Building a better world
It was a long spring weekend and I was basking in the sun at the beach with my family. It was still too cold to swim but we were all having fun building sandcastles and playing in the sand. One thing that struck me was how happy my kids were building and rebuilding various constructions in the sand. They seemed to love the challenge of building as close to the waters edge as possible, in such a way that it could withstand the foamy wash of the waves up the wet sand from the deeper waters. When that larger wave inevitably came and shot up the sand to engulf their newly made sand castle, they laughed and screamed and started right back to build a new structure. Each subsequent castle layout evolved over an hour as each castle was washed back into the wet sand from where it arisen.
It struck me that although the kids spent time and energy creating and building their various castles, they never worried or cared whether it lasted 5 minutes or 20 minutes. In fact they loved the building process and the ability to try new castle designs. They were never attached to the outcome, and knew that the ocean would eventually consume their work and effort. They were simply happy with the journey of building and creating.
I saw my own approach to life and how resistant I am to situations working out other than the way I expect them to. Life always seems to have other plans, and more often than not take a different turn. I realised that the more I resist that change, the greater the pain is. I find quite often I’m worrying about what could go wrong in a given situation and fearing the change. Being attached to the outcome I’m finding brings me pain and negativity. Seeking permanence in a world that is utterly impermanent is futile. If I take time to philosophise on this concept it makes sense that it would bring pain. However, I still find myself sliding into that mode of thought.
This reminds me of the Chinese story of “The Old Man Who Lost His Horse”. The gist of it is:
A man had a beautiful horse which was lost. The villagers went to the old man and said what bad luck. The old man just responded “good luck, bad luck…who knows”.
The next week, the horse returned and with it a female horse. The villages all exclaimed how lucky the man was. The old man just responded “good luck, bad luck…who knows”.
The old man had a son who loved riding the new horse every day. One day the horse got spooked and bolted, tossing the son off who broke his leg and was crippled. The villages went to the man and told him what bad luck it was. The old man wisely nodded “good luck, bad luck….who knows”.
The following month the emperor’s army was marching through the village conscripting all young able bodied men. They left the old man’s son because he was crippled, which saved him from almost certain death on the battlefield.
The old man knew that as life thew its unexpected situations at him, he was not attached to the outcome. He didn’t judge or condemn the unfolding of events. He allowed them to be as they were.
What is interesting in the world of cryptocurrency is that I’ve found so many times I’ve been holding a trading position on a certain coin and the price goes the opposite to what I’m expecting. Usually whilst I’m asleep. I’ve found I’ve been frustrated, angry and upset. I was angry that I didn’t buy Bitcoin sooner last year in 2017 and only started buying around November, December. I was ecstatic as the price went up in a parabolic curve and the value of my investment more than doubled as Bitcoin hit close to a high of $20,000. My expectation that it would continue as such to $100,000 was naive, but I was very emotionally invested in that very outcome. You can imagine how I felt as the Bitcoin (BTC) price plummeted in January 2018, plunging lower and lower till now in October the price of BTC is around $6500 (USD). I’ve ranted and raged the whole way down. It’s been obvious that Bitcoin has been in a downtrend so to expect anything other than that very trend to continue was misplaced. I’ve felt a world of pain as a lot of other Cryptocurrency investors I know have also. I’ve reached a point now whereby I don’t really have any expectations of what price action will occur, up or down.
A bucket of new ALT coins has materialised on the Cryptocurrency beach very close to the foaming frothing unpredictable waters of 2018. Many times a wave has rushed up the sand and smothered the castle dissolving its mass by half. Each time I’ve been surprised. Now that I’m looking back on this I’m surprised that I was surprised. The inevitable happened. To expect otherwise was ludicrous. I think the waves will continue to smash over the crypto castles over and over again, whittling down the numbers of obsolete coins, till only those that have a real world purpose and Use Case will remain.
Looking at the top 10 cryptocurrencies by marketcap of 2013 (https://coinmarketcap.com/historical/20131229/) is surprising. Most of the top 10 are nowhere near that position now in 2018.
Coin Survival
Which cryptocurrencies will survive at the end of 2018?
I believe given the influx of new cryptocurrency coins onto the ALTs market investors are much more savvy in picking and choosing those coins that show promise in application to real world usages. Those coins that don’t offer anything new or different by way of functionality to the dozen or so other coins at the top of the market will dissolve back into the foamy waters of irrelevance. Those that offer a solution to a world wide problem or forge new innovative functionality will be left standing. Their rock like value will be seen and sought after.
Not being attached so much to the outcome of the cryptocurrency markets, makes it easier to look at each project with a keener objectivity. Whereas before I was focused on a speculative outcome of a cryptocurrency project, now I’m focused on the meaning and relevance of it. I derive meaning by how that project will help others and help to make the world a better place.
A Standout
One particular cryptocurrency project that has stood out amongst the myriad of ALT coins is the Equaliser project. The reason for its stand out is its solution to the world housing crisis.
Equaliser is a Blockchain based solution that aims to provide affordable, strong, energy efficient and beautiful homes and accommodation. The blockchain will contain a title registry, proof of ownership and smart contract functionality. Storm shelters are also an option to be offered by Equaliser.
Also, a portion of profits for Equaliser will go towards natural disaster relief. Equaliser is a project to help people the world over.
Equaliser has procured its first property in the US and once that build has been completed will roll out its solution to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is in desperate need of affordable strong housing after 10 years of Debt spiralling to $74 billion (USD) and the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017 which killed thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. This will be the perfect region for Equaliser to make a difference and to evolve its housing solution.
Currently Equaliser is developing its own recipe for the Equaliser building blocks which are lightweight, strong and much cheaper to develop than traditional bricks. Due to their large size, a standard size home will be able to be assembled in a couple of weeks rather than months. This greatly reduces the cost of materials and labour. This is just one of the major innovations Equaliser will be using to forge ahead with its plan to develop the affordable homes that are hurricane resistant and to sell them on the Equaliser Marketplace for the Equaliser cryptocurrency (EQLI).
I’ve found the Equaliser community to be very positive and proactive in overcoming any obstacles. The community is very welcoming and the Equaliser Discord channel a great place to meet up with similarly minded people that also want to make a difference in the world. If you’re interested and would like to find out more about Equaliser then checkout the links below.
With love and peace,
Paul Clarke
Medium: JellySmash
Twitter: @greenbergblue
Links
For more information on Equaliser click:
Join us on Discord for fun and chat about Equaliser
Donations are always appreciated, you can deposit to either of my below addresses -
Bitcoin (BTC): 35fjF5ZtPfB8crHogJBxDmsF9cMknqVHmM
Ethereum (ETH): 0x2f14f76A8BBa608c7d0C4fe27b66d3E54075Bc26
KMD/EQL: RSe7H22jKYEYKXNT4knYPmjtbFE5fiZP8d
Short video on Equaliser
The Equaliser Whitepaper
