The crypto wave is inescapable. Conversations on crypto are everywhere on the internet, from Twitter to Reddit to Instagram. Household superstars like Lebron James now star in advertisements for crypto companies. In the Middle East, Qatar is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup with popular crypto trading platform Crypto.com as the official sponsor. It is nearly impossible to circumvent all the crypto talk, as its flourishing market surpasses USD 2 trillion in trade volume. So, what exactly is crypto and why has it become so big, and so controversial in countries like Egypt? In short, crypto is an overarching term for blockchains and cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin … these are all cryptocurrencies. And blockchain is the backbone of cryptocurrency. [Blockchain] is a decentralized ledger, which means no one owns it or decides what goes on it,” explains Cesare Fracassi, professor of finance at the University of Texas. In a centralized economy, which all countries currently are, every transaction made is funneled and recorded through the ledger of a centralized authority – usually banks and the state. Blockchains and cryptocurrencies cut out such middlemen. For example, Bitcoin was minted…
