"Did you know, every year, $10 buys ya less and less peanut butter? The feds just printin and printin: greenbacks... golden handcuffs." -some guy on the Internet
Friends,
We are at a pivotal point in history.
The next evolution of the LOGOS is upon us.
The roar has become the word, has become the drawing, the smoke signal, the telegraph, the radio, the television, the dial up world wide web (web1), the flip phone, the smart phone with mobile data (web2), cloud computing (web2.5)...
What could be next...? It's Bitcoin actually! Rather, the evolution of bitcoin.
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) - aka 'the blockchain' and is a decentralized (like torrent), global super computer. This is web 3.0.
Web3 happens to be converging with, and being borne alongside of, augmented reality... which I will cover in a separate post.
Let me tell you my crypto story.
Despite being a child of the 80s, I had daily access to a computer since the age of 2. I particularly enjoyed the 'Quest for Glory' PC game Series. Life changing, plot-based and instilled a sense of adventure, curiosity, and humor into my life. There have been multiple remakes. That's how good it is.
In the late 2000s, after dropping out of a dance and film major, after hitchhiking around the country for funsies, I settled into a waiter job and got super hooked on the infamous MMORPG World if Warcraft. During that time, I randomly discovered bitcoin while trollin around the net one night. It seemed legit, so I set up the mining software right away. When I ran it behind World of Warcraft… it slowed down my game….. Which sucked at the time because WOW was like the best, newest thing ever (to me) and it was so great to explore this new dimension. I had never properly been introduced to real life, you see.
So I closed the mining software and promptly forgot about all of it. Ultimate Doh!! (instead of ultimate dough lol)
Spoiler bitcoins are worth over 2500$ each right now and rising.
November 2016, a lifetime later, my friend and I were playin around with Robinhood, a stock trading app, slangin cannabis stocks, when someone mentioned the Coinbase Crypto trading app. I was tripped out to see that Bitcoin (BTC) had skyrocketed! There was only 2 choices, Bitcoin or Ethereum (ETH), which was under 10 USD per coin. I was like, "alright I can afford some of that I guess." I put $300 into ETH at a price of 9 or so dollars each. Didn't know what Ethereum even was yet.. I hadn't developed good research habits yet.
A few weeks later the price of my ETH was down a few bucks and I thought I needed the money for a car repair or some estate sailing or whatever. So I sold it all :( Now? Its at 170 .. wait.. Let me check.. Omg 180 right now. (upon revision of this post just broke 245) And we don't know how high it is going to go. I imagine looking back at this post in the future and laughing cause its around 5k or something crazy! Or maybe it failed and was surpassed by a platform competitor. (Stratis, Expanse, AntShares, etc.) You best believe I'll be paying attention to the news every day as these technologies emerge.
So… when I truly discovered blockchain technology and the cryptoverse with an open mind in mid/late April of 2017 it hit me like ton of bricks.. Or.. a large BULL! That's appropriate. This bull market ran right into me like BLAM! I felt a ton of regret. I literally could have been a multi-millionaire if I had stuck with bitcoin that first time. Or if I had stuck with ETH that next time I dabbled, I would already be close to my first milly.
I cope by imagining that if I had gotten rich, I wouldn't have been able to handle it and crashed off the autobahn or something. I had to go through these life experiences to become someone responsible enough to handle that much energy. I definitely learned to be more compassionate through my survival endeavors.
I cope by meditating on what it means to be rich; not just in money but rich in attitude, rich in purpose, rich in community, rich in health. There is a reason I didn't have the wherewithal to see what was right in front of me back then. There is a reason I am here now to experience this path.
At least that's what I tell myself but it STINGS though. You know? You know. I want to live without worry of pesky lame bills and be able to just focus on my passions. I guess every living creature has to fight for its survival in one way or another. I think my city hipster is showing.
I gotta say though, I wouldn't trade having become who I am for the young money. Now I am a juggler, artist, and musician, having grown into my boots... now I am ready for a bit of monetary security. I know had I been a dedicated employee, I would have gotten there more quickly. I have my own chaotic path, and although a late bloomer, I have unique style and have a net positive effect (bias lol).
So, anyway, that’s my 'how I discovered cryptocurrency' story and here I am. The reason I type it all out is because now I'm obsessed with crypto and it's actually a surprisingly different thing than I thought it was going to be.
I thought it was going to be like internet money, like the best internet money right? Makes sense.
That was crypto 1.0: Open source, decentralized, peer to peer, encrypted currency thats value comes from the intelligence and efficiency of its systems design. The result of the smart design, fixed issuance, and increase in efficiency is enough to always make it a more viable option than its predecessor, fiat currency. The revolution has begun.
