Ranting On Crypto: De-Decentralizing The Cryptomarket + My Thoughts On Ripple
Cryptocurrencies emerged out of the necessity for a freer market, so the people could take back control of their money. Centralized organizations like governments, corporations, and banks are at the very top of the financial pyramid who try to disrupt these new processes. Unfortunately, I have come to realize that the crypto economy is becoming more centralized with each passing day. Can you guess why?
The original idea behind Bitcoin is to have trustless, and cheap means of exchanging value. Look where Bitcoin is right now. The fees are off the roof, the network is toooo slow, it has become unpractical to use it for anything else besides storing value (that is being manipulated by the miners). Bitcoin's network has become very centralized and the rules are cast by the very few who have most of the hashing power. That's why many forks like Bitcoin Cash emerged to try to "solve" these problems, of corruption and price control. Don't get me wrong, Bitcoin Cash also has many problems concerning the way it is run. In fact, there are many altcoins who offer much better solutions to the current ruling models but run at a very small scale. We have proof-of-stake coins that require minimal processing power to verify transactions and even blockless networks with zero fees. Nevertheless, the top 5 cryptocurrencies are not adopting these models.
What was imagined to be the new free market has become a game of chess, where the big players can take down all the pawns when they please. Bitcoin failed to deliver what it promised. I'm not blaming the technology at all, the technology is great. People are too greedy and corrupted it. As other altcoins compete for the next Bitcoin I see the same process across many platforms, and Steemit is no exception. Just look at @steemit 's wallet, a staggering 224,571,347 dollars in only one account. Again a small group of people holds most of the capitalization. If they sell their Steem, imagine what will happen to the price of the token. No wonder the platform is still struggling to attract more investors. Steemit is not really decentralized, deal with it!
Image source
But I'm not writing this post to rant on Steemit, I'm here to rant on Ripple! If you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks you probably missed the pump of Ripple. The price is going to the moon, and it seems nothing can stop it. Many people made enormous amounts of money due to the price action, and it looks like many more will follow. So is Ripple going to be the next best thing? A big fat NO!
If you haven't done your homework on Ripple you should know that this cryptocurrency is run by banks and institutions. This is where the money is coming from. And as long as more institutions join the Ripple train the price is just going to go up and up. Is Ripple decentralized? Again, No! Right now it may look like a great investment, but consider to who you are giving your coins to if you decide to invest. Even if you could make some money, Ripple stands against everything that cryptocurrencies are originally supposed to be - free and unregulated. The more money is put into Ripple, the more the crypto economy will suffer and will become even more centralized.
Say hello to the new rulers of crypto.
The blockchain is dead, long live the blockchain!
Много добре казано!
А може би с вкарването на Ripple като троянски кон ще се направи анализ за едно бъдещо завладяване на този пазар...
Все пак тази ниша е отворена и маститите организации изостават.
Ще видим, за сега всичко е спекулация.
God, I hope you're wrong this time, Rossen! Sounds scary the way you put it. Do you have any recommendations?
I'm no trader, so I can't say what would be a good investment moneywise. I think it comes down to supporting those projects that try to offer more decentralization and transparency. I think Cardano is a good project, all the smart contract blockchains that offer something more than just exchange of value are worth checking out, like NEO, ARK, NEM etc.
What do you think on the current conditions regarding Crypto and Bulgaria? Currently there are no means to cash out any digital assets into FIAT.
Yes, there are, just skip exchanges and banks. We can trade with each other face-to-face, all we need is an internet connection and a wallet.
It's no secret that Bulgaria has a long way to go in terms of trust and economic development.
These things change you