The widening cryptocurrency divide: If you know, you know

18/04/2025 03:13 AST

A few months ago, I was scrolling through TikTok when I came across a crypto creator from the Philippines. He said something that stopped me in my tracks: "I know you're trying to tell your friends and family about this, and they're not interested. Just stop. They haven't been chosen. You have. Just focus on you."

I laughed, but it hit home. Because I had been trying. I had been bringing up Bitcoin, explaining blockchain, talking about how the financial system is shifting - and all I got in return was disinterest or scepticism.

A few months ago, I was scrolling through TikTok when I came across a crypto creator from the Philippines. He said something that stopped me in my tracks: "I know you're trying to tell your friends and family about this, and they're not interested. Just stop. They haven't been chosen. You have. Just focus on you."

I laughed, but it hit home. Because I had been trying. I had been bringing up Bitcoin, explaining blockchain, talking about how the financial system is shifting - and all I got in return was disinterest or scepticism.

I've mostly given up trying to talk about crypto and Bitcoin to my social circle and family. I think it's probably just irritating to them, and I don't want to be that person. My brother bought a small amount of Bitcoin and is satisfied leaving it at that. My friends, many of whom invest in traditional markets and have money to spare, simply aren't interested. And so I find myself marveling at this divide. It really is an if you know, you know situation.

I often think about that TikTok creator's words - "You have been chosen." It's not far off from how a lot of people in crypto feel. Once you understand even some of the possibilities, the economic shift, the massive potential - it's impossible to ignore. And yet, most of the coverage of this space over the last decade has been nonsense.

Look at AI. Every headline is about how it might take jobs, ruin education, spread misinformation, and destroy humanity. Just like in the early days of the internet, when the press fixated on how dangerous, unstable and scam-ridden it was. Crypto has had the same treatment.

And still, when I tell people that I have started investing, the reactions are predictable. People who don't understand the difference between Bitcoin and a meme coin, between an NFT and a blockchain node, will confidently tell me it's a scam. "It's not backed by anything!" they say.

The instinct to ridicule what we don't understand is a powerful one. Have you done that? Are you doing it now? I had a nudge from the universe that told me to start learning about crypto, to invest in Bitcoin, and eventually, to explore alt coins too. I literally wasn't able to ignore it any more than I was able to ignore the call I got 17 years ago to move to Abu Dhabi.

The more I've learned, the more I'm convinced it's the future of finance. And if you aren't paying attention, you're going to lose out in a big way. But only part of the reason I invest. It's also because it's exciting. Because it's new. It's an incredible way to make money at multiples most people aren't accustomed to - at least that's what they tell me! And because it's a great way to diversify, meeting interesting new people and take some risks too.

Take XRP. Last fall, I was getting that nudge again. Then I saw someone on social media saying, "You don't have to buy a ton of it. Just buy some." That has since become my running mantra in crypto - just buy some. So I did. I got in with a modest amount at 55 cents and watched it grow and hold relatively steady ever since.

You might think that was gambling. It wasn't. When you start researching this alt coin, when you start looking at Ripple, the company behind it, when you see how embedded they are in the American financial system, the partnerships they have across the world and here in the UAE - it becomes obvious.

Maybe I was chosen. But you can be chosen, too.

Ann Marie McQueen is an Abu Dhabi-based Canadian digital journalist, host of Chain Breakers on The Crypto Radio, and founder of Hotflash inc, a global media platform providing evidence, expert and experienced-based information for women in midlife.

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