Connect with us

Technology

How Decentralized Finance Could Make Investing More Accessible

Published

on

.container {
max-width: 1200px;
}
.button {
display: inline-block;
height: 45px;
color: #ffffff;
text-align: center;
font-family: helvetica;
letter-spacing: .01rem;
text-decoration: none;
white-space: nowrap;
border-radius: 0px;
line-height: 45px;
font-size: em(13);
cursor: pointer;
box-sizing: border-box;
background: #A1E0D7;
transition-duration: 0.4s;
margin-bottom: 1px;
width: 33.33333%;

}
.button-group {
position: left;
width: 100%;
display: inline-block;
list-style: none;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
/* IE hacks */
zoom: 1;
*display: inline;
}
.button-group li {
float: left;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
.button-group .button {
display: inline-block;
box-sizing: border-box;
color: white;

}
.button-group > .button:not(:first-child):not(:last-child), .button-group li:not(:first-child):not(:last-child) .button {
border-radius: 0;
}
.button-group > .button:first-child, .button-group li:first-child .button {
margin-left: 0;
border-top-right-radius: 0;
border-bottom-right-radius: 0;
}
.button-group > .button:last-child, .button-group li:last-child > .button {
border-top-left-radius: 0;
border-bottom-left-radius: 0;
border-bottom-right-radius: 0;
}
.button:hover {
background-color: #FFC38C;

}
.button.active {
background-color: #FFC38C;
}
.button-group :not(:last-child) {
border-right: 1px solid white;
padding-right: 0px;
}
.button-group {
border-right: none;
margin-right: none;
}
@media (max-width: 600px) {
.button {
font-size: 13px;}

}

Infographic: How Decentralized Finance Could Make Investing More Accessible

Did you know that a majority of the global population doesn’t have access to quality financial assets?

In advanced economies, we are lucky to have simple options to grow and protect our wealth. Banks are all over the place, markets are robust, and we can invest our money into assets like stocks or bonds at the drop of a hat.

In the United States, roughly 52% of people are invested in the stock market – but in a place like India, for example, this portion drops to a paltry 2%. How can we make it possible for people on the “outside” of the financial system to gain access?

Breaking Down Barriers

Today’s infographic comes to us from Abra, and it shows how decentralized finance could make investing a more universal phenomenon, especially for those that don’t have access to the modern financial system.

It lays out four key obstacles that prevent people in developing markets from investing in quality financial assets in the first place:

  1. The Geographic Lottery
    Where you live plays a massive role in determining your ability to build wealth. In advanced Western economies, the average person is much more likely to be invested in financial markets that can help compound wealth.
  2. Financial Literacy and Complexity
    Roughly 3.5 billion adults globally lack an understanding of basic financial concepts, which creates an impenetrable barrier to investing.
  3. Local Market Turmoil
    Even if a person is mentally prepared to invest, local market turmoil (hyperinflation, political crises, closed borders, etc.) can make it difficult to get access to stable assets.
  4. The Cost of Investing in Foreign Markets
    Foreign assets can be pricey. One share of Amazon is $1,800, which is realistically more money than many people around the world can afford.

In other words, there are billions of people globally that can’t take advantage of some of the most effective wealth-building tactics.

This is just one flaw in the current financial system, a paradigm that has created massive amounts of wealth but only for a specific and well-connected group of people.

Enter Decentralized Finance

Could decentralized finance be the alternative to open up access to financial markets?

By combining apps with blockchain technology – specifically through public blockchains such as Bitcoin or Ethereum – decentralized finance makes it possible to get around some of the barriers that are created by more traditional systems.

Here are some of the innovations that are making this possible:

Smart contracts could automate transactions and remove intermediaries, making investing cheaper, faster, and more accessible.

Fractional investing could allow partial or shared ownership of financial assets by using tokenization. This would make expensive stocks like Amazon ($1,800 per share) available to a much wider segment of the population.

Location independent investing is possible through smartphones. This would make it possible for people in remote parts of the developing world to invest, even without access to nearby financial institutions or local markets.

Like the internet with knowledge, decentralized finance could reshape the world by making financial access universal. Who’s ready?

Click for Comments

Technology

Mapped: Internet Download Speeds by Region

North America and East Asia have the speediest internet.

Published

on

Map illustrating median download speeds in each global region.

Mapped: Internet Download Speeds by Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In today’s fast-paced world, internet speed isn’t just a convenience—it’s the driving force behind how we work, play, and connect.

In this map, we illustrate median download speeds in each global region, based on data from the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023.

North America and East Asia Have the Speediest Internet

According to the World Bank, download speeds in high-income countries increased significantly between 2019 and 2023, while speeds in lower-income countries stagnated.

As of 2022, North America and East Asia have the speediest internet.

RegionMedian mobile download speed (Mb/sec)Median fixed broadband download speed (Mb/sec)
East Asia & Pacific90171
Europe & Central Asia4485
Latin America & the Caribbean2674
Middle East & North Africa3636
North America83193
South Asia2743
Sub-Saharan Africa1615

This difference in broadband speeds can mainly be attributed to investment.

In 2020, nearly 90% of global telecommunication investment came from East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and North America. These regions not only concentrate the highest-income population but also the top technology hubs.

Meanwhile, low- and middle-income regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for less than 10% of total investment.

Most of the investment is directed towards fiber optic and 5G mobile networks. According to the mobile industry association GSMA, mobile operators alone are projected to invest more than $600 billion between 2022 and 2025, with 85% of the total allocated for 5G.

In 2023, broadband speeds in high-income countries were 10x faster for fixed connections, and 5x faster for mobile connections compared to those in low-income countries.

Fixed broadband connections, which provide high-speed internet to residences or businesses, reached 38% of the population in high-income countries. In comparison, fixed broadband penetration was only 4% of the population in lower-middle-income countries and almost zero in low-income countries.

Continue Reading
MSCI Direct Indexing

Subscribe

Popular