To me, digital currencies and digital assets are "it". The most exciting, important, and underestimated building block of the internet. Decentralized. Pier-to-pier. The ability for everyone to invest or receive investment, regardless of the size of their bank account or where they live. Most people don't know it, and American's may not care (yet), but we all have the tools to empower ourselves. Used en masse, rulers and those who abuse power will be rendered impotent.
I thought I was going to post on Medium, but now there's Steemit. Start with the right platform. Incentivize others and build community. Share the spoils and try to create something larger than the sum of it's parts. As far as the Internet goes, the best is yet to come. It's arriving in the form of digital assets and tokens. Used right, they will weed out trolls and paid shills and make the web a much better place.
My name is Paul Willerton. I've been very fortunate to have been so many places around the world and experience what I have. I dropped out of school early, got paid great money to do a sport for a living, got my ass kicked, invested, made mistakes, learned. From Chicago, I moved Silicon Valley, the son of an IBM'r. When the road forked between a probable career in high tech or an uncertain career in cycling, I chose the road less traveled. Two decades of racing and living around the world landed me in Oregon. Road and trail weary. Ready for new chapters. New life.
The internet bubble inflated me, then cost me dearly. I was still recovering when 2008 happened. The real estate bubble blew up in my lap and the ensuing crisis took me out back to pulverize me. When I could finally sit up and breathe, I realized I needed to start learning, again.
Now there were things like "Too big to fail" and quantitative easing to try to understand. I'm still trying, with those. The soon-to-come "hollowing out of the middle class" was a topic, back then. Eight years of evidence have proven: It's no longer theory. It has happened, and it's accelerating.
Digital currency. Bitcoin. Ether. Steem. Dash. Augur. Digix. Precious metals. That's what I write about. There will be other topics, too. I keep it real with fishing, cycling, and family. Can we be better prepared for the next, inevitable crisis? I believe we can. We need to use the right tools, be aware, and take action.
I'm here to share what I've learned. I know I will learn a lot of new things in the process.