Admit it... You're a little crypto curious

Welcome back to Crypto Clear and thanks to the hundreds of people who signed up. This is a newsletter for the crypto curious and beginners who want to learn more about this exciting digital space, but without all the jargon and confusing terms.

So what do we mean by "crypto curious"? Ask our good friend ChatGPT and it will say it covers "people who are interested, intrigued, or exploring crypto for the first time but haven’t necessarily committed yet."

Whereas beginners are those who have already dipped their toes in the crypto waters, and hopefully not had them bitten off. It's OK to be crypto curious for as long as you like - learning more about all the different coins and tokens, the many crypto exchanges out there and how cryptocurrencies could be the future of money. Don't be in a rush to invest.

Crypto Clear is here as that first step to finding out more. Each newsletter has a main topic of the day, a bit like soup of the day, but not so wet. Then a WTF jargon buster and finally a bit of news that might be useful to you. Yalla! (let’s go).

Tokenization (please don’t switch off)

I know it's an ugly word but it is really shaking things up, allowing people to invest in things previously out of their financial reach.

When I see a big word like tokenization (tokenisation for the British) it makes me want to switch off too. And I don’t blame you for doing the same.

Here's basically what it means - taking something in the real word, making a digital copy of it and issuing tokens to represent ownership.

So imagine someone is selling a fancy villa on The Palm for $10 million. They could make a digital version of it and then split it into thousands of pieces. Each piece gets a token proving ownership.

You could buy one of those tokens, and actually own a portion of that villa on The Palm. That's property tokenization in a nutshell. The industry calls it a Real World Asset (RWA) - a digital version that is backed up by the physical asset.

Why should I care?

Tokenization is becoming popular here in the UAE, and the Dubai government has even co-launched its own property tokenization scheme.

And it's not just about property. You can tokenize pretty much anything nowadays, from art to racehorses, company shares to concert tickets.

Snappy quote from an expert

Crypto bros like Three Letter Abbreviations (TLAs) such as NFT, DEX and BTC. In the world of tokenization they use the phrase Real World Assets (RWAs).

Here's that quote:

“You used to have to sit there on a Thursday night and watch Seinfeld. You tune in at a specific time, you don’t get to choose your program, you couldn’t be watching a program like Squid Games from Korea. Netflix was market-expanding. In the same way, I think the tokenization of real-world assets will be market expanding.”

From crypto venture capitalist Katie Haun

WTF? This week’s jargon buster is: On-Ramp / Off-Ramp

It sounds like something you'd do on the highway but in crypto-speak it means this:

• On-Ramp: The process of converting your “real-world” money (dirhams, dollars, pounds) into crypto. For example, topping up your Binance or Coinbase account with AED and getting Bitcoin in return.
• Off-Ramp: The reverse — turning your crypto back into traditional currency you can spend in the real economy.

Think of them as the entry and exit points between the financial system you know and the world of crypto you’re trying to explore. Without ramps, you’re stuck on the side of the road.

If you move from crypto curious to beginner, you’re going to need to on-ramp some cash. See how easy it is to slip into jargon!

UAE Crypto News

RAKBank jumps on the crypto train

In a move that shows how mainstream crypto is becoming in the Emirates, RAKBank has announced it will begin offering crypto-related services to customers.

The bank calls it the UAE's first-ever crypto trading platform enabled by a conventional bank. You can trade directly on the RAKBank app through Bitpanda's platform. Bitpanda is a major crypto platform that is working alongside RAKBank

RAKBANK customers have eight major coins to choose from, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP. We should cover all these tokens in a future newsletter right?

Why it matters:

It means normal customers now have an easier path to buy, sell, or hold crypto without needing a separate exchange. Expect more banks to follow suit.

OK, that's it for this week. Follow Crypto Clear so you never miss an update — and tell me in the comments:

What jargon confuses you the most?

What topic should we cover next?

Thanks for reading, all you mighty crypto curious and beginners out there.

BTW: The purpose of this newsletter is to share updates and insights on crypto. It does not constitute financial advice.