Crypto 2.0: What I find now is the concept of smart contracts. Within an ocean of decentralized, peer to peer, crypto nodes, what started as just a currency has grown into a global cloud supercomputer. The ‘miners’ get rewarded with tokens for mining, which means they are incentivized to keep the program running because they get cyclically rewarded with tokens that can be traded for any currency on internet exchanges. These 'nodes' are basically acting as the individual neuroclusters in the global brain. There are literally giant networks of everyone's powerful multi core computers around the entire world that form a decentralized global cloud super computer!
Oh, and some phone companies are already planning to equip new smartphones with DLT blockchain technology, which means each unit will add a small blockchain processor to its circuitry. This has exceptionally profound implications.
Notice that this particular example is a bit more centralized because its being implemented by a modern legacy phone company. (legacy means made with outdated technology).
Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, operates in a peer to peer, open source, decentralized cloud, as opposed to a CENTRALIZED, closed source cloud run by some powerful corporation. (can you think of one?)
Apps evolve into dApps (decentralized apps) dApps interact with Smart contracts that execute open source, publicly audited code, to trade value while maintaining an immutable record on the searchable ledger (blockchain).
Because it is all open source, peer reviewed, searchable and audited, we can avoid many of the pitfalls of our greed based society. People are not able to embezzle or engineer an unfair system in secret. All the source code and transactions are naked for the world to see.
As this dominant idea spreads (memetics), we can actually render the current harmful paradigm obsolete though evolving systems design. This is GENIUS and the history behind what has happened so far is fascinating!
In my opinion, this is our best chance to help heal our sick society right now.
Already, blockchain governance platforms with auditable, immutable voting systems are being designed and tested.
So far, every legacy government that has tried to suppress crypto has been unsuccessful. All technological societies are beginning adoption anyway due to strong economic forces. It is interesting and invigorating to witness!
This is both an emerging market and an evolution of our civilization's quantum level of systems design, which just a fancy way of saying that we are leveling up... which.. I know.. duh right? But I'm just glad because in a lot of ways, sometimes it seems like we are taking steps backwards as a globally connected group of cohabiting creatures. I truly believe this is largely in part due to mediocre, rigid, legacy socioeconomic systems that we have inherited. Such is the challenge of our time. Sure, it has made us who we are, but I am glad for a viable option to create something healthier and more effecient.
Obviously this is still based within computers, which utilize harmful, toxic, demoralizing manufacturing practices. But, open source blockchain systems offer the most realistic and plausible path towards a homeostatic socioeconomic system. One that actually considers natural resources and long term effects in its measurement of Gross Domestic Product, and factors this into the the very definition of profit itself. All mighty profit, which drives so much of our society. And if some banks make a closed blockchain, it will be apparent that they are hiding something and don't have the best interest of the people in mind, which will most likely be riddled with other inefficiencies. Therefore, the open source, more efficient option will statistically win out.
Books could be writtin about that single paragraph, so I recommend researching further when you find some time.
At the time of me writing this, we are in the year 2017 CE. After investing countless hours researching throughout a multitude of related subjects, I have come to believe that during the next 3 years, we will witness the emergence of this new blockchain technology. It won't be apparent at first, it will be in the backend, behind the scenes, invisible unless you are paying attention. Once people are effortlessly transferring value during their daily routing, with these digital cryptocurrencies instead of digital fiat, then we will truly witness the marvels this enables. Far beyond having some 'nextlevel paypal'. We are fundamentally changing the way we issue, obtain and appreciate value, knowing that it isnt going to become worth less as time goes on, but worth more!
Imagine if the purchasing power of your savings went up instead of down, as time passed!
Wow! hah!
Low and behold, early today (June 4, 2017) it was announced that Russia will be designing and implement a blockchain based national digital currency. Will they make theirs open source? We shall see. You can bet it will be traded against the global reserve currency of Bitcoin. Well, I bet that it will.
All these statements can be researched and found on reputable news sites. This is not limited to conspiracy theory. If you look in those dark corners of the internet you will find information linking blockchain to the approaching Singularity. Some very interesting theories! Trip out!
So, I highly encourage citizens of Earth in this digital age to research cryptocurrency like your quality of life depends upon it. Research is free. Don't take my word for it. Go... look with your own mind, this is really happening. Just this last week and a half, NBC and the mainstream media have begun covering this topic as a possible building block of an upgraded society. This is a far cry from the usual sensational coverage crypto has got so far during its short lifespan.
Ok so now that we are all hyped. How about some warnings?
There will be turbulence. There is an ebb and a flow. There is much to learn.
Especially learn how to not get shaken down, which is when the price of a cryptocurrency that you have drops sharply and the urge is felt to panic sell. Unless there is some news that the company or DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is going under. Hold. HODL (Hold on for dear life) HODR! (game of thrones reference)
Learn about crypto wallets and how to use crypto cold storage.
