Crypto will become an inflation hedge — just not yet

cointelegraph.com:

Cryptocurrencies present a unique solution, given their lack of a central governing bank. You can’t lose trust in something that doesn’t exist. Its supply is finite, so it naturally appreciates in value. People using a blockchain with proof-of-stake protocols can access their funds at any time, while continuously earning staking rewards on their current balance. This means that the actual value of annual percentage yield is tied to the economic activity on the chain via its treasury and staking reward distribution mechanics. Those properties seem to address the cause of inflation in the traditional monetary systems — but some roadblocks remain.

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For starters, let’s examine the reasons why people invest in and hold cryptocurrencies. The majority of cryptocurrency holders see the future potential of those technologies, meaning some of their value is not currently present. They are speculative investments. Decentralization has been achieved by Bitcoin, but its exuberantly high energy costs remain unaddressed, and the majority of mining forces are still aggregated into a dozen mining pools. Ethereum has similar issues with energy consumption and mining pool centralization. Ethereum also has a security problem — more than $1.2 billion has already been stolen on its blockchain this year.

There’s also the issue of decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, which are currently not as fit for use as centralized exchanges. The DEX with the highest transaction volume, Uniswap, offers inefficient pricing compared with a centralized exchange. A simple trade of $1 million in Tether (USDT) for USD Coin (USDC) would cost over $30,000 more in fees and slippage than