We are witnessing some very interesting times in the crypto-sphere. Things are changing at a rapid pace. Perhaps it is simply the state of progression that was laid down over the last few years. Nevertheless, it does appear we are moving closer to validation for all that we posted about.
Cryptocurrency is getting a lot more mainstream attention. Of late, we saw the FUD kicked up into overdrive. Obviously, many of us feel this is by design. It is not a stretch to believe the cryptocurrency markets are heavily manipulated. As Wall Street entered, we all knew their marketing machine would follow. This results in the narrative going out based upon what they want the markets to do.
Simply put, with a market that peaked at $2.25 trillion, this is a small eddy for them to stimulate.
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However, in spite of the FUD we are seeing a lot of things that could be signs of a massive paradigm shift. This could be validating what many of us were saying all along.
El Salvador Bitcoin Validation
By now, most are aware that the President of El Salvador came out and said the country was going to make Bitcoin legal tender. This was followed up by a vote that passed by super majority. Ultimately, this make it law in El Salvador that Bitcoin became legal tender and had to be accepted within the country.
This, of course, brought out the FUD against that country. It even instigated a visit from the people at the IMF. Naturally, the international banking system does not like this arrangement.
The latest action is an airdrop. Each citizen that signs up for a state sponsored wallet will get $30 worth of Bitcoin. This is being done to promote the new currency while also teaching people how to utilize it.
We even see this coupled with the idea of installing Bitcoin ATMs in the country. Articles are citing that the country has decided to install 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs throughout the nation.
Anyone who looks at this situation rather objectively knows it is a big deal. This is one of those times that will be marked in history. We will look back on this period as one that was a turning point that changed things completely. It is not the totality of what is coming but it does set a lot of things in motion.
Government Validation
Governments are falling on both sides of the equation. This is one of the most fascinating aspects to all of this. In fact, some keep flip-flopping which side they are on.
China gets a ton of headlines for obvious reasons. The banning of Bitcoin mining is at the top of the list of late. That sent shockwaves throughout the entire industry. There were visible results of this move as the Bitcoin hashrate plummeted.
Fortunately, this is likely to be a temporary condition as the miners are being moved elsewhere.
Governments all over the world are jumping at the change to appeal to these mining operations. The abovementioned El Salvador has offered renewable geo-thermal energy to miners.
We also see a host of other governments, mostly local, that are trying to lure the Chinese to their areas. Mayor Suarez, one of the most outspoken cryptocurrency advocates in the United States right now has publicly stated how welcome the mining operations would be.
At the same time, we see a number of states starting to pass legislation that recognized different aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrency. For example, Wyoming established the DAO as a legal entity within its state.
Then we have Nigeria and India. These two countries make the list because their governments are the kings of flip-flopping. It seems each week there is a new announcement regarding their stance on cryptocurrency. Sometimes it is embracing while others not so friendly.
The key here is that they honestly have no idea which direction to go in. The back and forth shows they realize this is a threat yet it is also an opportunity. Whereas it could chip into their local power, it is of benefit on the global stage. This puts the political leadership in quite a position. For the moment, they are unsure how to resolve this conflict.
McCourt Validation
Frank McCourt is best known to most in the United States as the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Major League Baseball). Actually, to many it was his forced selling of the team due to the proceedings during his divorce case that got the headlines. Most do not realize he made his fortune as a real estate mogul.
It was announced that McCourt is going to invest $100 million into the development of a Facebook alternative that is built on blockchain. This is done in an attempt to decentralize people's data.
Many on Hive will take notice of this. It is a validation of what we have stated for years about owning one's account and being able to post on an immutable blockchain. It is too early to tell what McCourt's project will look like. We also have no idea what the second layer will look like. Essentially, we could see a decentralization of the data at the base layer but the actual application has the ability to close down accounts and remove individual posts.
Either way, it does highlight the issue people see out there. As we progress forward, this can be viewed as an incremental step forward. It might not solve the issue, depending upon what is built, but it does alert more people to what is taking place.
That is opening up the door for those applications that are built upon permissionless, immutable blockchains. Hive could be well positioned to take advantage of this.
For the last few years, many discussed the idea of these things coming into being. It was foreseen that this would eventually happen, it was only a matter of time.
Of course, those who were making these claims were framed as lunatics espousing nothing but nonsense. Presently, it doesn't look so much like nonsense.
The reality is that cryptocurrency is being validated all over the place. We could say it really kicked into gear with Michael Saylor buying Bitcoin for Microstrategy. That set off one wave which was followed up by others.
It is a process that we should expect to continue. The only thing we have to do is to keep building.
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