“The wake up call was finding this startling statistic that web usage in the spring of 1994 was growing at 2,300 percent a year. You know, things just don’t grow that fast. It’s highly unusual, and that started me about thinking, “What kind of business plan might make sense in the context of that growth?” -Jeff Bezos, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Amazon.com
Photo by James Duncan Davidson on Flickr
Amazon.com’s market capitalization today is $535 billion (at the time of this writing) and is one of the most successful dot-coms and online retailers that was born during the “early stage” of the Internet. When nobody believed in the Internet, Jeff Bezos was busy in his garage preparing for the launch of Amazon with the help of other key people. Statistically, Jeff was sold on the fact that web usage increased to an alarming rate of 2,300 percent a year.
Today, we are seeing that same trend in the Blockchain space. It took nine years for the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies to get to $100 billion, and it only took five months to get to $200 billion. If Jeff Bezos were to come out and speak about the blockchain technology, I think, it is safe to say, that he would describe it as similar to the “wake up call” he experienced back in the early days of the Internet. Why do I say that? Jeff launched himself into the unknown and followed his gut, based on statistics and market projections. Similar to Jeff, I also plunged myself into the unknown, but in cryptocurrencies, simply because my gut told me to, and also simply because of statistics. Hey, we just jumped from $100 billion to $200 billion in FIVE FREAKING MONTHS. How much statistical data do you need?
Photo by Jon Phillips on Flickr
Blockchain technology has been around for nine years since Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym of a person, or group, that founded Bitcoin) released the whitepaper through Cypherpunks mailing list. Bitcoin is known as the most secure blockchain network and as a store of value. While bitcoin is referred to as the gold of cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is slowly getting the attention of most tech giant companies, major financial institutions, banks, and governments. Personally, I think Ethereum is the platinum of cryptocurrencies. Technology-wise, Ethereum network is far superior to Bitcoin and, while that may be true, Ethereum has a long way to go before it is ready for mass adoption.
I’ve been in this space since 2013, it’s when I purchased my first bitcoins and diversified them into altcoins while keeping a modest amount of bitcoins. I’ve also participated in Ethereum pre-sale tokens. I was already an established investor when I read about Ethereum for the first time, I had my fair share of skepticism just like many have had with bitcoin and the internet during the early stage of development. But my “wake up call” experience did not come until large banks and tech giants in the United States and European countries started inquiring about the technology of Ethereum.
Photo by BTC Keychain on Flickr
It is then I knew that blockchain is here to stay. It is then I knew the importance of blockchain technology. This is my wake up call, and, you might ask, what am I doing about it? Unlike Jeff Bezos, I am not starting an online retail layered with blockchain technology and smart contracts. Instead, as a non-technical person, I opted to invest in tokenized blockchain projects. Yes, I am invested in cryptocurrencies, mostly in erc20 tokens, which are projects that will be built in the Ethereum network.
Recently, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) was formed, and most members include Microsoft, CISCO, Deloitte, JP Morgan, Toyota, to name a few. What is EEA?:
“The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance connects Fortune 500 enterprises, startups, academics, and technology vendors with Ethereum subject matter experts. Together, we will learn from and build upon the only smart contract supporting blockchain currently running in real-world production — Ethereum — to define enterprise-grade software capable of handling the most complex, highly demanding applications at the speed of business.”
Photo by EEA
It took nine years for cryptocurrencies’ market capital to get to $100 billion.
It took less than five months to get to $200 billion.
How long do you think it will take for the market capital to get to $600 billion, beating Amazon.com?
UPDATE: WE HAVE REACHED AMAZON’S MARKET CAP!
I’m predicting $600 billion beating Amazon’s market cap in less than a year. Yes, I am bullish. I am bullish about the blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is still early at this stage, we haven’t seen any of the ICOs released their products. Most are just lines of code, and few are still in the beta stages. Most projects are set to be released next year. We’re talking about Ethereum Ecosystem with actual working products. Look at your portfolio and multiply that by x3 and that is the worst thing that can happen to you if you hodl the right crypto. Best thing? 100x your current net worth if you’re hodling the right crypto.
Photo by TechCrunch on Flickr
Cryptocurrency investments are not for everyone. Many have suffered financial loss due to the volatility of the market. Others have lost money through scam ICOs, bad ICOs, fraud, hacking, theft, and even from user’s error by simply sending to the wrong address or misplacing private keys/wallets. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has stated that “90% of ICOs will fail”. The market has been saturated with bad ICOs/projects. Multiple arrests have been made due to scam/fraud/ICOs non-compliant with government’s regulation. But this can also happen outside blockchain and cryptocurrencies’ space.
Photo by The Pug Father on Flickr
Recently, Jawbone, a fitness tracking wristband device and a promising Silicon Valley startup has been confirmed dead this year. It was funded with over $900 million from traditional investors and was valued at over $3.2 billion in 2014 at its peak. What went wrong? Are you telling me that Silicon Valley produced a bad product, where Google, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter were made? Yes, this can happen, its an investment. Investing in something does not guarantee returns/profits. Investing is all about taking huge risks, despite due diligence.
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I am the founder of Wes Post www.wespost.com — a community driven publication for blockchain and cryptocurency.
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