The Untold Story of a Cryptobillionaire
![yolanda.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmZfLT8y3R8QDRT5TqComUhm2Pf9ZJY9wFTxVEHf1wGLfG/yolanda.png)
Imagine someone in the middle of a forest with nothing but shelter and a modest Internet connection. This hermit is well read, knowledgeable, and highly critical. She's the kind that always picks up on crowd sentiment way before it builds into a frenzy. Meet Yolanda. The world's biggest information addict. Intellectual curiosity led her to Satoshi's whitepaper and 72 units of Bitcoin back in 2009. Naturally, she rolled her cryptos.. flipping them like you would a vegan meat patty, moving into high potential coins before the massive pumps.
She has been one hell of a player in the game. A cognitive elite that wouldn't have been able to go big without dealing with meatspace problems in the past. Started with nothing but a laptop, her net worth is now $1.55 billion dollars. All diversified into 99 different cryptocurrencies. Her only problem was - "what's this all about?"
Is there ever any consensus over what the future of humanity should be like? Yolanda took months attempting to figure it out. No answers. It would be foolish to assume there's one single consensus. The next best thing is to look at capital formation and technology. They have always been leading the charge. So with the thousands of cryptocurrencies flying about in electric air, Yolanda assumed the following:-
- Social structures are being decentralized.
- There will be many different kinds of societies trying out different things.
- The returns of state enforcement will be severely reduced.
- Nation-states will downsize and fragment over time from the lack of control.
- Large-scaled wars, especially over physical resources will be a thing of the past.
- Local cartels could grow in power from the lack of central authority.
- Smaller jurisdictions will emerge, popping up like wild mushrooms.
- In the future, choosing jurisdictions will be like shopping for jeans.
![yolanda2.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZVfnoMVmi9W1hKL97Aw1ZUvyfr5MnvekEfRCmmWVECRf/yolanda2.png)
After mulling over a cup of Darjeeling, Yolanda charted her next gameplan on recycled paper, sent in by one of those Amazon drones. She knew that markets are largely emotional, thanks to the ebb and flow of social media. Which assets aren't media influenced anyway? Talk about intrinsic value.
Yolanda also understood that she's only one person. She cannot do everything herself, despite having dreams of a better society that she could one day be part of. In her opinion, capital should be focused on the sharing economy and a zero-marginal cost society. Or else, what's the point of money, if not to create an abundance?So with $1.55 billion in hand, she thought - "Should I create, or curate the future?". She chose the latter, fully knowing there must be people that are smarter and more resourceful out there.
Laying out the gameplan, Yolanda recognises that she has been curating cryptocurrencies all along but had never considered content curation.. the soul of cryptocurrency curation. She had only been a voracious content consumer, curating for herself. Looking deeper into the matter, it turns out that content curation is not as simple as it seems:-
There's a case of curating for immediate or latent potential. Curating seemingly inconsequential content produced by someone relatively unknown could even have great effects at a later point in time.
What she considers great content might not even resonate with anyone else.
Long or short form content? Details and poetry are persuasive, but readers might do better consuming simple content.
But the economics of traditional social media doesn't seem to work out. It might still work now, but maybe more people will start tuning into a place where attention is treated as a scarce resource. Payout over number of likes. Something like Steem, perhaps? She could also exert more influence that way by having more stake in the system instead of having to compete against a system in which likes that are given out freely without consequence. Does it even matter?
Why not curate the curators instead? The only way to speak into everyone's minds is not to have one specific information curated, but many to speak into the minds of the masses. Not everybody speaks the same language anyway, and not everybody thinks the same at all, even when faced with the same content.
![yolanda3.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmdrDKYAWAQvr8uBGkBLXBN2YKJTpfQV7dicb7X1qWt5ZT/yolanda3.png)
It was a tiresome process trying to figure out the probabilities, and she began feeling like it's just too much trying to have absolute control. It's an illusion. Sure, she enters and exits her coins like a boss, but it was the work of entire markets that actually made her one of the most successful cryptopunks in town. No one's truly independent after all. So she decided to maintain with her portfolio of 99, and as for Steem.. she has decided to take her time accumulating a huge amount while mentally curating the curators. Surely, that's the best thing to do? Maybe some day she'll know what to do with her bag of coins.
Next stop: $1 trillion dollars in magic internet money.
Very interesting thought experiment @kevinwong Yolanda debating about the role of content and it's 'potential' value.
I would suggest that the majority of content (what some would say is of low value)
Photos of everyday objects, food, even cats etc is exactly what many people share. It is what is important to them.
I don't see this content as being of little value to future generations. In fact quite the opposite.
The most interesting finds in archeology are found in the simplest cave drawings and the leftover scraps from midden piles.
In this way we can reconstruct what was important to those societies and individuals.
Curating the curators is a good idea but don't forget to add your opinions too.
Where would we be without the ancient curators and their commentary on their era.
We often find recurring themes down the ages.
A fascinating blog Kevin. Thank you.
Thanks @molometer, that's a beautiful response. I think the reason why some would say it's on the lower spectrum of value is because its the majority of content and hence, not as rare or novel.
well said!!
@molometer obviously understands value. I really appreciate that given Yolanda's billions. What is wealth? How does it relate to value?
that is an interesting experiment :)
What a great thought experiment!
