Is Cryptocurrency Real Money?
The following picture is quite hard to believe. For those who are new to Crypto/Digital Currency, the picture shows a snapshot of the top Digital Currencies on 23/5/2017. That´s right 7 Digital Currencies are above 1 Billion Dollars in Value!
Market Cap
The Market Cap shown in the second column can be a somewhat misleading figure for judging how much something is worth, but its a simple metric which gives an indication of the value of a asset at a point in time. It´s calculated by multiplying the current market price by the supply. So in theory you can sell any unit for that price but in practice, especially because the volumes are small a large sell order can significantly move the price. There are also fears that the market can be manipulated by certain players.
May 2017
Did I say volumes are small. That was the case in the past, but in the last few months expectations have been growing, Investment has been coming in and now, we may be witnessing the start of a new wave, something that will be as revolutionary as the internet. That is Digital Currencies and Blockchain technology.
Bitcoin is the only player in town
A misconception among many is that Bitcoin is the only Digital Currency, and they have missed the boat on it. Both of those assumptions are wrong.
Bitcoin is still a currency that has the possibility to increase many times in value.
If you wish to catch a currency that will earn you XX times returns, you may still get lucky. Some have increased over %6000 in the last few months.
Of the 7 coins shown (ex Ripple) 4 are coins who aim to replace cash and banking, to be use as a medium of exchange and store of value. The remaining 3 are slightly different. They are tokens for accessing a platform whose main aim is other purposes, but as these tokens derive value the can also be exchanged so behave like cash in may ways.
Seismic Shift
We are at the beginning of a seismic shift in the global financial, economic, even political landscape. See how far reaching the blockchain revolution will be by reading some posts I wrote a little while back Blockchain – I got to the end but it keeps growing...
Blockchain has arrived, it has matured a little, but it is still early days, its still not too late to get involved. Join Steemit.com to read more about it and even start earning some Digital Currency for yourself.
Thank you for reading this. I write on Steemit about Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Travel and lots of random topics.
I need to take better notes -- but somone (please come forward) had made the best point, we were all waiting for a currency reset, and this very well could be it. I have am more prepared (mentally) to switch to CC.
I am looking forward to seeing more infrastructure to support this transition.
I agree. Well said!
Steemit is an ideal place to help you make the transition. Before you know it your earning digital currency, then even spending it in the ecosystem; promoting posts, paying for some services on the platform, etc. You quickly begin to see it for what it is, something that has value that you can use, currency. The next steps after that are easy.
Thank you for sticking those thoughts in my head. I was already thinking that I wanted to hire @jovan to do a graphic thingie for me.
And all I was doing was learning how to be kind and send thoughts out to other folks, I resteemed something and @arsenal49 sent me one SBD -- I felt so official :)
When I first got some bitcoin, I thought it was cool. I got it. I understood what it was capable of. But after getting some, there wasn´t much I could do with it. Just keep it. Set up a few wallets and send it back and forth. There was a coffee shop in Dublin that accepted it so I did get a chance to buy a coffee one day.
It was a different experience with Steem , it is the real deal. Immediately I have started using it regularly.
Oh, check out exodus.io for some very interesting infrastructure, its a wallet/asset application for your desktop. You cans store many coins there and its very user friendly. The idea here is that one day you will be able to store all your digital assets. Still in development but a very nice app to use.
resteem and upvote for you....
Thank you.
u r welcome...
I am late to the party! But I am so far from discouraged it is not even funny! The last month and a half since discovering Steemit has been an eye-opener like you cannot believe! I am in love with cryptocurrency, especially as a South-African with our crashing economy...
The party hasn´t even started yet :) we are both early.
I was about to go to bed but after one last check on coinmarketcap I am wide awake. I had to write this post.
Feel free to share your wisdom any day. Sadly I am not a rich fellow, but my Steem is slowly accumulating and I would not mind trying some currency trading...
I will be sharing my thoughts, not sure I would describe them as wisdom, brain farts maybe would be a better description :)
Keep posting and curating. Everything you earn is going to increase in value with the price of Steem, if you power up. Thats what is so great about Steemit, all you have to invest is your time.
I love it!
I'm with you man!
Thanks for reading.
No money is "real". There are only two things that make anything, money:
Don't forget:
Appreciate your additions, I would have contradictory statements to both:
@kyle.anderson, always a pleasure - I dig your posts and I agree that no money is real - least of all, the USD which is basically monopoly money.
This is true, some places had supposedly used shells and whatknot, but both parties must recognize an object as payment for it to be accepted in exchange for goods, services, etc. Even if the recipient of funds is the 1/10 or 1/8 Americans whom recognize BTC as currency, they may not be able to accept it because their bills and overhead are in USD. This convo reminds me of a book: Debt the First 5000 Years.
Nor is this an argument. But, for the sake of argument, a currency or form of payment becoming legal tender will both drive up the worth of the holder and put law enforcement behind it's acceptance as payment - in turn, making something money. We actually saw this in America when the govt forced people to accept paper money as tender.
I would say that this is both a goal and a requirement, especially while aspiring to maintain fair or superior exchange rates to other currencies.
I suppose that I would prefer the pre-1971 gold backed dollar system, because at least then the banks and federal reserve would be forced to conduct safe Liquidity & Solvency practices, though I have done well as a result of poor practices. Actually, I agree with you on this point and would strike it out if I were more proficient with markdown!
I agree with everything you said; you left me nothing:).
I do see a future where decenteralized exchange tech is at a point where users can choose to send and receive money in whatever denomination they choose - the market will arrange the trade.
Then we're even, because you did it to me earlier, lol.
I agree on your visions of the future, and it might even add a new dynamic by which investors can trade both shares of a company as well as blockchain coins for specific projects like supply chain managment.
This is probably what the citizens of Elysium did for a living!
Is that a video game?
Sci-Fi movie about the not-so distant future, where 'spreading the wealth' ran the elites into isolation and the impoverished to fend for themselves. Starring major political themes like "free healthcare is a basic human right", "It's everyone's money", "corporations don't value human life", "white privilege oppresses Spanish speaking people" and "love, like...trumps hate?"... and Matt Damon.
You should check it out.
Each day crypto is becoming more spendable.
Yeah, I'm actually worried about that, lol.
Right now, I think that Ripple(XRP) and Ethereum(ETH) are the only ones that stand a chance of replacing cash due to their heavy regulation. Though Bitcoin(BTC), NEM, Monero and Litecoin(LTC) (which is underevaluated, btw) look to replace cash, it is unlikely the the US & World Banks will allow this to happen.
I really don't think they will have a choice. I think fiat cash will continue to exist but there is room for digital cash too.
A few more thoughts:
As regards Ripple, I don't consider that much of a digital currency. It's basically a bank account in the traditional sense, a little more distributed but still in the hands of the creators. I am still trying to get my head around Ethereum, is it a digital cash or not? Sure you can exchange it, but I see Ethereum as a type of economy whose ultimate value will depend on the ecosystem created on top of it, much more akin to company shares than to cash. I am still trying to figure that out though.
Awesome Blog Keep Up The Great Work! =]
Thank you so much.
the more you think about it cryptocurrencies are here to equalize the very uneven ledger. give power back to people and away from banks! Together the people can not be stopped
Exciting times indeed!