Bitcoin
Back in 2012 I purchased my first bitcoin for $40 at the time this required withdrawing the money from the bank walking to another bank depositing the money and then waiting 2-4 hours. Back then what fascinated me the most about Bitcoin is anyone could use the network it was decentralized and you could move money across borders for very little or no fees at all. It was obvious to me the these benefits for the unbanked, emerging markets and developing countries let alone everyone else were potentially world changing. I was a regular at Bitcoin meetups and even took a 20K bank loan for set up my on my own bitcoin "mining" rig. As luck would have it shorty after this the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed making the mining equipment I invested in practically obsolete and took well over a year just to break even. I learnt a lot and made some mistakes but I was still fascinated by this new technology.
The truth is the banking industry has not evolved much in the last 50 years. Paypal, Visa, Mastercard and AMEX don't do business with over 50 countries combined because of political alliances and sanctions and in most cases entire populations suffer because of a few and/or government. Most of us take these simple things for granted but imagine trying to live without Paypal Visa Mastercard or AMEX. Why does a farmer in Africa have to pay half his daily wage to transfer money within the same country? Why do I have to pay fees to withdraw my own money or wait days to transfer money to someone sitting next to me? the list goes on. Today more than half the world's population is unbanked and has no access to simple banking services. Bitcoin promises to change these things by creating a level playing field that does not discriminate among other benefits. If Bitcoin took just 2% of global transactions aside from the network not being able to handle this many transactions as it currently stands each bitcoin would have to be worth at least $400,000 each to cater for this demand. I have always viewed bitcoin as a medium of exchange rather than a currency #Bitcoin won't be used for a large amounts of global transactions in the next 5 years it's more than likely that Bitcoin will actually operate behind the scenes and in many cases people will not even know they are using it. (Visa currently has some car hires services that use bitcoin, the end user does not know they are using bitcoin) Just like we don't need to understand how the internet protocol works to use the internet or how the payment gateways work with credit cards. They just work. Bitcoin's price might seem important but volatility and liquidity are much more important over the next 5 years as Bitcoin continues to mature. Even if the Bitcoin price drops 50% unless you are heavily #invested or speculating waiting for the price to increase the Bitcoin features and benefits remain the same and will continue to evolve. It's still world changing technology regardless of the price. Bitcoin still has some growing up to do if it wants to survive long term perhaps something else to take its place one day? Motorola built the first mobile phones but you don't see many if any at all today what Motorola did was paved the way for innovation, much like Bitcoin is doing today. I guess only time will tell.
The Blockchain
As I learnt more about bitcoin I also began to understand more about the Bitcoin network, the blockchain. Essentially it is a decentralized distributed database or network of computers all connected to hold up the framework, confirm transactions and record the Bitcoin ledger. What I quickly learnt about the blockchain is that anyone can built an app/platform and sit it on top of the blockchain. Just like the very platform we are using right now, Steemit. This is when it hit me of just how big this new technology really was going to be. Bitcoins own network the blockchain will outgrow Bitcoin itself. In fact my predictions for the blockchain are far bolder I believe that in the not to distant future the blockchain will be bigger than the internet this is extremely difficult to try and explain to someone who is not familiar with the technology even for those of us who are it's still hard to imagine. Blockchain technology will totally transform the banking industry if it doesn't something else will. Think of the blockchain as a huge app store Bitcoin is just one app Steem is another just like when the world wide web was formed we don't know yet what will be built but more money has now been invested in blockchain startups than the internet or .com boom in the 90s. Aside from making things more efficient, cost effective, transparent, and potentially decentralized this technology has potential to transform just about every industry. Today we have current and planned projects using this technology for voting, trading stocks, ID, autonomous companies, deliveries, smart contracts, self driving cars, data storage, communication, even things like taxes, education and parts of the law/courts it's all possible and limitless. Not all these will use bitcoin directly but the ones who do will only help the ecosystem grow. There may very well be thousands of apps that use the blockchain, maybe millions who knows maybe billions one day. Many things we take for granted now will change for the beta soon.
steemit like bitcoin has created something very special a level playing field that allows anyone to join participate and share ideas and of course it does not discriminate. These are all extremely important to promote innovation and growth. The more opportunity people get the more they usually contribute make discoveries and built new things. Imagine being in a country right now and you are earning a few dollars a day you post something to Steem just sharing your ideas, knowledge or even just having fun and getting paid to do it, this makes Steem very powerful and brings us together not pulls us apart. There have been many social networks come and go in my time even facebook may disappear one day (they own plenty of other billion dollar companies) I think Steem has a very bright future there will be mistakes made but as the platform evolves and improves these things should get ironed out. Having a social network that rewards users is a huge step in the right direction to bringing masses into cryptocurrencies its great for bitcoin, the blockchain, the entire eco system and humanity in general. Its great to be here. Steem has huge potential to be the first killer app. Absolutely! Good times.
The human race didn't get this far because we are the fastest or strongest we got this far because we worked together!!