while trading. As an example, be mindful if an offer is too good to be true. More generally, understand that Bitcoin is not about minting quick millionaires. Educate yourself around any assets that are offering overnight success.
2. How can blockchain be used to keep digital assets safe? Which are the apps consumers can use?
Consumer safety is at the core of Blockchain because it cannot be erased or changed. Users can bring on added safety by implementing two-factor authentication (2FA). Speaking specifically to Paxful, we implement both Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures to keep users safe. Additionally, Paxful acts as the escrow on the transaction—it holds the bitcoin until both sides have completed what they need to do. This helps ensure the transaction is safe. A highlight of the controls in place include trade chat monitoring using machine learning, various rule based transaction and blockchain analytics monitoring, sanctions checks, and digital onboarding.
3. What are three tips you would like to give to people who dabble in crypto trading?
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4. Which according to you is the country leading in the space and the Indian start-up ecosystem can pick up the best use cases?
Nigeria is a great example—a country where Paxful has over two million users and over three billion in trade volume to date. Nigeria is a region that understands that Bitcoin can be used not just for investment–but for remittance, wealth preservation, payments, e-commerce, and social good. There’s been an explosion in Bitcoin adoption due to a multitude of factors: a high unemployment rate, a massive population of unbanked adults, a young and entrepreneurial community, a Nigerian diaspora around the world, and financial instability—such as volatility around the Naira. All of these make a massive case for Bitcoin, a permissionless technology that was built for the masses. Speaking specifically for India, the start-up ecosystem is very creative and innovative. For example, we just brought on a local merchant–Frustrated Dropout Tandoori. He receives over 100 customers a day and they can now use Paxful to purchase tea from his shop.
5. What are the disadvantages of blockchain?
As Bitcoin allows you to be your own bank, this also requires a lot of responsibility. Currently with financial services, most people are still used to giving responsibility to a third-party. Financial freedom is a mind-shift.
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