A few years back, Satoshi had the vision to create what we now know as Bitcoin. The intent of this currency was to create a decentralized, flagless currency, with the power to link the entire world under a single standard, free of arbitrary fees, and free from Government control and manipulation.
The technology does have the potential to be that and much more, yet right now it seems everyone is just interested in the next crypto to "shoot to the Moon", which is a phrase we should all be too tired of hearing already.
The Youtubers.
This is the first and only point of contact for the crypto world for many people. Yet the only thing you'll find in there is crazy speculation on the next "big ICO/Crypto". Most people don't even know what these currencies represent or what they stand for. It's all just speculation.
Coming from the trading world myself, I'm all too tired of hearing crazy stories about how you can become a billionaire if you buy XYZ stock. Change "stock" for "cryptocurrency" and there's all you need to know about the crypto community on YouTube.
The Exchanges.
And then we head on to the Exchanges. Let's start with the fact that many exchanges don't even offer the real product to their customers (I'm talking to you E-Toro!), instead, they create synthetic markets through an instrument called the CFD or "Contract for Difference", which is absolute trash and does more to harm the industry than to help it.
Far too often I've heard of people claiming to be investing in "cryptocurrencies" only to find they are using these shady platforms like Plus500 to speculate on what they think is Bitcoin when in fact it's more akin to gambling on a Casino (with leverage) than it investing in real the thing. Most people don't seem to understand CFDs are NOT real markets, trading in CFDs is like placing bets on the future price of something, while having no real participation on that something. But hey, CFDs have leverage, so who cares.
The "serious players".
I'm not sure who's doing more harm to this space, the crazy speculators or those who fancy themselves "serious adopters" of this technology.
Here I'm referring to all those startups that propose to offer "blockchain solutions" for companies. I've never seen a less ambitious application for this technology.
So while Satoshi set out to revolutionize the financial industry and the way we use and view currency as a society, here we are offering back-end solutions for big corporations. Big banks are now looking to use blockchain to settle payments with one another. They are effectively using the technology behind Bitcoin to streamline international settlements and that could very well be a nail in Bitcoin's coffin since their manipulated fiat currencies will now take advantage in the efficiency of blockchain solutions.
Other proposed application are so boring I feel like I'll fall asleep on my keyboard when I read about them: Decreasing auditing costs, streamlining litigation, automating interactions with customers and businesses, automated accounting... You're still with me?
Is this the revolution Satoshi wanted to propel? Streamlining back office operations for the same people that helped create this mess?
So those who seem to undertand this technology appear, for the most part, to lack the ambition to make cryptocurrencies everything they could and ought to be. With remarkable exceptions of course.
It falls on us to create change.
It's up to us, the community to help make Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies live up to their fullest potential. Indeed the applications for this technology go far beyond crazy speculation on derivatives exchanges or back-end solutions for established corporations.
Satoshi set out to start a revolution, we need to see it through.
The main problem I see with cryptocurrencies is that it seems like a closed community of programmers and techies... The applications being proposed rarely go beyond the realm of "tech stuff", and those who develop new systems appear to know that space only.
Ethereum is a perfect example in my opinion. Sure, it's a brilliant idea, but it'll never see mass adoption as it suffers from basic flaws that make it unable to compete with real established payment systems and networks. And this is basic stuff its creators seem completely oblivious to:
- At peak capacity, the Ethereum network seems unable to process even 100 transactions per second. Meanwhile, Visa and MasterCard process tens of thousands of transactions per second, and these are just payment systems, which is only one of the uses for Ethereum.
- Ethereum charges their customers to interact with the blockchain. EOS CTO Dan Larimer has stressed this time and time again and it seems like no one listens. You cannot charge customers with microtransactions every time you interact with your product. It doesn't work, period. Do these people even undertand how complicated it is to own crypto to some? The fixed costs imposed by banks are off the charts!
I'm no blockchain expert, but if Ethereum doesn't dramatically increase it's ability to process transactions (The Merkle Tree solution is lame at best, doesn't go nearly deep enough) and stop charging their customers for every interaction, it is doomed to fail, just like Bitcoin is doomed to fail (as an international payments system) due to how slow and expensive it's become.
The fact that DASH is a better currency from every viewpoint than BTC yet it doesn't get nearly the same attention tells you all you need to know about the current state of this industry: It's mostly driven by misinformed speculation.
How do we move forward?
I believe the solution to this question is simple: We need to start using this technology. We need to take it seriously, and we need to start moving away from the fintech space and into other industries, while simultaneously using blockchain to its fullest potential.
We need projects that are willing to use cryptos for their daily operations and/or funding needs. Speculation's great but unless something real is done with cryptos, this is just another bubble that will eventually burst.
For some months now I've been working with my partners on a project we call "10.000 Hectare Paradise", where we intend to use blockchain solutions not just to meet our funding needs, but also to connect our entire network through cryptocurrencies.
We've been trying to contact industry experts to help us in our project yet to our surprise the community was far less open to our ideas than we'd hoped. In fact, traditional institutional investors have been far more receptive than anyone in the cryptocurrency space.
This is surprising to us, since we'd guessed the industry would be hungry for real projects that don't revolve around creating X token to make Y exchange that will in turn trade Z currency that will support X token. It's a closed loop, no real tangible value is created by most of these projects. Ours does, and yet most don't seem to care.
It's time for cryptocurrencies to start taking themselves more seriously.
It's time for this industry to mature, and that means taking itself seriously enough that it will dare venture out of the tech space and into real world applications.
I don't mean back office "solutions" for corporations.
I mean real stuff, like creating tokens to link communities together, or creating funding mechanisms for small businesses that have no access to traditional financial services, or issuing currencies that tie their value to a tangible asset or even a person or group, how about we solve the pension fund crisis by creating a coin that self-multiplies at a given rate?
Do experts in this technology realize we now have the power to forever transform society in ways we could only dream of before?
So I plead to anyone who took the time to get this far, please, ask not what crypto can do for you, but what you can do for crypto.