It was brought to my attention by @ender, that including what the point of these posts are in each post would be beneficial to anyone reading them. I agree so will from no on include a brief summary of what these "Cryptogram" are at the top and bottom of each post.
For new readers:
Cryptogram is my personal journal of thoughts about cryptocurrencies and related topics. I am posting them on Steemit as a means of keeping a record of them. At the bottom of each post is brief summary of the general layout of this, and future posts. Thanks for reading.
My current thoughts are around decentralization, Ripple, Stellar Lumens, and the crypto bubble.
First - The state of the market:
With the rise of digital currencies that seem to lack any significant decentralization such as Ripple and Stellar Lumens, along with the jump of very promising projects, but just projects without any functioning product yet, it seems that the Crypto world has become inundated with money that is completely non-risk averse. By this i mean, it seems that coins are rising irrationally, unpredictably, and completely based on hype. Based on many things I have read on twitter and reddit, i am certainly not alone in this theory.
The value of truely decentralized crypto currency has been overlooked and eclipsed by the rapid price movement and the influx of money just trying to get in the door of the crypto market. For the last 2+ weeks, i have had friends waiting to be verified by exchanges to create and account and get their first dollar in play. Once they have accounts they scan coin market cap rapidly for the next coin to go up 100% or more in a day and buy some based on a quick scan of a website or maybe a recent news article they read saying that the new coin is the next big thing.
I don't know if the irrational exuberance in the cryptospace is bad, but it does seem to be drawing attention away from some of the solutions that solidly built decentralized block chains provide. My fear is that the crazy influx in of money in the space my actually delay good projects from making headway. OF course this may just be because my head is spinning from these crazy rises.
I do know that some i know have equated non-decentralized crypto currencies as a "gateway drug" to the crypto space. This is possible. i.e. ripple and stellar are a half step for people who are more comfortable if a giant bank name is slapped on the front. Once money enters the market in Stellar and Ripple, people now can experiment with other crypto currencies. Furthermore, as a gateway to alt coins. Because many have only ever heard of Bitcoin, or may Ethereum now, the rise of Ripple and its media attention, albeit sponsored or not, let people know that there is something else out there.
All in all, I think that the rapid rise of coins that don't represent a significant technological step forward is tenuous. These projects don't actually stand on sturdy ground. Meaning, when the bubble pops, there will be no safety in a coin that has no actual technological value. When it comes to bitcoin, it has weathered obituary after obituary due to the fact people believe in its technological value. I am sure, that not all these projects will be able to have the staying power that bitcoin does. (Check out this site, for the 225 and counting bitcoin obituaries.) https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoinobituaries/
Purpose of CryptoGram:
Currently in the crypto space it can be difficult to remember what you have discussed or been thinking from one week to the next. The rapid development of, and many changes in the space keep everyone on their toes. Now that I have been financially involved in the space for roughly a year, I realize that I would love to have my thoughts from 2017 written down somewhere. I believe having this information will help me stay focused, avoid repeating past mistakes, and hopefully help some other people, (anyone who decides to read this,) from making those same mistakes.
Briefly, I need a place to record my train of thought and that place will now be dubbed "CryptoGram"
My initial thoughts on the structure of this post will be:
- about 500 words
- frequency of once a day to once a week
- each post will have a number and date
- snippet of top 5 cmc coins for price reference.
- i will always use tags bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum cryptogram libertyhound (unless of course there are drastic changes, but for now these will be the tags