In a nutshell, the safest strategy investment strategy seems to be never invest more than you can afford to lose (or go all in you crazy fool)
You will want to research, develop a trading strategy, research some more, accumulate tokens, research yet again, implement average over time investing, research, average down on dips, HODL , research, hedge.
Get some silver coins locally, or something to trade if there were no power all all. Won't be able to use the visa or atms then anyway. But, if you have proper cold storage you will be able to use your crypto after you immigrate out of the affected area. Unlikely scenario but I'm just sayin'. Your crypto will always exist in the cloud, even if a particular area of the globe loses power. The cloud is decentralized and exists anywhere that the internet does.
I believe these are some of the keys to great wealth in this time. I hope I have communicated this information in a way that got through to you.
**I know a lot of people are much too busy for this level of commitment. ** Although, if you have read this far, you got some kind of commitment going on hah! The simplest and most immediate way to take action is to install the coinbase app (or register at gemini exchange) (or find somewhere else) and start buying some bitcoin (the OG crypto 1.0). Then, start researching which of the web 3.0 platforms you believe in. Ethereum (current champ), Stratis (contender), Waves, Steem, Maidsafe, AntShares, Swarm City, LBRY, Expanse, etc.)
You can drop some cash big baller style or you can literally buy 10 bucks a week. ANYTHING is better than putting this off. Did you know that while 20 US dollars only gets you about .008 bitcoin right now... that .008 bitcoin contains 800,000 satoshis! yes SATOSHIS! A Satoshi is a one hundred millionth of a bitcoin. :) One day people will look back and say.. wait, you bought 800 THOUSAND Satoshis for 20 bucks?! The equivalent of saying.. you bought 50 bitcoin for 10 dollars???
example:
The average over time investment strategy. This is important. You buy 100 bucks of bitcoin when its at 3000$ per bitcoin. Next month it is up to 3500$ and you buy 100 bucks worth. The next month its down to 1500$ (ouch!, news says its crashing, a lot of people sell) doesn't matter, you buy 100 bucks worth. next month 2200$, buy 100 bucks worth. next month bam to the moon! the price of bitcoin has soared to 5000$, you buy 100 bucks worth.
Even though at one point the value of your bitcoin seemed to drop sharply, your amount of bitcoin you were holding stayed constant. (only the exchange rate fluxuated). You stuck to your investment strategy and didn't get upset or emotional. You felt confident because you have a long term plan, and had done recent research, believing that bitcoin is here to stay and will on average increase in rarity and value. If you had sold at 1500, when everyone was panicing, you would have been 'shaken out' and wouldn't get any of the profits that you would have if you had stuck with your plan.
5 years later its up to 50,000$ per bitcoin, are you the person that still has yours?
READ THIS TWICE! THIS IS EVERYTHING! If you simply start habituly squirrling away some bitcoin, and stay diligent about the practice of researching a few or more times a week, you will find yourself golden with some of the best returns available today.
I hope you understand.
:) Thanks for reading. This is the culmination of the longest (extreme time dilation) 8 weeks of my life. I hope that you find it useful or at least entertaining.
--
I'm Sam King. My friends call me Patches. I make wearable art, and study music and flow. Nice to meet you.
It's so wonderful to be here with you all on Steemit and in the cryptoverse, making history, and being compensated for creating content. In the past, I have been very shy and extremely unconfident. But now I am putting myself out there and exposing my heart and soul to the multiverse and the cryptoverse because this is my life and and will not waste it anymore :)
If you have more than me, please consider dropping a donation. I will save it for the long haul and it will make more difference than you probably know.
Please SMASH THAT UPVOTE and clibk that follow, and I will upload original music, my thoughts on society, and share my hand made art and adventurous journeys.
Thanks for reading and stay healthy,
Sam King “Patches”
http://laughingleather.com
Donate:
BTC: 1JbZUw2KzMRpnfUn9x9sgnYseeswLnRGzB
ETH: 0xeadea219304d2adcb8c4581aa9951d2f0abd7c8e
DOGE: D83h9tMDusyFWcHQJJ7seBQMPxqovfHTgp
Paypal: [email protected]
Research:
@ivanli Is a programmer who makes amazing videos about cryptocurrency concepts
bitcoin leads to web 3.0
web 3.0:
Some news sites:
I particularly love @crypt0 's News! Omar is engaging, informative, funny and will even play the piano for you, he and his videos are an absolute can't miss!
What goin on in the markets?
http://coinmarketcap.com/
https://cointelegraph.com/
Twitter Search cryptocurrency
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23cryptocurrency&src=typd
Wow... Have you ever considered writing a Book...???
Anyway, thanks for the upvote on a post last week...
@pocketechange
Wow thanks! Man @pocketchange, that would be so much revision.
Love the post !!!! Thanks for helping me with the crypto the other day!!!