My Cryptocurrency Journey | Understanding Investments, the Blockchain, and Decentralized Technologies

It has been several years ago when I first encountered my very first cryptocurrency investment. Unlike many who really mined bitcoin, mine was more "I heard bitcoin investment will make you rich, but buying one is just too expensive, so I'll buy Ethereum instead" was how I really started. So I signed up with CoinsPH, and bought my 1 ETH for PHP 500, and I forgot about this investment for months, and when I opened my account a year later, I almost fell from my seat. It felt like discovering a gold mine. I saw the growth of my investment during the very bullish season, and I remember losing hours of sleep monitoring the exchange rate in Blockfolio where I track my cryptocurrency investments.

Bullish Market Growth

I wanted to grow my ETH even more during this time. I started immersing myself in understanding cryptocurrencies, and how they work. This was the time that I also read about Ripple XRP and how it wanted to disrupt the banking/finance industry, and my gut says that this crypto has so much potential. So I exchanged my 1 ETH to XRP - all of it! And I watched the hyperbolic growth of XRP like a hawk. It was crazy.

I didn't want to stop. I felt that the growth I was seeing on Blockfolio was an opportunity to learn even more, and I wanted to learn more, so I started reading about trading, how it works because I felt the need to grow my XRP investment. So I started learning how to interpret charts - BOLL, MACD, RSI, EMA, etc.

Bearish Market Fall

But the math escaped me, and my emotions ruled me more than logic. And we all know what came next - The start of the bear days that turned to months then to years. I think for most of us we lost the hope that it'll ever pick up. And I was one of the many who sold what was left in my investment with losses because I no longer trust the investment, and was too emotional to understand the logic and math behind it.

It was a very scary experience for most investors who really believed in the potential of digital currencies.

I honestly do not understand how the blockchain works back then, and I was not yet sold to the idea of decentralizing. I honestly don't even get the need to decentralize technology.

Cryptocurrency vs. Blockchain Technology

When I was reading up on ETH, I stumbled upon smart contracts, I thought the concept was amazing, but it was too complex for my head to understand. Then I started hearing about dApps more. Is that just a fancy way of saying "Apps", I thought that the crypto world just wants to be cool and wanted to change the term for apps to sound unique. The foolish me only found out late last year - 2019 - that the 'd' in dApps is really for decentralized. And there is that word again, decentralized - I don't understand the meaning of the word, and the need for having applications become decentralized.

And what the heck is the difference between cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. I need to know. So I started understanding the fundamentals behind the tech, and drove myself to learning more about decentralization - why it is important.

Whats are dApps?

When I started this article, I really just wanted to talk more about how I understand dApps. But I felt that maybe I also need to start sharing what my journey was like before I started venturing into learning how this new technology works. So here goes my attempt to explain -

So what are dApps?

The term dApps is short for decentralized applications. They are similar to computer apps but are built on a blockchain. While there are many mobile apps that are downloadable online, be it via the Android Playstore or IOS App Store, most of these applications are not decentralized.

Let's take Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. These are examples of social media platforms that have built applications for mobile phones. The owners of these platforms may decide one day to put in place certain limitations to the users of the applications. These limitations may be in a form of censorship, changes on terms and conditions, or maybe even the way users engage the app.

The most recent debacle was when YouTube started deleting the cryptocurrency-related contents on its platform. Although YouTube has already apologized for this incident and has blamed an accident or an error on their end, there is no guarantee that the same incident won't happen in the future. 

This is exactly why dApps are important because in an environment that's decentralized, you have full ownership and control over your uploaded contents. No middle entity can audit, censor, change, even delete your work. Imagine a social media platform that can do exactly that. The authenticity of original contents or work can easily be checked, because the blockchain will have the content's complete history. Let's say there are two individuals who are claiming authorship on an article, them simply check the history of the article cross reference it to the date when it was uploaded, and using the built algorithm the app can validate ownership.

This can be done because the validation of content is done by the community, and the logic behind the validation is programmable. This translates to effective and efficient control mechanisms that are more trustworthy compared to human judgement that can be prone to error.

What does the future holds?

So what does this mean for the future?

Imagine a world where what you uploaded online is shared and viewed by everyone, and can easily be crossed referenced? This means that people will be more careful with what they upload because everyone can easily see what's uploaded.

And since the blockchain is programmable, we can have applications that can easily validate whether contents are valid or not. This can massively impact the proliferation of fake news on social media.

Contract validations for properties, even medical records can easily be moved via the cloud and be checked, assessed or just consulted by recipients removing the need for third party individual or people to intervene or represent. This creates a massively more effective and efficient transactions.

Decentralized Social Media

Imagine Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube on the blockchain. That's what the developers of Steem built. And I have not even mentioned the other applications that were developed using Steem - health and fitness apps, travel apps, restaurant review apps, games that earns you Steem. There are a lot more.

But are we ready for this?

The technology is already here. Although still few, there are communities of people who are already using the technology. They are called early adopters. The #Steem Community is one of the blockchain built communities that have really adopted this technology creating an ecosystem that truly empowers and rewards its people.

Decentralized Application (dApps) are being adopted by industries. We have decentralized social media - Steemit, where your uploaded contents can be validated, cross referenced, and monetized. We have blockchain build applications that have uses in the medical industry, and in insurance. The latest buzz on Twitter is decentralized finance which can strongly disrupt the financial industry.

It truly is just a matter of time. But the future is already here.

The question now is if you are an early adopter. 😉

---

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://pinoyviajero.blog/my-cryptocurrency-journey-understanding-investments-the-blockchain-and-decentralized-technologies/

---