It's a day of red today on the Cryptosphere.

All the coins are tanking in prices in the aftermath of Trump's tweets and Facebook's brakes.

Where shall we start?

About a year back, with the help of a financially-savvy friend, I began my journey into Cryptocurrencies. I started with a small purchase of Bitcoin - a meager sum that is laughable as an investment. This was during the great dip in prices after the initial rocket bulls of late 2017. I did not know if this investment would pay off and I definitely only barely understood the technology behind bitcoin. With such little knowledge, most would say I was gambling at that point of time.

Gambling is a term filled with socially-negative implications. When we think of gambling we think of a person pitting resources against undesirably insane odds in hopes of multiplying said resources. I did not felt that way back then and I still do not till now.

I first chanced upon Bitcoin when I was in university. I saw a video being shared online and was intrigued at both how a person was able to buy an item using a digital currency and also how a merchant was willing to accept said currency. The idea seemed dubious. It was ludicrous to fathom why these individuals were willing to put value in a seemingly valueless commodity. I asked my peers if they could explain to me the concept of mining and was met with even more puzzlement. I did not see logic at how graphics processors could solve "math problems" and how the owners of said devices could be rewarded with bitcoins upon successful completion of said problems. IT MADE NO SENSE. A single bitcoin at that point was worth a couple of hundred dollars and for an unemployed student, that seemed like good hotpot money that I would not waste on electrical money.

Fast forward to 2017 and I truly felt the weight of ignorance of my past. 

Don't get me wrong, there is no certainty in cryptocurrencies. It's volatility and unpredictability will definitely coax most to steer clear (or convince the brave/foolish to dance in its erratic nature) . I have friends in the banking/finance industry that will openly proclaim that crypto is a fake currency made out of thin air - and maybe they're right. But who is to say what's real and what is not? 

Here is my take on crypto.

Having been battered by my past failure to comprehend this technology, I sought again for answers on this emerging technology. The term DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY (DLT) was what kick-started my understanding. You see, in the past, the term 'blockchain' was thrown around a lot and the idea never really stuck to me. DLT on the other hand was way more direct in portraying what it was. DLT as it suggests meant that there were multiple ledgers to be held at multiple locations, this then pulled in the idea of nodes and the term 'decentralization' and with that, I could finally get a gentle grasp on how the technology would work. Suddenly 'mining' made sense.

Having understood the basics of what made crypto worked, I pondered on the value of crypto. Why would this digital asset be worth anything in the real world? This idea spiraled into ' Why does anything have value?'. 

Having lived most of our lives with FIAT currencies, I would think it would make little sense as to why anything else would hold value. Even when we were in schools, the fictional characters in our math problems bought groceries with dollar$ even though we would sometimes solve the problems with algebraic 'X' and 'Y'. You see, that's the idea which I am pitting my money on. I am pitting my money on X having a certain value, and with that, 2X will have twice the value and 0.75X is worth 25% less than a full X. If the current value of 1X is worth a can of Coca Cola in Singapore, I would like a person in Zimbabwe to be able to purchase a can of Coca Cola there for 1X as well. Of course, given the demand and supply of different areas, a can on Coca Cola could be worth 1.2X in Zimbabwe but the beauty is not in the difference in price but in the shared universal currency that is X.

It is, however, only possible if all users of the system puts trust in it. What this means is X is only worth anything if we all collectively say it is worth something. It is like how we put value in gold (albeit an outdated idea) or how we put value in the USD. These things are worth something only because we collectively say they do. At some point of time, banana notes issued by the Japanese government held value simply because they said it did and nobody else could safely say otherwise and with that reign over, there is no more 'real' value in the notes in present day. It is quite frightening to think that the FIAT money we hold in our banks and use for most of our transactions might some day be outdated like banana money and I personally feel that this is one reason why there is a strong resistance against the adoption of crypto. If we had no more use for banks, the landscape of finance might evolve to a point where our current ideas of money would be obsolete.

Rock money, gold coins and ingots have traded place for coins and notes and we are slowly(?) moving towards another era of money. I am not saying Bitcoin, Libra or any cryptocurrency would definitely take over FIAT but the idea behind such value-storing devices would definitely solve a multitude of problems that are evident in our current monies. Cryptocurrencies definitely have a long way to go before user adoption in a larger scale can be implemented and new problems are emerging everyday with ridiculous issue like hacking of exchanges and 'losing' of coins. Hell, crypto might become banana money tomorrow for all we know.

No, I do not think the world is necessarily ready for crypto. I'm guessing the governments and financial institutions are tirelessly scrambling to figure a way (if they have not already) to get a foothold in such a currency. *conspiracy warning* And I believe they will try every way possible to dissuade adoption of any form of decentralized system that they would find hard to control. 

HODL. That's what I'm doing. When I went into this I knew I might lose everything I put in for what some would call a gamble. No, I am not sure what would happen in the next few months or years but I am staking my small amount of 'investment' in a technology I truly believe will gain traction in the next decade or so (yes, ten years is my goal LOL). My god, we have come so far in these past few years that we are now able to order food and transportation through our phones. Why would money, a commodity used so frequently by so many, not be put through the same process of evolution?

RED IS GO, GREEN IS STOP. 

BUY LOW, SELL HIGH AND TAKE WHAT YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN.

Have a rich life y'all!