After doing so much research on cryptocurrency and The Blockchain I just seem to get increasingly confused about the mainstream perspective on the topic:

• It's a bubble.
• It's speculative.
• It has no real value.
• It's a fad.

Isn't this what old people used to say about the Internet, social media, and online dating? It's a fad? Hm, no. Crypto is the future of all currency. It's superior in so many ways. When the future is nothing but crypto and people look to the past they're going to be like, "Yeah DUH! Of course crypto took over! Obviously." Yet, those same people today are durping around calling it a fad. What is happening here?

I'm hesitant to bring up this controversial comparison, but I'm kind of reminded of the Holocaust right now. There were a bunch of people during that time that were neutral, they didn't want to risk involvement and just let it play out on it's own. In retrospect, those people felt regret. In fact, the entire country of Germany has very little patriotism due to a domino effect of shame and embarrassment to this very day. This is an example of normal people letting bad things happen. There are several scientific studies to back up this state of mind. Most people will do what the person in charge tells them to do.

Milgram Experiment

Psychology of Risk

The Blockchain is an example of good thing that the average person doesn't want to take a risk on. They just want to let it play out and see where it goes. Because of this, it's going to take a lot longer for cryptocurrency to become mainstream.

It certainly doesn't help that a lot of people in the crypto community are just here to make a quick buck. This kind of attitude creates huge swings in the market that make it appear highly unstable. (If you believe in your blockchain you should HODL!) It also doesn't help that professional economists and other famous people in the media are perpetuating the idea that The Blockchain's value is purely speculative. Is there a conspiracy against The Blockchain? As fun as that sounds, it's probably just the Halo Effect.

The halo effect can also be explained as the behavior (usually unconscious) of using evaluations based on things unrelated, to make judgments about something or someone.

My friends and family think I'm bonkers for putting so much faith in The Blockchain. A lot of people here on Steemit have the same issue. "You think you know better than [such-and-such] professional economist?" Yes, yes I do. It's a ridiculous argument in the first place because there are smart people advocating both sides, not just one.

I wouldn't necessarily trust a professional economist to weigh in on blockchain technology because the Halo Effect will automatically cloud their judgement. Everyone uses projection and extrapolation, these are the foundations of the Halo Effect. You take what you know and apply it to something you don't know. If you're good at it you're going to be right more often than your wrong. The problem with The Blockchain is that it's nothing we've ever seen before, but it looks very similar to a tech company stock.

Obviously, a professional economist is going to look at cryptocurrency and think, "Oh! I've seen this before! I know what this is!" No, you don't. The only way I would trust an opinion on the matter is from someone who's done more research on the topic than I have. I feel like a lot of these people who love to weigh in aren't actually putting the effort into figuring out how all these cryptos actually work. They all get lumped into the same speculative bubble. This is a foolhardy stance because The Blockchain is complicated AF. You're a professional economist? Isn't it your JOB to be doing better research rather than just spewing off generic information that you already figured out years ago?

If we're going to draw lines in the sand let me give you my speculation. I speculate my blockchain's value is rooted in open-source transparency and is governed by fair rules, while being enforced by encryption. I speculate your fiat currency's value is based on a corrupt dept-based government that consistently makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. Oh wait, that's not speculation, that's just a fact.

The problem here is that the majority of Steemit users are already on the Crypto Hype Train. I'm not reaching the audience I want to be convincing. We all look like codependent crypto junkies high-fiving eachother when we should be thinking of ways to get Average Joe to believe in blockchain technology. That's the only way we're going to the moon.

I've got some ideas lined up for other posts regarding this issue. One is printing paper money crypto and another is advocating cryptos that give away coins without having to invest any money (Steem, Manna, Ether, etc.) Anyone who believes in the value of The Blockchain should be trying to convert more people into the fold. With popularity comes legitimacy.