Make or break time in crypto

I don't know who you are or what you do, I can only speak for myself.

Over the last two plus years, I have been working with crypto and Blockchain in various ways and while it hasn't always been an easy road, I have successfully managed it literally, day in and day out. I haven't missed a day of work since mid-2017 and if I was to calculate all of the hours I have poured in, the value in US dollars per hour would be hysterically low. If I was to sell all of my holdings now, I would make around 6 months of a Finnish average salary; I could have easily got a second job and spent less time and effort and bought in more than all the crypto I currently own.

Do you know why I italicized "own"? It is is because the work I have put into the blockchain industry is mine and all that I have written is mine also. If I had been working for someone else and buying into crypto - I would be more a speculator, not an owner. While still digital, my content has added tangible mass and value to the entire crypto industry and the economy it is to become, which is something significant that many people overlook when it comes to participation through contribution.

But, even if I did have available funds to buy crypto instead of earn crypto, would I have bought? I would say it is highly unlikely because if most people who could would, the market cap would be in the many trillions already. Why don't they just buy? Because they haven't built the understanding of where this is all going yet, they don't trust it - they value the current fiat value more than the future value of crypto.

This is the funny thing when it comes to people who have even the slightest amount of disposable income, as if they really believed that there was a future in crypto, they would not have that disposable income at all, as it would be allocated. Of course, there is the need for risk management but, if the risk is investing 5 dollars into crypto or a Starbucks Latte, the choice should be pretty easy which one has the higher risk of loss as, the coffee returns nothing past a caffeine fix.

While the hourly rate is laughable, the thing is that I can't go back in time knowing what I know now and put down 1000 euros on 7 cent Steem or hold or sell the various wins and losses I have made. However, I do hold crypto at the moment and I do not plan on selling it anytime soon. For those that understand that I should have bought more low, sold more high and bought back low - how many of them hold as much Steem as I and, how many are willing and able to put 18 thousand US dollars into buying to the same level? Not many I bet. Those that are and can - already have.

What this means is that even though I have made many mistakes along the way when it comes to the economics of it, I still hold significantly more than not only most people in crypto but, nearly everyone on earth. As prices continue to climb and I continue to accumulate coins via earning and buying in, if the industry does go big, there will be very few people on earth that will be able to buy the value of my holdings.

What does that mean?

Well, it means that while what I hold now is laughable if related to an hourly wage over the last 2+ years, in the future these 2+ years could not only be of an incredibly high value in relation to my own current earnings, they will be high in relation to most people's earning at a global level, no matter what country they come from.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median wage for workers in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $857 per week or $44,564 per year for a 40-hour workweek. Wages were 0.9 percent higher than at the same date for the previous year. source

How much of that $44,564 is disposable income that can be spent on investment? 10%? that means if all things remain equal with prices, it would take the average US earner about 5 years to be able to buy in at the level I hold and that wouldn't leave them much breathing room for much else. Yet, I have been able to get that same hold in a little over two years as I haven't had to worry about the disposable income bit and, I don't mind working weekends and public holidays in crypto. If Steem hits its ATH of 8.30 again one day, it will mean that the 43,000 Steem I hold will have a value of $356,900 dollars or, 8.1 years of the US average salary.

What this means is that the last two years of laughable hourly value would be 4x the average US salary per year and I haven't had to use any of it on living expenses, food, entertainment. Even after tax, that is a pretty interesting amount of value generated through my production and interaction. In my books, that is energy well spent toward an investment considering that for the most part, I wasn't able to buy in during most of that time.

Wages were 0.9 percent higher than at the same date for the previous year.

Then there is this bit of the paragraph above as if we did look at this as a wage, What is the increase in earning if it goes 10x, 20x? What is the inflation rate? What will the inflation rate of fiat be if suddenly a mass of people with billions of dollars can start demanding goods and services with crypto? - Another thing to think about for the future. When there was a mining boom in Australia some years back, the disposable income on average skyrocketed but, it was in a narrow selection of people. It still drove housing prices and living costs up meaning while some could afford, the real average struggled heavily.

As I see it, there are going to be two forces working to break fiat, one is the sheer fragility of it now due to mismanagement and greed, the second is the external value of crypto wealth applying demand pressure on goods and services with value "out of thin air". Your crypto value is soon going to be an economic tool that affects the status quo of supply and demand and if there comes a point that a person will rather sell their house for Bitcoin than Euro due to stability of value - centralized currencies are in trouble.

As said, I can only talk from my own experience in the crypto world so far and there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding so many factors but, I am taking the chance that the time spent and the holdings gathered to own are going to be more financially valuable than the other things I have done in the last two years - and most likely, the last ten.

if it all breaks up and becomes dust, that is the same risk I faced when I started my business and every relationship I have ever been part of. If you aren't willing to invest time, money, effort because of the fear of loss - how are you alive and, what kind of life is that, as everything carries associated risks.

Willing and able...
Most aren't.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]