Hi Hivers!
My name is Ruel Chavez and I’m from Dasmarinas, Cavite, Philippines. I am married with three sons. I am a faculty member of PTS College & Advanced Studies. Thanks to @lovesniper by informing me for a need of personal introduction to Hive and directing me to a model. I think that’s it for a brief introduction of myself. I am not sure if this post will pass the community standard for I just want to introduce myself by sharing my more or less a month journey to crypto space.
Dapp.com
Hive for me is a very confusing blockchain. I was actually first introduced into Steemit after reading the white paper of dapp.com. I was checking what Steemit, and at first, I find it interesting that led me to create there an account.
I forgot exactly how I stumbled with Hive. All I know is that our IT introduced me to Splinterlands, and I think it was through this game that I came to know Hive.
Typical to my character, my first instinct in encountering something new was to read a document, a white paper, and by reading Hive’s white paper, I learned that it was originally connected to Steem blockchain, but for some reason, Hive created a separate one.
Introduction to Cryptocurrency
As to my introduction to crypto space, it never entered my mind that in the sovereignty of God’s providence, I will witness in my lifetime the combination of three powerful forces that will have a potential to transform the existing monetary system into a decentralized and impersonal one. I am referring to the current trends, which are unfolding in the fields of finance, technology, and gaming.
I failed to listen to the advocates of bitcoin in 2009 that led me to ignore Ethereum in 2013, and so as a result I failed to see the opportunities that are just passing right in front of my nose. Since 1986, I have been reading a lot about Gary North, an American historian and an Austrian economist and every time I find anything related to economics and finance that confused me, I always find myself reading his articles seeking for guidance. Peter Schiff is another investor that doesn’t believe that bitcoin is money. That is why I admire Robert Kiyosaki that though he does not completely understand what is going on in the crypto market, he still listens to the trend and to those who are in the know when it comes to recent developments in technology.
The missing puzzle that caused me to realize the interconnection of the above three forces was brought by my eldest son’s request for a 7,000.00 PHP to open a gaming account in Axie Infinity. Being a stock trader for seven years, I thought he was talking about buying shares in a company and so I searched the name of the company and analyze its trend. And then he mentioned about SLP, the abbreviation for Smooth Love Potion, and so I also searched that company in the web and observing its chart, I told my son that if he were to invest, better to buy SLP rather than Axie. I never thought that he was talking about playing games where the names of these two companies were used in the game.
When I returned to Dasmarinas, Cavite, I talked to our IT Head if he had already an Axie account. And then he shared to me about DeFi. He too was talking more about gaming rather than about finance and technology. And then I went to z.library.com and searched for a book on DeFi. I stumbled with a book from DeFiYield team, which I later converted into pdf and devoured it.
Breakneck Speed
Breakneck speed! These are the words I read in one book on Decentralized Finance (DeFi). As an NFT blockchain based game, I see Axie Infinity as an example of this. Last 03 July, opening a gaming account in Axie Infinity only costs 40,000.00 PHP. After a week, the price soared to 75,000.00 PHP!
The same thing is happening now with My Defi Pet. Just last 13 July, a DeFi pet token only costs 54.08 PHP. After two days, it touched 300.00 PHP but closed around 200.00 PHP. I was thinking of opening two accounts for my sons the following week. I was praying that the price of My DeFi Pet token will not return to 300.00 or else my 6,672.15 budget per gaming account will not be enough.
What surprises me about blockchain based games is their similarity with traditional finance. The crypto market also has their own IDO. This reminds me of an IPO in the stock market! And what impresses me all the more is that tokens are listed in crypto exchanges. I am not just sure, if these exchanges are all decentralized.
Joining a Reddit Group
I joined a reddit Splinterlands group last 21 July. u/bordoisse mentioned at least three reasons in his article why Splinterlands is succeeding in the NFT blockchain based games space. His reasons are as follows: (1) Splinterlands has built the economic base of the game prior to the massive entry of gamers from different parts of the world, (2) The DAO vision through SPS governance token, and (3) Long-term sustainability.
I like the second reason. As I mentioned earlier, I have been a stock trader for 7 years, and I have never seen such a yield opportunity as big as offered on Splinterlands. I know that higher yields also exist out there and I also recognize that this will not last forever. However, I consider myself blessed enough to arrive on Splinterlands at this early stage of SPS staking.
As for holding land and farming on Splinterlands, this still blows my mind. I am new on this space and I never imagine that the digital world would be like this, that digital assets, something that we can't physically touch, but the market price of these assets cannot be denied.
As for the third reason, yes, there are times that comparing Splinterlands' rewards both with Axie Infinity and during the high rewards of CryptoBlades, I could not avoid thinking if what I am doing right now is really worthwhile or not. But thinking of long-term sustainability, small rewards make sense, considering the fact that when it comes to market cap, Splinterlands is still too small compared to that of Axie Infinity. This means that Splinterlands has a lot of room to grow to reach the level of Axie Infinity. And with that growth, I expect that a greater profitability would follow. But at least at the moment, it surpassed both CryptoBlades and MyDefiPet when it comes to market cap.
The above two names are actually my first options for my second son. I was able to fund his account on CryptoBlades, but the current change of event is very disappointing. As for MyDefiPet, it's good that its high price of entry prevented me from starting an account, and that finally led me on Splinterlands and Hive.
Note: I actually published portion of this post on both blogger and reddit and revised them to meet the current purpose.