In the early days of the internet, opinions varied on how popular the new technology would be with the public.

Nobel-Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman infamously doubted the web’s potential, saying, “By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.”

Despite the naysayers, web pioneers pushed forward and built the necessary infrastructure. They knew that a worldwide network of computers would bring incredible benefits.

The doubters were proved wrong when email caught on as the internet’s first “killer application.” E-commerce followed shortly after, and the rest is history.

Cryptocurrency is in roughly the same place today that the internet was in the mid-1990s. Early adopters clearly see the potential, but many skeptics still aren’t sold.

Thriving Off of Fiat Money’s Downfall

I believe the first killer app for crypto is plain to see.

Bitcoin is digital gold in a time when the traditional financial system is in trouble.

World debt is growing at an unsustainable pace on country, state, local and individual levels.

The U.S. borrowed a trillion dollars in roughly the last six months. That brings the total federal debt to $21 trillion.

It’s the same story across much of the globe. Almost everybody’s racking up debt at unprecedented rates. It’s been going on for four decades or so now.

The fiat money system is already breaking down in places like Venezuela, Argentina and Zimbabwe. All these places have both very high inflation and huge bitcoin/crypto communities. That’s no coincidence.

Massive bank bailouts have happened in numerous “developed” countries. And more trouble is inevitable with rapidly rising spending, debt and liabilities. Debt booms simply cannot last forever, and we’re starting to see the consequences now.

There’s also the fact that few of the long-term problems were fixed after the last crisis because the market wasn’t allowed to do its job and let banks go bust.