Whether it's short or long term as an investor you're interested in getting more out of the investment than you put in. Maybe your crypto investment will be worth more in a month than it is today. Maybe your investment will lose value in a year. Risk is part of the game. What if no matter which way the price goes your investment objectively makes the world better? Since you live in the world there would still be some indirect benefit to you even if you lose some of your investment's value.
One of the biggest factors that has made living standards for the average human being better over the last few hundred years is scientific progress. Understanding how the world works has allowed humanity to make better choices, tools, products, ect.
Having scientific knowledge is almost like having a superpower. Think about your favorite superhero's alter ego and you'll probably notice that they're well versed in science: Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and I assume whomever that Batman vigilante is based on how often my hologram-themed capers get thwarted.
The point is that the increase in available scientific knowledge has made the world better now than it was in the past and it can be reasonably inferred that continuing that trend will make the future better than it is now.
Gridcoin shares many similar features with other cryptocurrencies that you may already be familiar with:
- Open Source
- Peer-to-Peer transactions recorded on a blockchain
- Proof-of-Stake/Proof-of-Work (a.K.a "Proof-of-Research")
- Mineable
O.K. You go to an exchange and buy some GRC. So what? That gridcoin exists on a blockchain. At some point that gridcoin was generated to reward computer power that was used to process data for a project engaged in scientific research. Your investment in GRC helps to incentivize computing resources directed toward increasing and advancing scientific knowledge.
A full list of projects with their goals can be found on the official whitelist:
https://gridcoin.us/guides/whitelist.htm
At the very least you should be investing in GRC to support Asteroids@home. What good is your other sh@$coin investment if there is a huge rock with a "Humans are the Next Dinosaurs" sign on it heading toward Earth? Is DOGE gonna get some astronomical numbers crunched so NASA can get a heads up and assemble a team of misfits for a mission to blow up the big bad rock?
Asterisk post title: Sometimes something discovered by a scientist in a certain field of research can be adapted for a different purpose in a separate field. Maybe understanding protein folding better may lead to self-replicating nanobots or transhumanist shapeshifting ability. Maybe scientists could use that biological simulation modeling to figure out Time Lord regeneration. Maybe finding a new pulsar could lead to warp drive. It could happen.
You can hold all of that GRC in your wallet or you can stake it to earn some more sweet GRC. Mining can be done on your computer or some mining of GRC can be done on a Raspberry Pi.
A gridcoin mining pool is also available through grcpool.com.
Image Source: grcpool.com