I'm not a technical person. I'm a writer with a background in biological sciences, education and travel. I write primarily about travel, food and fictional adventures with magic and psychopaths. And I just so happen to be interested in becoming a part of an e-commerce revolution.
At the end of last year, I found myself on a roller coaster ride watching the cryptocurrency market skyrocket then fall back to the ground in a screaming heap. The funny thing was I didn't lose money nor profit. How's that so if I'm heavily invested? I just didn't sell anything. The one major move I made was to transfer my Digibyte holdings to Safex. Safex was a relatively new player to the game and I heard an inkling about it becoming a digital marketplace where cryptocurrency was the native currency. It didn't take much for me to realise the potential of such an endeavour, after all, the e-commerce market is already proven. Amazon is worth billions and even with the presence of Alibaba and eBay, there seemed ample room for even more growth.
Especially one with a decentralised model, where anonymity was paramount and what minimal fees were charged, they were redistributed back to token holders.
From passive token holder to active miner.
Fast forward to the present. Over six months later, the price of Safex coin went down after the delisting fiasco (read about a small aspect of that on Reddit here), then has gradually been climbing once more. After re-emerging from my crypto-hibernation and jumping back onto social media, I realised to my surprise that Safex team were really moving in terms of their development and showcasing the application of their blockchain. Maybe I missed it the first time, but their chief architect, a young twenty-something entrepreneur named Daniel Dabek was explaining Safex in a way I hadn't seen before. He has made public presentations about the impact of blockchain technology in front of technical audiences with the charisma of the likes of Steve Jobs. Dare I say, I think Daniel Dabek has the foresight and disruptive powers of Elon Musk.
How else can I get involved? I'm not a programmer or in software development.
However, after reading the forums and watching the videos, I thought I should try mining. It seemed like a good way to utilise what hardware I already had. The process of mining is really just the allocation of hardware resources in order to keep the blockchain operating, so to speak. My hardware was going to be put to useful work solving puzzles using the CryptoNight algorithm. Actually, it's randomly looking for a special number.
"The puzzle that needs solving is to find a number that, when combined with the data in the block and passed through a hash function, produces a result that is within a certain range."
Decent timing.
I wouldn't really consider myself a lucky person, but this timing isn't half bad. Right now, Safex is in the middle of the test net launch. It's about a month of sandbox use where the developers and those who wish to try out the mining process without risk of loss can do so. I did a bit of research and quite easily found Rich Bates' video tutorials on how to compile and run the Safex blockchain testnet as well as mine and transfer Safex Cash.
I realised I needed to learn a bit of command line and had to install and use Linux on my machine. It's a bit of a learning curve, but the learning is rewarding and very satisfying when it comes together.
For what it is worth, here are my machine specs;
Machine 1:
CPU - AMD FX 6300 (6 cores)
RAM - 8 GB
GPU - AMD Radeon R7 250 (2 GB)
OS - Windows 10 (Running Ubuntu in a virtual machine)
Machine 2:
CPU - Intel i7 3770k (4 cores)
RAM - 8 GB
GPU - Undecided [considering the purchase of either an RX 580 (8 GB), Vega 56 (8 GB) or Vega 64 (8 GB)]
OS - Linux Ubuntu
Becoming a more active member of the community.
If a non-technical person like myself can get a test net mining rig (my personal desktop computer) operating, then so can you. I've become somewhat more involved within an Australian cryptocurrency facebook group with about ten thousand members. Last year, I became a moderator. It wasn't that difficult. Remain calm and state facts. However, these groups tend to lure in an alarming number of people who want to "get rich quick", "buy Lambos" and are generally a bunch of conspiracy nuts paranoid about the government spying on them. This is really something that needs to be addressed because it turns people off. Quickly.
Luckily, when you've got a little tick next to your name (and don't talk hype and rubbish), people tend to listen. Hopefully, by playing my small part in the movement towards a decentralised online marketplace that favours the individual rather than the large corporations who have all the money, we will achieve goals a little faster and attract brighter minds to work on these kinds of projects in the future.
On an unrelated note, life still goes on regardless of your involvement in any spectacular project.
Unlucky. My i-MiEV was attacked by an elderly motorist who couldn't differentiate between D and R when attempting to leave his parking space.
All the best,
Nick.
All content is original and belongs to 
Disclosure: This article was not a paid promotion and was not self-upvoted. Nor were there any affiliate links.
Please UPVOTE this article. Your vote keeps me writing my best content.
Financial supporters; you're the one's who'll make this space SOAR. Donate Steem or SBD.
A taste of my fictional writing.
Adventures in Elowyn Glade (Issue 1)
Warhammer 40K (Battlefield moment)