Curating is something wonderful, and not just content, but people. Perhaps Yolanda hasn't had to learn this, but at the root of the outsourcing movement, we have the fact that humans are creative and innovative problem-solving individuals, and no one group is worth more than another.
When we curate value, looking for undervalued elements, and combine this with some market indicators, as I am sure Yolanda has done in cryptos, we realize that we can do big things with small budgets.
Yolanda should take a small portion of her wealth, seriously don't start with more than a million, even with her portfolio size, a million is a lot of money; she should have a fund to inspire projects that she likes. I like to go to upwork (or any number of other sites) and find friends from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, UK, Poland, (these are my current freelancing team) and build a team around a great idea!
If Yolanda finds a project she wants to 'curate', instead of donating money, which can be the death to all but the most organized projects, she can donate hours from quality freelancers from around the world.
Anyways, just my two cents. Steem on!
Clearly you’ve been involved with the outsourcing movement actively. What have you working on in that sense if I may ask? Yolanda likes to have control hence she didn’t consider outsourcing much at all, although curation on steem seems to be a decent way of doing that ;)
Yes I have been actively enjoying outsourcing and working with talented people from around the world. I outsourced myself to South America in 2009, for the last couple of years I have been doing freelance work, getting my own business together and learning the ropes, and just this past year I have started building teams of freelancers to accomplish bigger tasks.
I have done a lot of translations, transcriptions, now more and more web application development, and we are getting into video editing and animation as well.
Blessings!
Imagine an old man who spends a lot of time at home with his computer. He has little knowledge of crypto but is starting to learn. Suddenly the value of steem explodes, he’s worth millions.
Lol its the perfect case scenario xD
Yes, good story. Sometimes these tales seem too good to be true. This one is probably true though. Someone with a bit of intelligence, got lucky and hit the Bitcoin jackpot. Good for them. I'm looking for my turn, maybe Steem is my chance. I curate and add content almost all day long, 15-18 hours a day when we have our power on. I am trying to get others to join Steemit every day and I'm just waiting for something to break my way. Some day.
That's very imaginative, this let me doubted myself for a while. Would I ever have the courage to pick up the massive responsibilities of maximizing and benefiting the community from cryptocurrencies or would I just back out. Indeed a deep thought for me~ Nice topic to be chosen to share.
Much easier to just mind our own business, that’s for sure.. lol. Glad you enjoyed the read :)
Sweet :)
You write really well in this fiction myth crypto style. I need to get a date with this chick she seems pretty cool.
Curate the Curators, an interesting one. You've probably seen what @fulltimegeek has been up to with his Steem Power? For us lucky ones, I feel it is our duty to be curating right now.
Looking at the recent stats, 30 hands are better than one and i think the plan is working out. From this, I think some of us have picked up the odd vote from 'higher up', so in effect are being curated also.
Sorry if i drifted off topic, a nice tale man :)
Lol no crypto knowledge, no date.
Yup I just found out about that. Personally, I'm more for following the votes of trusted accounts, which reminds me that I need to consider some more accounts..
No date indeed. What are we going to talk about otherwise?!
I must say, some of the delegated accounts seem not to be doing as I would expect them to do, if It was my SP they were handling. So I can see what you mean with trusted accounts.
We can get a pretty good indication of what is happening (both myself and FTG like running stats) which does help, I think.
I'm wondering how would you define a trusted account? Is it related to for example, time on the platform, consistency of content?
Cheers
Oh not really those dimensions, just a simple "actively looking out for the platform"
I think that sums things up nicely. Thanks!
Beautiful and so simple
I see loooooots of super cool chickies around for you to date.
Might have to make a “steemit-tinder” swipe list for the “blind” ones who got too much delegated power in their hands, not to mention those whales who can’t find value in “loylity to the platform” members.
Dude, this is great... I thought it was a real non-fiction story at first. This is an awesome kernel... maybe this can be spun out into the sequel to the @hardfork-series (-: wait, no it's the prequel !
Hey thanks @clumsysilverdad, so I guess there are people digging in cryptofiction. I thought it was too nerdy at first :p
Cryptofiction would be cool. No sci-fi story is mentioning blockchain in future. And right now new history is being written by digital world. The one no one expected.
It would be great if there would be community for fiction on Steemit.
If you have a billion in your account, what will you do? That kind of question, if thrown to anyone, I think no one could answer that straight and clear. She could become a 'batman' like figure too! Having no worry about financial part, just do what she thinks is good for the future and meet people up. Anyway, it is a myth :P
"I'm Crypto-Batman."
What will you do? :D
Likewise, I am stunned when you asked me back. haha
With a billion, that's a lot of weight there. I would rather invest in different companies and let them utilize my money. Holding too much liquid doesn't bring me satisfaction, as the money just laid there doing nothing.
I think I will go nomad! Travel wherever I want and establish an Atlantis city or a space city!
Great plan and as good as it gets actually!
Haha, I will let my imagination leads the way. Great story there. Short yet enticing.
Not bad fiction at all.
Not sure I could be Yolanda.
I'd like to be that smart and altruistic but I think I'd be in Acapulco smoking alot of weed and giving Jeff Berwick a run for his money.
Lol you have to be in Acapulco to smoke that??
No but the scenery is bound to enhance my buzz.