On this day, exactly one year ago Bitcoin lost $3k of its value and went from $16k to $13k in less than 48 hours. On this day, exactly one year ago my family and friends told me that things are going south and that I am losing my sanity if I believe in a Ponzi scheme. To be honest, they almost got me. As the price started sliding down I had a feeling that the whole industry is going down towards a slow and painful death. Everything indicated that my family and friends are right until cryptocurrency completely changed my life and my personal views.
As most of you who follow me here know, I am a freelancer that makes a living from marketing and occasional writing. In January I got an invitation to help a small ICO with marketing and some blog posts. They offered me crypto as payment and I refused because I needed cash and I needed it fast. I also couldn't understand why would anyone invest money and time in an industry that is clearly going to die by the end of the year. It was a simple gig that lasted for about two months and nothing out of the ordinary. I completed my job and the CEO of this new crypto startup wanted to have a chat with me before we ended the contract. It was the most fulfilling moment of my "career".
During the call, this guy thanked me for all my work and told me that there will probably be room for more cooperation in the future. I had to ask what is his view on the future of crypto and how is he not worried about the price drop. Here is the answer I got:
I don't know how familiar you are with innovative technologies and I also don't know if you fully understand the power of blockchain tech. Don't worry, it took me a while to understand it as well. What we are doing here at our small office probably won't change the world but it will definitely be a part of this big change that is coming. During this whole December craze, people were too busy looking at the numbers while completely ignoring the state the whole industry is in. If you look at it from another perspective you could say that cryptocurrency is currently an infant that needs to learn how to walk and talk. We, the developers are the only people who can provide such care but we need time. I can't say that the market will go up or down from here but what I can say is that crypto is not ready for the masses and the use cases are very limited at this time. Once you see institutions showing interest in our products you can be sure that our infant started walking but that is just the beginning. If you want a realistic advice, invest what you are willing to lose and be patient. The "long run" everyone mentions so often is a lot longer than you think.
The call was ended shortly after that and I was left staring at the mining rig that I overpaid in January. At that very moment, I realized that I wasn't in it for the long run... I was in it for the money that went to someone else's hands. How dumb could I have been.
During this whole year, I have been working with crypto startups and established names in the industry. I don't take jobs outside of crypto and I gladly accept crypto payments because I am now convinced that we are all lucky to be a part of something huge. When I talk to the people I work with I always notice the passion they have for this whole industry. These people believe in something and are working their asses off so we could all have a better future without central authorities and thugs that are grabbing every penny they can just because we have no other options. These are the people that are leading an industrial revolution that we can't see because we are all blinded with the red charts and prices that represent absolutely nothing at this time. The only thing we can be sure of is that our infant is slowly starting to walk...
I know that it is hard to believe it but all those people who were telling me that I am losing my sanity will be using crypto in 5, 10 or 20 years. The only reason they don't use it now is because they don't understand it and they don't want to create wallets that have private keys and long strings of letters and numbers representing something they can't comprehend. What they want is an app that has two simple functions - send and receive. They don't want to know what the number of confirmations means and they don't want to know what is powering the app. They want cheap and easy transactions. This is something that the crypto industry can't provide to the masses right now. They will be glad to change their bank for an app that provides the same services with lower costs and almost free transactions but they don't trust that app just yet because that app looks like something that came out of the 90's. The masses want a convenient user experience along with a sense of security. Again, this is something that the crypto industry can't provide right now.
You might be wondering why am I telling you all of this? Well, if you are reading this I will take a wild guess that you didn't capitulate just yet. I also know that your investment is down by 50 or even 99 percent. You, just like me, put your money into an idea that isn't working out as you would like it to. I am telling you all of this because it took me a while to realize that on this day, exactly one year ago I didn't even notice that my family and friends had no idea what a Ponzi scheme is. I am telling you all of this because I know that you are all surrounded by people who still think the same as my family and friends but have no understanding how big of a deal this whole industry is. Since we are on the same boat I just want to ask you one question. When you said that you are in it for the long run, did you really mean it?