Breaking Blocks

This is part 1 of a series which I'll continue based on user response. My intent is to get more people to adapt blockchain as a way of life, encourage newbies to trade in crypto currencies and get folks into steem. So please consider sharing this outside of steem as well. Please comment or message me your feedback.

It was only Tuesday afternoon, yet it seemed like a pretty long week. Everyday existence seemed like a mountain to climb... for someone who hated the climb; and it had to be done without safety harness or a rope! Mikel decided to take a break and hit the café nearby. At least he would get to hear a few quirky conversations.

He took his brand-new cell phone and headed down the stairs. It was nothing fancy, but Serendipity was in walking distance of his office. It was usually pretty busy any time of the day, being the only decent café in the vicinity, but today definitely seemed like a dull day for any business!

He walked past two men, who were in the middle of some heated discussion. Mikel recognized Martin who lived in the same apartment as himself. Martin, he remembered, was a staff at a local university, that was not very far from the café. He smiled and walked past.

The corner table had a nice view overlooking the canal. But it could not entertain him for too long. The new mobile seemed pretty inviting. He started browsing his favourite news app. The place did offer free Wi-Fi after all 😏

The news for the day was nothing extraordinary. In fact, it seemed like the whole world was about to wrap itself into slumber. The lull was spread all over! He switched over to the finance section.

“A Bitcoin! What the hell is that?” he murmured. “Why is this even news?” It took a few minutes, but he recollected. “Isn’t that a currency that is used for all the shady stuff in the internet? So why on earth are the Nasdaq okaying it. What’s going on?!”

“But we are not cutting a profit anymore Rick!” the conversation between his neighbour and the other guy was getting loud. It was not like the café was bursting with activity, anyhow; even whispers seemed to echo and those two were definitely not holding back. “Our equipment is burning more fuel than the money it earns for us. We have got to start looking at the alt-coins.”

“No. I would rather keep mining Bitcoin; at least that’s getting accepted everywhere. Otherwise, we have to start all over; the alt-coin won’t even share the same algo remember! Even if we do manage to mine something else, where do we exchange it? What about Jen & Chris? Are they with you as well? Remember we need everyone to agree to any change to our setup. This is a big decision to make so quickly Martin.”

“Yeah. Guess it is. But it’s not like we are bust! Let us get another rig & get going. What is stopping us from doing that? Are you in for that? Let us look at the profits after two months and take a call.”

That seemed to have settled it. Well at least the noise quietened a bit after that. Mikel could not contemplate that a  faculty member of a reputed local university was dealing with shady underground stuff! It took a while before the other guy left. Martin fervently waved Mikel over.

“Hey Mikel. Good to see you mate. Sorry about my manners. Thought of calling you over, but it was business meeting you see” he smiled.

“Yeah! I sensed that. So, is it all cool now? Seemed pretty heated over here. Couldn’t help over-hearing - you are into mining now? Thought you were a lecturer or something?”

“Oh no! you got it wrong mate” Martin seemed humoured.

Mikel smiled uncomfortably. “Oh sorry! Wasn’t my business anyway”.

“Nah. That’s okay mate. I am still a prof at the Claymore university. I work with the Applied Crypto and Computer Security group. And for the record, you got the mining part right. I mine Bitcoins, you see.” Martin carried on.

“You mine coins?” Mikel blurted out. “You mean real digging and stuff?”

Martin was definitely controlling a laugh. “That was a good one!“ but then his smile faded when he realized Mikel was being sincere.

“Dude, I hope you have at least heard about bitcoins.”

“Yeah and that part worries me even more than the mining part. Isn’t that shady… I meant risky?” Mikel stammered.

“Gosh! You really don’t know anything about crypto currency market then?”

There was a pause but that was good enough answer.

“Do one thing. Let’s catch up tomorrow night… No wait can’t do, tomorrow. Make it Thursday at 7, my place okay. I will explain you in more detail. Meanwhile, why don’t you Google up or just go to forums like bitcointalk and get more some idea about this currency? I got a lecture to give. It’s terribly boring, something about Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. I am sure you can skip that.” Martin smiled and got up.

Mikel shook hands and watched as Martin ran over to the cashier. He walked behind him a bit dumbfounded. Clearly, he was missing the beat!

Just when he was about to pay his bill, he noticed the bold-new sign at the cash counter.

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