These are the crypto voyages.

To DPOS go, where no transactions has gone before.

Did somebody mention Tulip bulbs, again?

Every time Bitcoin reaches a new All Time High {ATH} things like bubble, it is dead or tulip mania, will get mentioned. Do not know how many times cryptos have supposedly died since 2009. The old financial system has called it a bubble many times through their mainstream media channels. And those who think gold should be a standard are still trying to grasp what computers are. And at some point there will be somebody who shouts "Tulips!" almost in a Tourette syndrome like manner. What the Tulip bulb loving felow humans forget though is that the mania peak lasted less than half a year. While it is considered to be a total period of less than three years. Somewhere between 1634 and 1637. Cryptos have passed that long ago. It is almost like whishfull thinking. Rusted conservatism, from a certain point of view even understandable. Change can be scary sometimes. Especially when it is going at a fast pace.

These are times when many things seem to go at lightspeed. And even if we humans live much longer on average, it does often feel the other way around. So much to do, so little time and most of the time we are occupied by things we _must_do in order to enjoy things we like to do. When my dad finaly came to the age where he could retire, he died, killed by cancer. And that is the story of many. Sudden changes can be scary, a fast changing financial world can be frightning. Even though the one that has a monopoly is bad in many ways, it is the one most of us grew up with. And we have been tought that terms like inflation and devaluation are in the normal state of an economy, controled by banks. Just like an economical crisis, it is all perfectly normal, and change can hurt.

So it is prefered by many to take interest for grantage on money that gets created out off thin air, through debt. Simply because it is what we hear and see every time that this is how it should work. Well, by the ones who control it, but that is not important. But most of us just are caught up in doing their best to survive. And the do so in a system that does not give them the freedom to think about it too much. And then, at first, when Bitcoin gets ignored, only a few will understand what it is capable of. Then when it is being ridiculed, many laugh at it, because the mainstream media does. And then when it becomes to huge to cover it up, it will be made to look bad., followed by doom and disaster predicitions. Cryptos have been left for dead for as long since Bitcoin was born. And yet, in 2017 the final breakthrough came, where it still looks like it will go beyond belief.

The fear of the forkening.

Well, I have to admit, I did get caught up in the Bitcoin forking FUD {fear uncertainty and doubt} that had been spread. And now it has happened and there is Bitcoin Cash too, I wonder why there was so much fuzz about it. What I learned from that is that I will keep calm next time a blockchain split FUD is being spread. It is so easy to get caught up in it. Fear does that, it locks out logical thinking. Because when we are in fear, our grey matter is just a waste of energy. In order to survice only our animal part of our brain is needed, it uses way less energy. Freeze, flee and/or fight, the three Fs, that is basicly what it is about. And we humans can be manipulated into our animal instinct response. When I fall for it I do tend to get angry at myself, afterwards, but that is not good either. So I do my best to learn from the traps I got caught in.

Actually the Bitcoin Cash {BCH} developers did a clean blockchain split job. Even if I think that needing 2017 blocks before getting a lower difficulty will be very tough and take quite some time, they actually managed to pull it off. Where, what I call, Bitcoin Ultra {BCU}, the Bitshares variant, does seem to have a developement challenge right now to be able to make it happen. Yet, stranger things have happened, so even however it seems improbable, it is still possible. And as cryptos are a booming business, an alternative economical system, there might be room for one more Bitcoin type. For what I have seen so far in the cryptos realm has already blown my mind many times. Maybe EOS is still far away, but there are many other smart developers out there how could make Bitcoin Ultra real. Even if it takes a fork of Bitshares to make it so.

Talking about forks, how about Steem?

Some find it hard to accept, maybe there is some fear involved too in the idea that Steem can be forked into a new blockchain. This howerever is quite alright, it is what makes Free and Open Source projects fun. Without that there would not have been Litecoin, which is basicly a Bitcoin fork. There would not have been Bitshares and without that no Graphene, that became Chainbase for Steem. And that moved on to EOS. Then the argument will come at some point stating that Free and Open Source projects can not be monetized and is bad for competition. But when I hear that I wonder under what rock these people have been living since the 70s of the last century. Ever heard of Linux, Android, or just look at the current crytocurrency market. What do those fellow humans mean when they claim that there can be no money made in the Free and Open Source realm? Hello, welcome to 2017, where the blockchain cut out the intermediate.

Yes, so, Steem can be forked under its current MIT Open Source license. Any fork will have to be released under the same conditions. That also means that if a developement group that creates a fork of Steem has a brilliant idea, the Steem developers can port it back! If EOS can carry Steem and make it even better, than it will be moved onto that blockchain. It is all possible thanks to the Free and Open Source principle. Open Source means brilliant minds can have a look into a project too and add their smart to it. Maybe solving a challenge instantly and make it happen right away, for everybody to use. And if there is something that Steem can prove is that there is value to be made with a free and open source project. With a license that makes it possible for those who think it can be done better, or different, they can fork it and make it happen. It happened with Bitcoin, and that one did not do that bad, now did it?

Steem was the first one of its kind.

That can often be considered to be a head start in the Free and Open Source realm. It worked for Bitcoin, for Bitshares, for Ethereum, for Steem and it will for EOS. The competition, if it can be called that, has to catch up with the orginal. So, any fork of Steem needs to catch up on 1,5 years of growth and trust. Could it be done, maybe. Just look at Golos, that started as a licensed clone, right now it has build a user base for themselves. Also DPOS, Distributed Proof Of Stake, has its own userbase, with blockchain types that are using it. While POW, Proof Of Work, purists tend to dislike it a lot, but they have their own realm. It can all excist thanks to Bitcoin and the Free and Open Source licenses.

Steem is a one of a kind, blockchain blogging, that is what got me in. For me it introduced me to some new form of mining which I called Fruit Of Work {FOW}. It was so new and exciting to me, that I found it hard to believe it could work with a blockchain. Because I still was used to think in POW mining blocks, due to my involvement with Slothcoin. And that one was fast, 2.5 minutes per block, even for a Sloth, it could beat Bitcoin in speed, for times faster. The smart thing with Steem is DPOS, just like Bitshares, that makes it go like 3-2-1-DONE. One block, like a clock, every three seconds, that really blew my mind. And Steem proves it can be done, a social media platform on a blockchain. And it is way ahead of any possible competition, even if it gets forked, Steem is still way ahead. That is the advantage, also in the Free and Open Source realm, when a project is the first to be.

The forking frontier.

So here we are, enjoying the pleasures that have been given to us by the Free and Open Source community. And even more will come, because there will be new cryptos to be explored, to boldy go where no project has gone before. These are the voyages of the blockchain Steem. Even if it gets forked, it will be a new frontier. That will even advertise Steem some more, gain more attraction for it. Just like EOS does and will keep doing. There's a bright future ahead and it is a blockchain one. Encrypt!

Have a great one!

Let the forkening begin!

image cc-by-sa @oaldamster