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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Bitcoin (BTC) was promised as a possible financial revolution — a way to wrest power from large, centralized institutions and give it to the people. To decentralize and democratize. As Bitcoin and the larger crypto market matures, however, this is becoming less and less true. 

Barriers to Entry

The more retail investors that enter the market, the more balance might be had. As it stands, however, it is estimated that only 1.3% of the world’s population owns any Bitcoin. A driving factor in this is access. A multitude of barriers to entering the market exist for the majority of people around the globe.

Many people — 79 million in the U.S. alone — are unbanked or underbanked, meaning they primarily use cash for all transactions. This excludes them from the majority of exchanges that require a bank account.

Oftentimes people need access to their funds immediately, they cannot afford to wait for lengthy verification processes common on most exchanges. Additionally, a large number of individuals around the globe may be wary of crypto exchanges and be concerned considering recent hacking events that have occurred.

Providing Access

One company trying to fix this imbalance — Coinme — believes that the more people who have access to Bitcoin, the healthier the market. It is committed to breaking down these barriers by bridging the gap between Bitcoin and legacy financial services.

Coinme has created an application programming interface (API) that integrates with traditional financial systems to make buying bitcoin simple, instant, safe, and perhaps most importantly, an all-cash affair.

Users can rest assured that their funds are safe and secure. One of Coinme’s core tenants is regulatory rigor. It takes security and compliance with governmental regulations very seriously.

Democratizing access to Bitcoin could be critical to realizing the promise of a more equitable financial world. Coinme is committed to providing all people with access to the market, not just the wealthy and technically capable. With locations across the U.S. and plans to expand worldwide, it looks to be well on its way to accomplishing just that.