About 35 years ago we ran into a problem. Technology was forcing music to become digitized. At first, CDs were invented and we were basically forced to either buy the latest release on CD—which also required the purchase of a CD Player—or continue buying our music on vinyl or cassettes. As soon as the improvement in technology became clear, so did our choice.
The same situation reared its head again when technology evolved from CDs to streaming. Would we continue to buy a single album at a time, whether physically or online, or would we pay a membership fee to access libraries of music? Pretty obvious what we've chosen.
The same could be said for film, phones, photographs and video. Entire industries have transformed in front of our eyes and we've all adapted their products into our normal function of life. Entire generations have never taken a roll of film to be developed, have never listened to a cassette tape or 8-track, and will be completely unfamiliar with the concept of renting a video at a Blockbuster.
Which brings us to our current situation: a new technology has been invented that will redefine financial currencies which will, in turn, transform the entire financial system. Digital Currencies. All the money in the world can now be digitized. If we look back on so many things that have had a digital evolution, it becomes clear where we are headed but...how do we get there?
The truth is, it doesn't really matter to the average person. For the unaware, this transformation of the global financial system will never be noticed. People will continue to use money as they always have, never realizing that the structures supporting it and the railways they run on are now the hyperspeed equivalent of having a movie stream to your living room. Most people will only care about the end result. Most people don't care how the meal is prepared, they just want to devour it. The music of Led Zeppelin has gone through the evolution of Vinyl, 8-Track, CD, and now streaming but no one really cares because the song literally remains the same.
I write this as a final chance to make a few more people aware of what is happening. I don't know if this will be a good or bad thing but it will happen either way. The wheels have been in motion for a long time and we've reached a speed of acceleration which makes stopping it an impossibility.
In each instance of industrial evolution, a few people made a lot of money. When film became available on VHS, the companies that made VHS players, the cassettes, the retailers, and the licensing firms all made tons of money. Same goes for music. The repackaging and redistribution of the same product in a different form allowed a select group to get rich many times over.
So, how will that happen now? Our current problem is that all the money in the world will need to be digitized. A secondary problem will be getting everyone in the world on board this system since the financial system cannot work without the inclusion of every single person on the planet. I would venture to guess that this "problem" may have been created with a solution already in mind. The ones who stand to gain the most are keeping their mouths shut. In my opinion they are purposefully misdirecting the masses. But that is another discussion. In the meantime, awareness may lead to opportunity, possibly an opportunity on a scale which could never be imagined.
So what are you gonna do?
I can tell you what I've been doing.
I've done my best to familiarize myself with blockchain technology, the underlying tech which is the foundation of this new system. My understanding is rudimentary at best, yet I can see why it will be the next step we will all be taking together. Your level of participation will be left for you to decide. I won't be going into details but I can give a very brief overview of my understanding of it and what I believe to be true.
The goal is to send value in the same way we send email. Writing a letter, stamping, going to the post office and waiting 2–3 days for delivery as compared to email is the equivalent of going to the bank, initiating a wire transaction, paying a fee, waiting for the money to get to it's destination in 2–3 days as compared to sending that value as quickly as an email. Quicker, faster, cheaper will always win. We can send a photo of a $20 bill instantly so now imagine if we can actually send the value of that same $20 just as quick. It is already familiar to us. We use many pay apps like PayPal and Venmo to transact the dollar within their respective ecosystems but just imagine it on a global scale, for huge sums of money, for incredibly cheap and even more secure.
As I stated earlier, most of us won't see any difference. We will go along thinking that it is the latest version of a pay app without realizing that the system is working at the foundational level of the Central Banks of the world. When the central banks have the ability to move money across borders the way we send money through Venmo the game will have changed forever. Most people won't care nor take the time to try and understand it. It will affect us directly although most of us will never realize how profoundly transformational it all is. Imagine the world without internet. We will be saying the same in a few years about the Internet of Value.
I am clearly not a financial advisor of any kind but I do have common sense. In the end, as with all things, the coins (by coins, I mean cryptocurrency) with the most security, the most efficiency, and most importantly, the ones which are adopted by the financial institutions, retailers, and niche industries will be the clear cut winners. The regulatory boards are working now to define what these coins are and how they will be used. Once regulatory clarity happens we will see a slew of coins disappear as only the ones which have actual utility will remain. It won't be one coin. That would be like saying the internet will have one website. Amazon and Google have remained from the early days of the Internet but I can barely remember all of the others which have disappeared. The same will happen with the over 7,000 cryptocurrencies out there.
The obvious big name in Crypto is Bitcoin. I advise that you look into it because it will probably be around for awhile. But you will probably encounter why it is unlikely to be the currency used in daily transactions. We can't be sure which ones it will be but there are a few that seem to be keeping very intriguing company. I don't want to give any recommendations, I don't want to spend, much less lose, anyone's money. What I can do is steer you towards some research.
I believe the company Ripple will be a big influence in creating the infrastructure of this system. In fact, they've already been at it for a number of years. Ripple is oftentimes confused with their coin of preference - XRP. To be clear, Ripple is a private company while XRP is a decentralized coin. The two are separate although they are intertwined in many ways. XRP seems to be a very strong contender to be important, if not the most important, among the current field. I would recommend starting here but just know that there are many others with very interesting uses in mind.
My perspective on obtaining cryptocurrencies is not that I'm buying but rather that I am digitizing my analog money. My hope is that I can determine which digital currencies will be among the ones which will be widely used in our not-too-distant future. It is speculative and of course there is risk but we are here early and that, to me, is exciting.
On an individual level, all I can do is protect myself. I don't know where this will lead. It may be terrible for mankind or it may level the financial playing field so that we can all participate in a way in which we never could before. This leveling may be similar to how anyone can make a Youtube channel or the way professional music can be recorded on a laptop without the need of a studio. I cannot predict what the ingenuity of people will bring us when they have these new tools in their hands. What I can do is look for my opportunity to participate, be involved and to be ready for the future.
We as a community, as a people, are at the threshold of major changes. All we can do is communicate, educate, and inform each other.
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