An introduction and overview of the BitShares philanthropic cryptocurrency 'HERO' coin, and endowment fund created by the humble Godfather of BitShares, Stan Larimer.
Yesterday, some of you may know I was playing around in photoshop creating graphics for an upcoming website that will have a strong #bitshares theme. You can check out that post here, where you'll find a bunch of 'stickers' for banners, sliders (website) or even t-shirts. Later that day, none other than 
Well, as it turns out of course HERO is also bitASSET, being approved and having a witness feed price from the COMMITTEE, it's official. This CMC listed crypto coin, was cooked up by old time BitShar'ains. So, to make up to 
Let's start from Zero before we go Hero
As it's not worth repeating works of many, this is the 36 thousand feet overview in my words - with links for ya'll to go deeper. I'd been familiar with the HERO, the Sovereign Hero, and the Billion Hero without ever taking some serious coffee time to research it. Could kinda say I'd "seen'em around" and that was that. So it was time to address this, and here's how you can read what I read, so try and keep up 007.
Billion Here, Billion There, Sovereign Hero … Billion Hero … wait a moment …
So, clearly as I've said I was 'seeing Hero around', and as a consequence to my lack of research, failed in part to disseminate the differences in a few websites. Turns out one is the coin, the other is an endowment fund using the coin. All good. Hence we will now break this down into 2.
So you don't make the same fumble i did and get lost ....
HERO
Firstly, this is the coin. It is a BitShares issued asset with the full name Sovereign Hero, symbol HERO. It's an asset created and tradeable on BitShares DEX, or any exchange that decides to list and provide it liquidity. It is also backed by 2.25 of it's value in BTS as collateral - just like bitUSD or bitCNY.
The Hero Vision
The HERO is a unit of digital currency whose value is mathematically pegged to the US dollar plus 5% APR since the Creature from Jekyll Island (google it i guess?) began printing it in 1913. Today the value of the dollar is worth less than 2 cents in 1913 dollars. 1 HERO on the otherhand, is worth over $150 in 2017.
From here you can begin to get the idea. This is a crypto product which has the mainstream public in mind, that can trust it in a different way to a typical cryptocurrency if it returns a 5% interest earnings like a traditional savings account. Using the power of cryptocurrency, smartcoins and more on the BitShares blockchain, it has a lot of properties for us to learn from - Including how it's value is calculated against the dollar as a peg - since before it existed. Great example of flexibility when creating tokens on BitShares. The HERO is said to be designed to be the first to put powerful economic mechanisms in order to drive mainstream adoption.
The HERO then is partly meant to be the 'HERO' to save us from the depreciating dollar ... or it's impending complete and utter collapse
Now if you can go to read the articles, you can actually start to see how HERO is also a great way to learn some real-world economics whilst learning/comparing them to cryptocurrency. So you have reason to check it out if you are just getting into this stuff, it can guide you to understand a lot of the BitShares fundamentals also.
So I suggest then you make a note to stop over at http://www.sovereignhero.com/ to learn more about breaking us all free from the Matrix … Well, every coin has 2 sides!
BILLION HERO CAMPAIGN
A campaign using the power of HERO. In order to better understand the concept behind the Billion campaign, this is my pick of one of
First pick, from the start The Hero From BitShares Island
And The Million To Billion Club
Also The Billion Hero Challenge
Then to the article on the website itself Billion Hero Campaign - The Endowment of the Future, from where you can also check out more information.
The Billion Hero campaign itself is actually a contest, where the top 12 teams will eventually split the $1 billion prize wallet proportionately. The winner is the team that has backed the most HEROs when the value of the billion-hero-prize account exceeds $1B at the BTS price published by coinmarketcap.com.
The wrap up
Simple really, BitShares (or all crypto) can be daunting at first platform with a lot to be learned as an indoctrination to the world of cryptocurrency. However, do so and you shall learn all you need to 'fish for life'. Whether you've been in 'the rabbit hole' for a while, or just starting out there is something for you with HERO. A great place to learn, some challenge, plenty of reading material, tied with great causes to humanity, and a coin you can purchase today on the DEX earning interest at 5% p.a. That's quite a lot packed into one nice holiday project to learn a lot about crypto, which along the way may even make a difference to the world.
P.S. If you didn't yet sign up for a BitShares account, this will be a first step. Especially if you want to be under 
(right-click the image and open link in new tab).
Tutorial: how to sign up for a BitShares wallet Cloud wallet recommended for 'try out'. Go ahead and stretch yourself to follow part 2 and get a fully secure local wallet, you'll thank me one day :
Disclaimer: This information is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute any investment advice - cryptocurrencies are currently mostly unregulated and whilst huge returns are possible, so are your losses possible. Cryptocurrency trading remains a speculative instrument, be responsible and don't be afraid to ask for advice from an expert.