Crypto should be talked about like the internet

If I woke up tomorrow and the internet no longer existed, could I rebuild it from scratch? Absolutely not. My odds would be better with homing pigeons than with TCP/IP. And I’d wager that most of you reading this are in the same boat.

That’s the point: almost no one actually understands how the internet works, yet more than 5.4 billion people use it daily. Fewer than 29 million developers worldwide can build or repair the digital infrastructure behind our lives — that’s less than 0.5% of internet users. Mass adoption never required the majority to understand the plumbing. It required the experience to be simple, normalized, and taken for granted.

Crypto is on a similar path, but its public image has been trapped in an unnecessary cycle of exoticism. Instead of being treated like the next evolution of digital infrastructure, it’s too often painted as something technical, speculative, or even suspicious. The truth is, over 500 million people worldwide now own or use crypto — a figure that’s steadily rising. But for crypto to move beyond early adopters and into everyday life, the conversation around it needs to change.

Mass adoption isn’t about everyone becoming a blockchain engineer. It’s about ordinary people using crypto the same way they use the internet: without needing to understand the code, the protocols, or the technical underpinnings.

Universities are early catalysts, but they are not enough

For years, I believed universities would play the critical role in driving adoption. They are, after all, where new generations first engage with transformative technologies. And many institutions have taken that role seriously.

Back in 2022, CoinDesk’s Best Universities for Blockchain ranking highlighted institutions like Stanford, MIT, and UC Berkeley as leaders in blockchain education. Courses on distributed systems, cryptography, and smart contract development now fill university catalogues.

But let’s be honest: this education is hardly universal. The average tuition at the top 10 blockchain-focused universities exceeds $60,000 per year. That places it far out of reach for most of the world’s population. These programs cater to those who already have access to capital and privilege. As UC Berkeley itself notes, the intended audience for its blockchain programs is “progressive leaders in both the public and private sectors.” Stanford requires technical prerequisites like programming and cryptography knowledge.

That’s important — we absolutely need developers and engineers. But remember: less than 1% of internet users are developers. That ratio won’t shift in crypto. Developers will build the rails; they won’t drive adoption.

The role of business schools

Another group often discussed as future shapers of crypto adoption is MBA students. Business schools are busy integrating blockchain into their curricula, teaching future managers how to incorporate digital assets into corporate strategy.

This is undeniably valuable. With over 420 million crypto users globally, businesses will increasingly need to integrate digital assets into their operations, payment systems, and supply chains. Executives with crypto literacy will be able to adapt faster and stay competitive.

But here’s the catch: these leaders won’t cause mass adoption. They’ll respond to it. They’ll adjust business models once consumer demand is obvious, the same way companies adjusted to the rise of the internet. CEOs and managers play a reactive role. Important, yes — but not transformative.

The real game-changers: Lawyers

If not engineers or executives, who will shift the discourse? Who will normalize crypto so it becomes part of the public’s daily language rather than a curiosity? The answer is surprisingly pragmatic: lawyers.

Law graduates, regulators, and policymakers hold the power to shape the framework that makes people comfortable with new technologies. They are the ones who can remove uncertainty, establish protections, and create the legal clarity that transforms an exotic experiment into a mainstream utility.

Think back to the early internet. Its growth didn’t depend solely on engineers or entrepreneurs. It accelerated when legal frameworks around e-commerce, data privacy, and intellectual property took shape. Trust followed law.

The same will happen with crypto. A new generation of law graduates — crypto-native, educated about decentralized systems, and equipped to integrate that knowledge into regulatory structures — will set the stage for mass adoption. They’ll cut through today’s regulatory fragmentation, establish standards, and help craft the narratives that make ordinary citizens feel safe and included.

A problem of literacy

The urgency is clear because crypto literacy remains dangerously low. According to Crypto Literacy, only 57% of respondents globally are able to pass the basic crypto knowledge test. That’s despite years of media coverage, bull markets, and headline-making events.

Without basic literacy, people won’t trust the technology. Worse, they’ll remain vulnerable to scams, misinformation, and disillusionment. Adoption cannot scale sustainably if the average person sees crypto as a black box.

Yet, the picture isn’t entirely bleak. Awareness is rising. Universities are including crypto in courses far outside computer science — from economics to law to international relations. And mainstream media coverage, once dismissive or sensational, is slowly becoming more nuanced.

Shifting the discourse

The discourse around crypto is what matters most right now. If it remains framed as exotic, it risks alienating the very people it needs to include. Exoticism makes crypto seem like a hobby for the technical elite, the wealthy, or the reckless gambler.

But when crypto is framed as infrastructure — the next layer of the digital economy — it becomes approachable. We don’t talk about the internet as an exotic tool anymore. It’s a utility, as ordinary as electricity. That’s the narrative shift crypto needs.

Universities, businesses, and policymakers all have roles to play in this. Developers will build. Executives will integrate. But lawyers will normalize. They’ll make the language of crypto part of everyday governance, contracts, and compliance. That’s when the technology stops being strange and starts being simply… there.

The road ahead

Mass adoption is not about everyone knowing how to code a smart contract. It’s about crypto becoming invisible — part of the background fabric of daily life. Like the internet, most people will never understand how it works, but they’ll rely on it every day.

That future is coming, but only if we shift the discourse today. Universities must broaden access. Businesses must prepare for integration. And policymakers must bring clarity. Crypto doesn’t need to be exoticized to be exciting. It needs to be normalized to be transformative.

When we stop asking, “Who really understands how this works?” and start treating crypto as ordinary infrastructure, that’s when mass adoption will finally arrive.