Musings On Crypto's Cambrian Explosion

Cambrian Explosion.png

We are in the midst of yet another Cambrian explosion; only this time, unlike the original one around half a billion years ago, it is cryptocurrency and not living organisms that are propagating with wild abandon across the globe.

October 2014 is personally significant, as that is the period of time when I bought my first Bitcoin. Back then I simply used it to get a 33% discount on a product I was buying online.

However @bleepcoin's advice to me, to save some of the Bitcoin I was buying and to acquire more cryptos, seeped treacle like, slowly oozing its way through my brain for approximately 18 months until not long before the advent of Steemit.

Aha!

That was my lightbulb moment, the point at which I understood the benefit of immersing myself in the world of crypto. It is a point in time that will be forever dear to me as it signifies my joining the cryptorevolution.

When I think back to that almost forgotten, magical and misty time (March[ish] 2016), I remember that there was only one crypto worth more than a dollar, and that was Bitcoin itself.

Explosion

Shortly before Steemit, I remember hanging out in a Doge chatroom that Bleep had introduced me to. I felt priviliged to be part of this unseen subculture that was developing and growing in front of my very eyes.

Whilst I don't recall all of the terms and lingo that the inhabitants of the Doge chat were using. One in particular sticks in mind.

To The Moon!

Going to the moon was the term the Dogers used to describe the journey towards the 1-for-1 moment. The point at which one Dogecoin, would be worth one US Dollar.

Getting to the moon, not just for Dogers, was thought of as a significant point, because it would prove to all participants and observers, that cryptocurrency was not only here to stay, but here to play a major part in the unfolding economic history of the human race.

Then Along Came Eth

If my memory serves me correctly, it was Ethereum that was to be the first moonshot coin. The young upstart of a coin offered itself through a then unheard of Initial Coin Offering and promptly jumped to a dollar and beyond.

Who was this young upstart; this ne'er do well? I asked myself? How dare it think itself more worthy than the mighty US Dollar? It was this kind of attitude that saw me miss out on an opportunity to obtain Eth at a price that would by now, have made me a very rich man.

Now of course we have dozens of cryptos that will cost you more than a buck to acquire a single one, so now the moon is perhaps $100, or maybe even $1000. Perhaps now it is the sun we are shooting for.

What Gives?

So seeing as we are part of this living breathing historical moment, it probably pays to analyse and ponder the question; why now?.

What has happened, or is happening to explain the explosion in value that we are experiencing right now?

Back in the day, we saw umpteen coins jump into existence, reach the height of mere pennies, and then disappear back to zero.

It seems those times have passed, and my question is why; what gives? Is it merely an adoption issue? As in the more people who accept there is value in crypto, the higher the value soars?

Or perhaps it is the tipping point of global hyper-inflation of fiat currencies that are based on debt and war?

Or maybe a combination of these factors and others yet unseen . . .

WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHY ARE WE EXPERIENCING THIS CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION? IS THIS THE GOLDEN ERA, OR IS THERE MORE TO COME? JOIN ME IN MY MUSINGS AND LET ME KNOW BELOW WHAT YOU THINK.

Cryptogee

Sort:  

Haha... Joining steemit yesterday, is the lightbulb moment for me. Have gained amazing knowledge on crypto here. To a memorable 2018 crypto year!

Upvoted and followed. Cheers

Indeed, it won't be long before people are saying to you, you're so lucky you joined Steemit early!

Welcome to the platform, Steem on!

Cg

Thanks for the post! Personally, I think one huge reason for the current growth rates is mistrust. People do not tryst centralised systems, so are pumping money in to cryptos.

As well as that, I think the benefits of cryptos are being somewhat realised now. There is still a long way to go before this technology is universally understood and implemented in the best ways - thus I think there is a lot of room to grow!

Awesome post. Lets get it. 2018 ganna be the year to remember in crypto market.

Nice post beautiful presented and explained. detail oriented with nice information. thank you for sharing this with us, Upvoted

If you mind checking out my blog @cryptogee for latest posts and updats, Thank you

As I see it, the main thing that happened is that there was a slow process of adoption of crypto by more tech related people, the value rised, thus more attention was gained, fortune seeker began investing, and than the media started paying attention. The majority of people are afraid of new things but as the crypto is now old enough and lucrative in many cases most people do not worry to invest nowadays.

I see a future of implamantation of crypto to real life- buying things with it, replacing banks, replacing facebook(steem anybody?). I see a bright future!

Yes perhaps that's it, before ICOs we were just tech people and anarchists, now there is mass adoption driving the market.

Cg

What a good simile! I totally agree...

Nice post ,i hope such informations, good luck my friend

You are so lucky to have followed the advice that was given you back them to purchase bitcoin. Cryptocurrency to the moon

The lucky thing was to be given the advice in the first place :-)

Cg

@cryptogee I personally think there is more to come. Look at the recent explosions, EOS - XRP -STEEM. Uncountable, I'm glad to live in this generation

It seems to be blockchain is coming into its ascendancy and more and more people are getting in on it

Such a similar path and timeline as my journey into crypto, except I was using Bitcoin to send money to my bank account in the US via Circle. Glad I eventually started understanding its potential.

Yes me too, and it isn't inevitable, I know somebody who was using Bitcoin on the Silk Road in 2010/11 and he didn't realise the potential. I think he said his first Bitcoin was under $100

So it is good that we were both open to change :-)

Cg

Open to change. Good pun!

I think it's still the golden age, because the masses are starting to rush in, and the technology is still in the process of getting up on its feet and running. for me the fascinating narrative of course is can it really revolutionize our financial systems or will it somehow be co-opted into the negative energies of world domination and oligarchical hierarchies. Peace

I truly believe that blockchain is the first instance of 'the people's technology', I think it is impossible for 'them' to subvert the whole system, which is why they're running scared.

Cg

I truly hope so.

It may be that people are assigning a value to it. Sadly, I dont think it is being adopted by merchants however like I think it needs to.

steemit would probably be my lightbulb moment since it brought me to the crypto-world. I only know little now but, I can really appreciate Blockchain's potential. It's like parallel to when the Internet was introduced to the masses.

But there's a bit of nagging feeling that something's a bit off with the exploding trend, esp considering 2017's meteoric rise. Feels like things would get really ugly before it gets to the end goal of cryptos getting fully assimilated into the real world. But that's just me, a noob, blabbering. lol

I definitely think there is more to come, very soon I would buy one of the small coins and see how much I can get in the future. I also pray steem would come up