People simply holding crypto on an exchange isn’t mass adoption.

As the title suggests I don’t view people simply owning crypto on an exchange as mass adoption. Mass adoption is when people get their own wallets and become their own bankers, and that is still years away from happening.

Defi is way too complicated for the average user, and non-custodial wallets are still way to nerve-wracking to use for the average user as the slightest mistake could result in lost funds. Basically all of crypto is way too complicated, and the only part that isn’t is the major exchanges which is why they’ve seen so much “adoption”.

People speculating with a hundred dollars on an exchange isn’t adoption. People understanding the utility of crypto and being empowered to manage their own finances is.

Exchanges will always play an important role in the industry, but crypto as a whole is still way too complicated for the average consumer to use.

Account abstraction through smart contract wallets does offer hope on the horizon, but major wallets like MetaMask have still been moving woefully slow at improving UX and UI.

Until people are “actually” using crypto on the networks themselves and participating in the DAOs then this isn’t mass adoption. Holding the gas token of a network on an exchange and never actually setting foot on that network isn’t adoption. It’s tourist speculation into an asset class they know little about. We are still incredibly early and probably 5-10, probably closer to the 10, years away from real mass adoption.