As with many people, my foray into cryptocurrencies started with Bitcoin. I can’t remember when I first heard about it, but I do remember almost buying Bitcoin when it was at $0.74 per Bitcoin. I’m pretty sure it was before Coinbase existed. I remember having pulled out my debit card, entering all of the information for a $100 purchase (from where?), and having my finger hovering over the Return key to complete the transaction. And then I thought better of it and didn’t let my finger complete the buy.
That $100 would in theory now be worth almost two million dollars.
But only in theory. Even if I had made the buy, I almost certainly wouldn’t have two million today. I might well have sold it when Bitcoin hit $3 and pocketed my “big profit” with a smile on my face. And I certainly had no clue back then about the importance of private keys, so I might have stored it at Mt. Gox and lost it all when that site went kerblooey.
Meh.
I did eventually start buying Bitcoin in June of 2016, just dipping a toe in for $5, getting 0.00711437 BTC, now worth $105. I made another small purchase, and another, and another.
At some point, I started looking into altcoins. Almost randomly, I bought some Voxels. Which promptly did a nosedive. Oh well. Bought a little Litecoin, a little Ethereum. But mostly stuck with slowly acquiring Bitcoin, most of which went into paper wallet cold storage. Yeah, I really should get a Trezor.
Then I found Steemit. Just dinged around with it at first. I happened to join right after Hard Fork 18 where the reward pool was reset, but I had no clue that had happened. My first six or seven posts each earned zip, zilch, nada. Then did a post that earned $0.02 and was freaking thrilled.
Started learning more and more about crypto. Slowly started grasping what a genius 
Don’t get me wrong. I still think Bitcoin might do quite well over the next few years, before it might implode under its own weight. Its death has been proclaimed dozens of times, yet it lives on. Transaction costs are high, speeds are slow, energy consumption is insane. Yet it lives. And grows. For now.
I am firmly convinced that 2018 will be the year that crypto goes mainstream. Most people know nothing about crypto. Some know of Bitcoin’s existence but could not name a single altcoin if you put a gun to their head. And if you went down to the mall and asked 100 people at random what they knew about blockchain technology, there’s a good chance that you’d get 100 blank stares.
But as crypto goes mainstream, Big Money is going to want in. As the 800-pound gorilla of crypto, Bitcoin will be smack dab in the middle of Big Money’s radar.
But as Big Money and the general public start to learn about crypto, the power of blockchains not named Bitcoin will become more and more apparent. For what it’s worth (8 Dogecoin at current exchange rates), I think that there are three cryptos that stand to gain the most from this:
STEEM, BTS, and EOS
Steem Power, I have been slowly acquiring. BitShares, just made my first purchase today, sticking my toe in the water, getting 107 BTS at $0.17 each (bought with 0.125 LTC). EOS, will probably start acquiring some not long after the new year.
Disclaimer: This should not be construed as financial advice. I am not a registered financial advisor; I don't even play one on TV. Do your own due diligence. Batteries not included. Objects may be larger than they appear in mirror. Some assembly required. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
Non-meme image from Pixabay.