This is my entry in the Sunday Flashback Contest by
This is an old article I wrote over a year ago, that I think is still relevant today, so here it is edited and improved, but hopefully still captivating and entertaining.
Cryptocurrency: Down the Rabbit Hole
Hello,
Today I felt like writing a few things about my cryptocurrency journey. I remember reading about Bitcoin a few years ago as something people used to buy drugs anonymously on the internet. It seemed like something to avoid like bad weather. But when Bitcoin soared in price last fall I found myself interested in it again.
I began reading with great interest and motivation, but found myself unable to translate all the jargon used to explain Bitcoin, the blockchain and cryptocurrency. All articles about these three subjects are heavily laden with unfamiliar terminology for the beginner. You really need a cryptocurrency dictionary in one hand and the Bitcoin article in the other so you can look up the terms as you go along. The irony is even though I did just that I found myself still barely grasping the importance of what I was reading and I was mystified by the enthusiasm of Bitcoin proponents. I kept asking myself things like; What’s so important about decentralization?
What’s so bad about centralization? What’s the big issue about transparency?
I realized that I didn’t understand this terminology because I didn’t understand my countries banking system. I was an adult who had worked for years, paid taxes, had a checking account, savings account, credit cards and a mortgage. I thought I had a good understanding of the banking system, but when faced with the task of evaluating an alternative system I realized how much more I had to learn.
Since that realization occurred it has been a non-stop stream of new words and concepts to learn. Thus motivated I dedicated considerable time to learn and understand how cryptocurrency was different. I also began to understand the banking and monetary system which existed before cryptocurrency. I began to grasp what is meant by “centralized” and learned it’s advantages and disadvantages. I began to understand transparency and the lack thereof.
It was an amazing day when I felt like I finally had a working understanding of the traditional banking system and the concept of transparency became real to me. Although I should add the caveat that cryptocurrency and the Blockchain are transparent to the educated, not to everyone who buys it. It is often said that the blockchain is transparent, but if you don’t understand where to go to find blockchain transactions and if you don’t understand what the numbers you are looking at mean, it’s not transparent to you. But unlike the traditional banking system where many transactions are secret and rules are often not written anywhere you can educate yourself about the blockchain and the more you know, the more transparent the blockchain becomes.
When I look at this space called cryptocurrency, I see a financial and potentially large scale social revolution. I also see an amazing evolving entity. The evolution of many of the elements in this space like cryptocurrency mining, staking wallets and masternodes is amazing. New and improved blockchain and communities are born practically ever day. The changes are occurring at an amazing pace. Those that are attentive are witnessing something truly unique, which will be written about in the future.
When I was growing up people referred to great historic events as a turning point in their life, when they changed their way of thinking about life completely. Events like the Apollo Astronauts landing on the moon stand out in many peoples minds as a defining moment when they changed their thinking about what was possible forever. I think the new defining moment for many people in crypto was when Bitcoin’s price reached 20,000! I think on that day, cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast and also non-enthusiast suddenly realized that cryptocurrency was real, big gains from investing in cryptocurrency were possible and suddenly the way people thought about Bitcoin was changed forever.
Where were you when Bitcoin hit 20,000?
That may be the new defining moment question.
