Crypto Is Going to Have An Epic 2018
By any measure, 2017 was an epic year for Crypto, which I define as the confluence of the blockchain, cryptocurrency, decentralization, smart contracts and zero-knowledge proof. Crypto started with a market cap of $18 billion, and finished with a market cap of $600 billion.
As epic as 2017 was, 2018 is going to be even more so:
While much of the community is focused on where Crypto is going in 2018, I’m more focused on where Crypto is going to be in 2038, and what we, as a Community, need to do to get there. The chart I use to frame my 20 year outlook for Crypto is the 20 year price chart from Amazon:
However, as bullish as I am on Crypto, I’m aware that there’s much that can go wrong as we try to get from where we are today to Crypto’s full potential. So below are the seven things I’m pledging to do for the Crypto Community in 2018 to help the us as much progress as possible, and to help make the world a better place.
#1 Crypto Mondays
This is the easiest initiative to accomplish and will likely be the most fun. We (meaning our company CryptoOracle) just want to spend our Monday nights hanging with others as passionate about Crypto as we are. There are no guest speakers or panels at Crypto Mondays. It’s just a a place to go on Mondays and be with like minded people.
Crypto Mondays is starting in NYC on Monday, January 8th at 6:30pm. Click here to join our Meetup, Crypto Mondays NYC. Let us know if you want to start Crypto Mondays in your hometown. I think it’s going to be a thing.
#2 Stop Hating The Haters
Jamie Dimon thinks “Bitcoin’s a fraud” . I don’t think he’s right, but maybe he is, or maybe he’s just talking his book.
Warren Buffet thinks “Bitcoin is a mirage”. He said “the idea that it has some huge intrinsic value is a just a joke in my view”.
Mohamed El-Erian said in September, that “Bitcoin’s price is going to blow up” (in a bad way). At the time, Bitcoin was trading at $4,000, and he said it was worth 1/2 to 1/3 of that.
Paul Krugman thinks “Bitcoin is Evil”.
I could go on, but I don’t care what they’re saying. I don’t hate the haters. I look at why they believe what they believe, and I’ve yet to see a cogent argument from a hater. I’ve yet to see a hater that understands what Crypto is.
The worst thing about the haters is all the mindshare the Crypto Community gives them. I want to help the Community realize that the time spent hating the haters is better spent helping the Crypto believers. I’m going to help one tweeter at a time:
#3 Help Bitcoin Become Digital Gold, Decrease Community Time Spent Trying To Make Bitcoin A Currency
Bitcoin set out to become a currency. However, for numerous technical and governance reasons, that ship has sailed. I recognize many in the community believe that’s heresy. But we have to face the facts that the Bitcoin blockchain is slow and it’s getting crazy expensive to transact:
Business Insider, December 28, 2017
And the governance is non-functional.
Yet the Community continues to spend massive time to get Bitcoin to be something it’s not going to be. All the time on SegWit2X, was wasted time.
But for all it’s failings as a currency, Bitcoin has emerged as the greatest store of value in history. Gold has had an epic 5,000 year run as the store of value. Kudos to gold! But nothing lasts forever. There’s a new sheriff in tow, called Bitcoin. It’s sporting a $230 billion market cap. Gold has an $8.5 trillion market cap. That’s another 35X+ for Bitcoin if it just reaches the value of Gold. And if Bitcoin is better than gold, it should have a higher value.
But the point here, is I want to help the Bitcoin currency diehards move on. Life’s too short. We have too much work to do to spend time on nonsense. I’m going to be a broken record in 2018 on this point, just as I was in 2017:
#4 Help the Regulators, the Governments, the Central Banks & the Politicians Appreciate Their Crypto Options
I believe that the regulators, et al, have two choices:
- Roll out the red tape
- Roll out the red carpet
I want to help them appreciate that they roll out the red tape at their own peril, that the horse has left the barn, the genie is out of the bottle. The red tape is just Crypto whack-a-mole.
However, rolling out the red carpet comes with significant advantages. Ask Switzerland. Ask Gibraltar.
I get that Regulators gotta Regulate. But those regulations can embrace Crypto, and can help the Crypto ecosystems they oversee to flourish. Or they can watch innovation happen elsewhere. And who wants that to happen? Next stop for me on this mission is Davos in January.
#5 Further The Crypto Community’s Appreciation For Token Economics.
Token Economics is a thing. It’s a big thing. It’s the major UX & UI elements of a token based ecosystems. Yet, many ICOs don’t even know it’s a thing. And many that do know it’s a thing, don’t appreciate how important a thing it is. And many who appreciate how important a thing it is, struggle to get world class Token Economics advice.
We’re still in the Dark Ages when it comes to Token Economics. Much of what we know of token economics today comes from the gaming world. I’m going to do three things to further our understanding of Token Economics:
- More Token Economics Conference Calls
- More Token Economics Meetups
- Work with Colleges & Universities to start offering classes, and eventually degrees, in Token Economics.
If you have an idea for a good Token Economics conference call or Meetup, let me know.
#6 Help The Community Improve Crypto Governance & Consensus
The biggest risk to any decentralized entity is Governance. There is no Governance nirvana. Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake both have significant drawbacks. But while there is no Governance panacea, there is better Governance, and we have to get better as a Community in Governance. Good Governance mechanisms helps unify Crypto Communities.
Consensus is deeply intertwined with Governance. While elegant in the simplicity of the design, the blockchain consensus mechanism has many problems. One way to solve that problem is to replace the blockchain with a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph), like the ones being deployed by iOTA, Hashgraph, or DAGLabs. There’s lots of work to be done here as well. I’m going to do three things to further decentralized Governance & Consensus:
- Start holding Governance & Consensus Conference Calls
- Hold more Governance & Consensus Meetups
- Work with Colleges & Universities to start offering classes, and eventually degrees, in Decentralized Governance & Consensus
If you have an idea for a good conference call or Meetup on Governance & Consensus, let me know.
#7 Help The Community Leverage Crypto for Social Good
The most epic thing about Crypto is the social good impact it’s going to have for the billions and billions of people not as lucky as the people reading this blog post. On a recent Social Good Conference Call I held, UNICEF discussed how they’re using the blockchain to help the identity problem for 55 million children in the world who don’t have identity papers. That’s making the world a better place. There’s already great work being done by in the Community, including Blockchain For Social Impact Coalition by ConsenSys, which has over 20 members in it’s coalition (like the awesome ixo Foundation. ). Given how epic the Crypto for Social Good opportunity is, I’m pledging to give significantly more mindshare to Crypto Social Good in 2018. I hope you do too. It will be your most gratifying time spent in Crypto.
The world has NO IDEA of the impact of Crypto in 2018. I can’t wait!
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