Occasionally Obsessed with Blockchain
In 2013 I became obsessed with blockchain technology. I bought cryptocurrencies from shady exchanges and built mining rigs. I heated my house while making some money in whatever colored coin was most profitable at that time. In 2014 I lost the obsession to follow a new, albeit, less exciting passion. In early 2017 I became obsessed with blockchain technology again. When I find a new occasional obsession, I refrain from writing about it for some time, but there’s no time like the present so be prepared.
I could write an entire book on the possibilities of blockchain technology. It might be a poorly written book with huge letters. Let’s call it a kids book. I could write a children’s book all about the possibilities and use cases of the blockchain, but I won’t.
Simply put, if you haven’t spent much time reading about blockchain technology yet, please view this infographic as a primer. Blockchain or distributed ledger technology is truly fascinating, and it’s not just Bitcoin or Ethereum. There are a ton of interesting protocols becoming available for specific use cases. But the bottom line is that anyone anywhere can transact anything without intermediaries of any kind. No banks, no brokers, no one to tell them they can’t transact for any reason, not a single other person or entity involved. Person A has an asset that person B finds valuable and they can transfer it between themselves in a private transaction, stored on the blockchain and no one can stop them. The implications of this technology are fascinating and far reaching.
Further, blockchain technology is highly accessible to anyone. If that’s not true in your case today rest assured there are vast numbers of people working to make sure that it is soon.
So why should blockchain even be important to you?
The simple answer, because it’s going to change the way you do everything on a daily basis, just like the internet changed the way you consume information and communicated with people. TCP/IP paved the way for protocols like HTML, which made it easy for people to build the websites you see today. SMPT made sending and receiving an email a breeze. Step back even further; railroads made it sending and receiving materials from across the country possible.
Every major leap for humanity has come from large scale technological improvements. This is mostly no different. Mostly, except in one major way. Previously if you wanted direct financial benefit from the new technology you had to have enough money to make investments in companies trying to commercialize some adaptation of the new technology. Today, you can make a macro bet on the overarching theme of this new technology, and you don’t have to be a venture capitalist, a hedge fund or a high net worth individual. Anyone can bet any amount that this technology will change the future.
There’s a ton of risks and a lot to learn. Who knows, it may not work out and this is not investment advice. However, if you’ve heard of blockchain and Bitcoin, but you don’t understand it watch this video and this video and begin to educate yourself. If for no other reason than the fact that this technology will be part of your everyday life sometime in the next five years.
