In the last article, we considered the barriers and limitations between users and cryptocurrency economy’s entities (currencies, tokens, exchanges, etc.). As you can see, there are quite a large number of them and, therefore, gaining the trust of users is not an easy task. Let’s see what approaches exist, how this problem can be solved, and what diva.exchange does to establish trust with its members.

Study experience: who are the users and participants?

When we talk about fiat currencies, the question about their users sounds a bit absurd, because a user of fiat currencies is any capable person. In the case of cryptocurrencies and the instruments through which they function, the answer is not so obvious.  

Let’s turn to sociology. According to research, belief in the potential of cryptocurrency as a payment instrument is directly related to the value of freedom and inversely related to irrational faith; they are positively related to trust in a financial system driven by technology and science and negatively related to trust in government. The age and gender of users are also crucial. Thus, the theoretical model of attitudes toward cryptocurrency included four components: belief in the potential of cryptocurrency as a payment instrument (cognitive), emotional distress about the adoption of cryptocurrency (affective), willingness to use cryptocurrency in the long run (behavioral), and the importance of cryptocurrency (value).

Thus, respondents who are characterized by liberal attitudes and trust in the financial system tend to perceive cryptocurrencies as future-oriented. Those respondents who are afraid of the introduction of cryptocurrency into their everyday lives tend to be those who fear a decrease in control over the financial sphere and an increase in the uncertainty of their financial situation, shifting the responsibility for their economic well-being to external guarantors rather than to themselves. Finally, those people who seek financial autonomy and do not trust social institutions are ready to use cryptocurrency.

To summarize, the portrait of a potential user (based on current research) is as follows: mostly a young person, who has liberal views, values personal (including financial) freedom and distrusts central authorities, including financial ones. He/she believes in promising technologies in general and the cryptocurrency ecosystem in particular.

What are we ready to offer our users?

Cryptocurrencies, unlike fiat money, do not have an unambiguous definition. And the strategy of building relationships with users depends on how we define it.

The concept of “cryptocurrency” in social perceptions can be perceived as money or interpreted in some other way – for example, as a new technology. Therefore, when talking about cryptocurrencies, we will imply both of these meanings. In our opinion, they are important and harmoniously complement each other.

New technologies are ahead of the ability of ordinary users to understand and use them. Technology is extremely powerful and has the potential to change the world; however, it cannot realize its full potential unless people feel the need to use it. Some researchers agree that to ensure the success of new technology, the focus should be on the user’s perspective rather than the technology itself. Designing a new experience is a process that facilitates the relationship between technology and users; thus, balanced research should be conducted from both perspectives. When applying a new technology, developers should give equal importance to the UX design strategy and the development method.

For example, blockchain was selected as one of the top five technologies of 2018 in Gartner’s new technology hype cycle. It is also attracting attention as a promising technology because it is expected to solve the limitations of existing centralized networks through advantages such as anonymity and transparency. Some researchers argue that the importance of blockchain technology in future societies will be the same as that of the Internet itself. And we can no longer imagine our lives without the Internet, can we?

Diva.exchange experience

As blockchain technology remains an unfamiliar concept to most users, it is difficult to understand the intrinsic value of blockchain technology, and a high barrier to entry is forming. Therefore, market experts believe it is critical to improve user perception and experience with blockchain technology. In particular, in order to increase the use of blockchain technology, it is considered important to create an environment that is accessible to users who are not interested in cryptocurrency or blockchain technology but are interested in using specific tools, such as exchanges or distributed networks.

The diva.exchange association relies on the following principles when researching an independent distributed trade and exchange network for digital values:

1.           Distributed nature of the network. Centrally managed cryptocurrency exchanges have over the past few years shown their vulnerability to hacker attacks and hacks. To date, no more effective tool has been found than abandoning centralized management.

2.           Network reliability verification and verification. The distributed exchange network diva.exchange is based on I2P technology. It is currently the most reliable distributed network. Despite this, non-stop network verifications are performed.

3.           Developing its blockchain algorithm divachain. The DIVA software uses a specialized blockchain “divachain” that is publicly available. This blockchain uses a variant of the so-called “Byzantine Fault Tolerance” as its consensus algorithm. This consensus algorithm is robust and energy-efficient.

There is an important aspect that distinguishes divachain (the DIVA blockchain) from Ethereum, which uses the PoS mechanism. Divachain is not an elitist protocol as it does not require 32 expensive units of digital currency to create a node. Thus, the diva.exchange network is not only truly distributed, but also publicly available for everyone!

THIS IS DIVA.EXCHANGE

The non-profit association diva.exchange, Switzerland, uses a barrier-free and collaborative approach to create free banking technology for everyone. Open-source technology ensures the privacy of all participants in the financial system of the future. The blockchain-based system is fully distributed. Everyone can participate in diva.exchange.

Diva.exchange is committed to the belief that only commercially free technology can reliably protect user privacy.

Collaboration with the scientific community plays an important role in the development of diva.exchange. The results of diva.exchange research are constantly being validated by academic institutions and publicly presented at specialized conferences.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WORK

All technical information is available at: https://github.com/diva-exchange/

I2P beginner’s guide and installation guide:https://www.diva.exchange/en/privacy/introduction-to-i2p-your-own-internet-secure-private-and-free/

All videos are here: https://odysee.com/@diva.exchange:d/

Introduction to I2P: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P

Testnet of diva.exchange: https://testnet.diva.exchange

CONTACT US

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DigitalValueX

Mastodon: https://social.diva.exchange/@social

If you still have questions you can always find us on Telegram: https://t.me/diva_exchange_chat_de (in English, German, or Russian)