The Age Of The Digital Currency
My thoughts on digital currencies and the future they hold.
In 1870, the young and energetic John D. Rockefeller founded what would come to be the modern world’s first multinational corporation; Standard Oil. A company that would go on to make him the undisputed, richest man in the history of the world. Back then, mining for oil was risky and dangerous. Oil gushers would occur and tons of oil would be lost. What a lot of people neglect to mention is how Rockefeller monetized oil. Oil showed massive promise but came with incredible risk. After all, it was new, exciting and filled with endless possibilities that could change the world. Some people profited from it, a lot of people lost fortunes.
This is how I see digital currencies. For the past 2 years, these currencies namely, Bitcoin have become incredibly popular gaining monuments monetary value. Just as oil did in the 1800's, this sounds exciting and filled with opportunity, but with every game changing idea, comes risk and danger. An idea is just that, an idea, the key to creating new industries is creating a way to utilize that idea. When Rockefeller saw the inefficient methods for acquiring oil, it insulted his sense of efficiency and then he had that moment, that entrepreneurial moment; “There must be a better way.” Refining the oil would prove to be less of a risk and would enable John D to make oil available to the public. With this method, he could safely provide light to every home. He took something unpredictable and dangerous and refined it into a safe solution, changing the lives of millions in the process.
We’ve read the headlines. Mt Gox losing millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, hackers destabilizing exchanges and discovering an online black market utilizing digital currencies. Digital Currencies are new to the world. They’re volatile and unpredictable but nothing is a lost cause. With high risk comes high reward, we just need the right person to envision the right plan.
The great men and women of the world did not forge a new future by going with the tide at no risk.
