Challenge #4 - Future of Cryptocurrency: Time Travel to 2040 - Sri Lanka!

Randula is a girl who lives in a village in Sri Lanka. She loves and is knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies. She owns crypto but she stored everything in her wallets. She got no chance to spend crypto for purchasing goods or services because the government doesn’t approve crypto payments and businesses.

In one long vacation, she really wanted to go for a tour to Rome.. But she had no money in her hand. She was so sad and she went to bed early. A few hours later her room is colored with a light and a fairy appears! Oh no!

The fairy asked why she was sad. “I want to travel to Rome. But I have no money on my hand. I have only crypto-assets” Randula cried. The fairy did time-traveling magic. The girl slept and woke up the next day as usual. She observed something strange in the surrounding. There was a strange debit card which is different from a bank card. She didn’t care much and went outside.

Once she cleaned up she switched on the TV to listen to the news. The date shown as 19th October 2040 on TV screen. “Oh! I am in the future!” She surprised.

Parliament News 2040

In the news, she saw the live parliament session. Ministers were discussing a taxing mechanism for crypto assets. They argued that they need to change the existing taxing mechanism for crypto assets due to low income for the government. They also discussed how to tax the mining of cryptocurrencies. The girl wondered “How the parliament ministers know that much about Crypto!”.

The Leader of the Opposition read some sentences from an act called “Crypto asset and Investor Protection Act 2030” and requested to update the act considering the latest incident. The incident was funding terrorism by a local crypto exchange. The leader of the opposition pointed out that these kinds of situations must be stopped. A young and handsome minister who is tagged as “Minister of Crypto Assets and Risk Mitigation, Online trading and Online Security” stood up and accepted the idea of the Leader of the Opposition.

“Oh the minister’s subject areas are still given as 2020!” The girl laughed.

She was so happy to hear the knowledge and awareness of parliament ministers. In 2020, there were no clues about crypto assets, she recalled.

Then a consciousness member of parliament in the opposite starts to question about an ICO that is conducted by a son of a Minister. The government supported ICOs for funding charity and funding innovations. The complaint was that the son of the Minister abused the crowdfund. The parliament converted into a battlefield by two minutes so the Speaker of parliament delayed the session by 2 hours.

Randula was so curious about the government support on Cryptocurrencies. She eagerly wanted to know what happened during the last 20 years. She opened her laptop. She understood Microsoft Windows has released their latest update windows 4T. She had to purchase the license. When she was going to purchase the license, she saw that they accept BTC, ETH, LTC and many other crypto coins to purchase licenses. After reading instructions she realized that the debit card she saw in the morning can be used for this.

Payments in 2040

The mechanism of payment was so easy. But before that she read the agreement very carefully. She realized the transaction fee is very low from many vendors. She wanted to live in the future forever!!! She purchased the license and rebooted the laptop. There were many windows gadgets to view crypto market data. She saw many coins she purchased in 2020 are now in very high values. But she wanted to know how much assets she had. She checked the debit card carefully and found a link to a mobile app by her vendor. Randula downloaded the app and tried to set it up. There were two agreements, the first one from the vendor and second one from the government. The government has enacted some laws to pay taxes from the crypto income. The app consisted of many security features and also with an insurance feature. The girl tried the feature and understood this one is provided recovery in a case of a security breach. The insurance company had different kinds of plans for different crypto applications, ex: ICO protection, General protection, Business protection.

She checked all her latest transactions from the particular mobile app. The mobile app remembered an old banking app. All kinds of transactions were there with many kinds of cryptocurrencies. She checked the wallet and had an idea about how much value she has.

She was hungry and wanted to order some food from Ubereats. As she expected she was able to spend crypto money for her food. She was happy because it is quick and efficient. She enabled mobile phone notifications from her crypto wallet app. So she can get instant updates. Now Randula again started thinking about her dream journey. “But how? I am still not sure how the things happening in 2040”. She talked to herself.

She dressed up and went outside. The village has so developed and has converted to a big town. She had no idea where to go. But she suddenly stopped at a kiosk which supported various kinds of currencies. There were multiple machines, some for fiat payments and some for crypto card payments. There was a long queue in front of the cryptocard payment machine. Randula saw a familiar face in the queue to fiat payment machines. A lady about 45 years old. “Oh my gosh.. she is one of my school friends @sandupi! I should go and ask her about all these crypto-economy changes” she grumbled.

How everything changed?

Randula started a discussion with the lady. She asked how athlete changes happen in Sri Lanka and when. The lady was so friendly and explained from the beginning. According to her, leading cryptocurrency investors made a request to governors with the support of a young politician who was really willing to improve the crypto economy in 2025. This was a big story in that era and many economists, educators, bankers, and investors had worked together to request government approval for the crypto business. As a result the president had appointed a commission to research the possibilities and trends of approving crypto in Sri Lanka. Somehow after work of 5 years, an act was enacted with new regulations, and rules regarding crypto assets. According to her, there were many issues against the act and somehow they were solved with the help of foreign experts.

She mentioned the rise of cryptocurrency had affected badly for traditional banks but later they also established their own decentralized economies. Sandupi recalled some painful experiences of the dark side of the economy. She told me that she faced huge fraud when investing in ICO early days. Also, she blamed this economy is very well supported to illegal transactions as the transactions are anonymous and un reversible.

After talking with her, Randula went back to home. All she wanted to get the maximum benefits of this time-traveling opportunity. “I want to go to Rome!”

Around the world 2040

First she verified whether her crypto card is accepted all over the world. Then tied to google about the situation in Rome and realized they also accept crypto as well. So she didn’t wait more. She quickly reserved a flight from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and made payments with her crypto debit card. Also reserve a hotel using it. If she did this in 2020 she had to pay more due to fiat currency rates. But Randula was so happy to do the payment from BTC which is common to both countries. On the planned day she left for Rome for her tour. She was very happy because if this was 2020, this Rome tour would be so expensive and difficult. But the time travel miracle helped her to achieve her dream after spending a few BTC. Before stopping the travel, she carefully looked at the prices of different coins and stored them in her memory.

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Back in Present 2020

After her dream trip, the magic was finished. She woke up with an empty wallet but well-spent dream travel. However, she had an idea what will happen next in Sri Lanka and what coins she should purchase. Smart!

She switched on the TV, the parliament discussing the 20th amendment to the constitution and COVID. She suffered again from all restrictions from exchanges, unsupport from central banks, poor knowledge of society.

Thank you

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_{Eventhough this is an imaginary tale, my opinion is if the cryptocurrency can be highly affected on day today life. There are problems like anonymousness, risks and security problems. But the technology can address all problems to make it secure. My point is the government support is very important}