I'm a little embarrassed. I admit to perhaps one of the greatest sins of my generation. I've succumbed, like a fly attracted to a gargantuan porch lamp, to the insanity that is the modern day equivalent of the 1849 gold rush.
I speak of cryptocurrency, and it, like many other get rich quick schemes carries with it a certain allure. The ability to beat the system. To set yourself free of a system you didn't help create, and one you'll be damned sure that will be here when we die. I tried my hand at mining cryptocoins, buying and selling ridiculous "shit" coins, and I even became a HODLER. I even signed up for the reddit group of the same name.
You should check it out. The community is hilarious.
I digress, like I said in the headline I think I figured out cryptocurrency and it all stems from the human want and need of freedom. However, the more I poured over the numbers of the various exchanges I signed up to, the more I heard stories of people cashing in or who had become rich, the more I thought I could free myself. As if I were Neo from the Matrix and I could just wake up from the system.
But goddamnit, I am the system. The system is in me. It's my greed to make quick cash off the Blockchain. Except, unlike a mountain calling for us in the distance, the Blockchain Goldmine isn't real. It's made out of 1's and 0's and it represents a community of people who, like myself, strive for change in their lives.
I once read that Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, isn't in it for the money. Cryptocurrency is supposed to better everyone's lives. I realize that owning and operating a Lambo just by getting lucky and investing in a coin that moons sounds alluring but what does that get us?
You know what is better than mooning your way to a Lambo? Having a good chuckle. Keeping in touch with your friends. Living a life worth meaning. You know how they say money doesn't buy happiness? Well they're right.
I don't know about you lads, but I'm going to concentrate on filling my life with value again. Sure, maybe I suck at this cryptocurrency game, but at least I still have a sense of humor. I wouldn't trade that for the all the Blockchains in the world.