Introduction - When we woke Up
So it was a beautiful day, at least for most of us in peaceful/temperate climes, January 2009(where was I sef?? Never mind. Soo....., a man, a group of men, a lady a he(okay let's just say an anonymous entity named "Satoshi Nakamoto") shocked the world with an invention, the bitcoin. .
Why was this a shock? Yes agreed, not many were shocked but those who understand currencies, the financial systems etc, knew this was going to be a game changer, and these persons were very very few and had such powers to bury this invention or propagate and intensify its ripple effects, or so they thought.
Most of us, me inclusive, had no idea thelatent implicationsd of what this entity(Satoshi Nakamoto) has/have done. This was going to be a game changer, potentially rendering most financial systems useless.
But here we are 2023, and nothing seems to be happening.
Well this piece will try its very best educate you on the latent powers of the cryptographic designed currency exchange system(bitcoin was arguably the first of its kind.. Cool!!).
Why a Game Changer?
Well, cryptography has existed or perceived to have existed since 1900bc, but here is the catch,there has never been an aplication of crytography to the exchange system(financial exchange system).
Let's talk about our revered dollars, or naira(I am a Nigerian, so sorry I need to use this example..#winks). These are just papers, printed papers, trusted by the society blindly. Yes, there was time the dollar was backed by gold, but not anymore. So the governmnet can just decide to pint as much as it want, and even, a non government agency can print with the right tools and skill set(factual). Why do we still trust this system so much, paper that has no value, can burn, can be forged to original, can be withdrawn. The answer? We just trust it because some group of persons, code named "The Government" say so. lolzzz.
As hilarious or as funny as that may seem, this simply means the currency notes we have(papers) have no value in the real term of the word "value".
So say for example I go to my farm cultivate the ground for weeks, months or even years, in the end I get compensated with a valueless paper. Lolzz.
You see how funny this is. Okay, agreed we all agreed that we can use thios paper for exchange, knowingly or unknowingly, here is the problem, we all agreed but a few make the decision mostimes without our consent. And should you disagree, well thats your problem, no one cares.
At this point, you must have seen just how ridiculous this sytem is.
The technical jargon for this is, "A CENTRALIZED CURRENCY SYSTEM" I hate jargon, what this means is if anything happens to the financial institutions, your years of work will vanish like thing air lolzz, and if you're fortunate you are given a part of that as, what do they call it again , "INSURANCE" and needless to say its highlt regulated by laws, made without your consent most times.
How about when there's no cash, you beg for your hard work, hard earned valueless paper.
Here is the summary in the strongest of terms,** your currency is valueless but still you have no control.**
Satoshi Nakamoto created a system or a coin that is digital, you have control over it, 99.9% secure, regulated by you, we call this decentrailize system which is secured by crytography. Oboy! What this means??
If say, every individual decides to use this means for buying and selling, banks are no longer needed, financial laws become obsolete, unnecesary. The United state saw this dangerous posibility and attemted to control this system by creating the US version called the USDC(us digital coin) backing this with the Us dollars, paradoxical, but nice game! Not even close!!
Satoshi, invented a system comparable to "trade by barter", but in a digital, untraceble and highly secured form" Booooom!!
This was a game changer indeed?
Why So Long?
A friend of mine once said, "if you insult a man he can take that and walk away, if you throw stones at him, he might smile and walk away, but even the weakest of man will fight if you threaten his survivor".(man or woman)
Cryptocurrency came and threatend already established systems, systems that feed on your sweat, a system that has enriched a few powerful in trillions of dollars over a hundred years and counting, and you really think they'll let that stay or fly? In all honesty and practicality, these existing financial systems have their advantages, they save for us, create some kind of security(20% my estimation), regulate the market but why not embrace a system that is far and unarguably superior system? Well, if this threatens their very power and survivor, you know the answer.
But here is the good news, crytpocurrency is decentralized, immune to policies, government control etc. But still, propanganda exist, this was the medium that brought cryptography backed currencies to a snail speed in adoption.
The community, in my biased opinion, didn't make this any easier, they used this to invest and when they loose huge sums, the problem is crypto currency(who send you to gamble with your life earning??(pidgin), invest what you can loose, especially in cryptocurrency, or take the risk and be quiet when you loose, its a game), no one really accepted this as a medium for exchange(A few organizations truied and later some bailed out), so the price became volatile, irregular etc.
Another "gotcha" in cryptocurrency is the energy required to mine these coins, for example bitcoin. Although there are now "tokens" which are not really very complex to create and all. It may interest you to know that a huge percentage of so called "coins" out there are not really "coins" but "tokens".
So the big question is, how do I get started with cryptocurrency, what ae the technicalities involved in this..., has will replace conventional excahnge currency?
Well here I am, ready to share. BTW, started experimenting with solidty recently, I will be very glad to share and explain in the simplest of terms what it is and how it works in relation to crytpocurrencises and broader applications...
Interestingly, with the advent of "bitcoin", the aplication of cryptography now exceeds just finance. Complete web aplications, mobile apllication etc now utilize the power of crytopgraphic technology. One of the many intersting results is highly secure systems(uncensored) and almost impossible to hack systems(99% and higher security)... Interesting!!!
Next series article will explain each of the following points painstakingly
- Why is cryptocurremncy this secure?
- How do I know which coin to buy, are there existing tools for this, ressearch tools etc?
- Should I trade often with my coins/tokens?
- What is Blockchain?
- Just for finance? Engage and share your view! So hang in there as we delve into the interesting world of crypto.. Happy Hacking!!
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