My dad and I have had a healthy running discussion on the nature of cryptocurrency going on 6 months now.
It’s an excellent counterpoint to much of the high hopes, belief and evangelism I engage in both personally and absorb from others.
These started out as arguments at first, fueled by a bit too much drink, his wanting to protect my little family from ruin and my wanting to prove that these technologies truly are incredible game changers. Lately they’ve become fun and engaging debates and have influenced me in many helpful ways.
With the dawning of a new year and closing of a great visit home, we had a lively one last night
Dynamism reached a pitch when we batted back and forth a scenario close to my heart from life-changing time spent in Africa in my youth: “If you lived in a hypothetical African country who’s local currency is going the way of the wheelbarrow, would you rather have $1000 dollars worth of crypto or a $1000 USD.” He felt strongly you would want the mighty greenbacks. My position was sure, but you likely would not have either unless you were somehow forexing your subsistence salary every day or were an early crypto adopter, but that a relative could send you 1000 crypto instantly for free. If the local currency was suddenly useless, why wouldn’t a population that took heartily to cellular text-based money exchanges very rapidly embrace crypto wallets for buying everything from maize meal to a new car?
Reaching a playful deadlock, I blurted out, “Well, let’s bet a bitcoin!”
And with that we designed a bet that if a certain cryptocurrency is worth more than at least 10% of it’s current value five years out, he’ll hit me with the equivalent of one bitcoin in USD at today’s prices. And if it’s worth less, I’ll give him that same amount in USD on January 1, 2023.
We both felt good about the bet. It’s by far the biggest bet I’ve ever made in my life (not counting investing in some of my early films, which luckily all seemed to pay off).
His overriding point in these conversations has come to be that buying tokens equates to a game of musical chairs. When the bubble pops and they all go to zero, don’t be one one of the floor droppers.
And that’s fair
Perhaps not so much the zero part, but corrections will continue to abound. Every way I look at it, buying speculative cryptos doesn’t give you any true ownership of an underlying asset, a piece of the digital highway the token represents, or even the tech itself which is largely open source. It’s a new paradigm. You’re buying stake in a network that will either prove to be insanely successful or won’t. And that has inherent risk. And the inherent possibility of reward.
If anyone has a better explanation of what you own beyond stake in a utility/security that has some underlying asset value I’m not identifying I’m all ears, and will be super helpful the next time I talk with my Dad ;-)
But regardless of underlying assets, what about the global game?
One thing that has became clear in these conversations is just how much trust my dad’s generation continues to put in nation-backed fiat. From my prospective, and certainly for millennials a few years younger, our trust in elected government (and the Big Brother 5 shadow government) is quickly eroding. This doesn’t have to be an irreversible trend. Hell, Apple just finally admitted to throttling us after all these years. Maybe the power base’s best counter to distributed ledgers they don’t control taking hold is becoming more transparent themselves, but they’ve got a long way to go.
From a global protective the industrialists view continues to discount how much of an impact those of us in this global village who have been downtrodden or overlooked will have on the new digital currency economy. So I’m betting on Africa, South America, Asia and all emerging economies that can suddenly get in on the bigger game without a handicap. And I’m betting that at least some of these incredible blockchain techs we’re all experimenting with, coming to love, waiting impatiently for confirmations on, hodling, fuding, dumping and evangelizing, will change the world.
It’s an expensive bet. It could all go to zero.
Somehow I think it won’t.
Wanna join the fun?
What coin did my dad and I bet on? First person to guess correctly gets 3 Steem. I’d make it more, but this $h!t is mooning and I’ve gotta save all other proceeds from this post to buy my dad drinks and carry on the conversation!
Yours In The Chain,
Doug
UP NEXT A CONVERSATION WITH @Andrarchy about just what owning crytpo tokens represents…
I am a Brooklyn based writer, film & commercial director, and crypto-enthusiast, my projects include @HardFork-series an upcoming narrative crypto-noir and my novel Dwelling will soon be premiering exclusively on Steemit, and you can check out more of my work at dougkarr.com, piefacepictures.com, and www.imdb.com/name/nm1512347
Please comment, up-vote and resteem and I'll gladly upvote your comments!
Mr. Karrs, Jr. And Sr. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall listening to such dashing men talk about the future. I’m seeing, every week, how much crypto is liberating small pockets of people in Africa. I already imagine 10 years from now when Ghana and Venezuela are leading the paradigm while antiquated countries like the U.S. struggle to be freed from fiat. Cheers to you and that bitcoin your Dad owes you when season 5 of hardfork is being binge watched!
Yes I agree @zachariahknapp, and thanks so much!
What a great story, and post! I will upvote and resteem for sure! My son got me into crypto because now I see how much better it is than actual money. I have been hodling on to the old idea of the greenback for too long now. This is the new generation we live in, and this is the new money system!
Thank you @oldmangainz! So cool to hear you got into crypto through your son!
Thanks dude! Yeah He was really trying to get me to quit investing into the traditional means and I was needing to put that into something that would grow much more. I dont have alot, but the little I get from social security I can invest every month into say Ripple, he got me into that a few months ago and its went up alot since then! Thanks again this was a great read, you seem like a solid dude!
Thanks, likewise!!
It was so great to hear more detail about this epic bet you had with your pops! It's awesome that you guys have the kind of relationship where you can debate your different philosophies in this way. In the end it challenges you to understand your own position on a deeper level. I think cryptocurrency and blockchain, more than anything I can think of, is a physical manifestation of a true paradigm shift in our world. It's going to be difficult for those of the older paradigm to fully accept it. Wonderful post and thought-provoking! I know which coin you're speaking of but promise not to ruin the surprise. : )
Haha, thanks! & shhhhhhhhhhhh...
@ericvancewalton Beautiful insight! I strongly agree that the blockchain technology is a true manifestation of a paradigm shift! I believe it can serve society for the better!
Highest Regards
i love this your write up. i have started following you sir.a new member
I love the story and think many people are having the same types of conversations with the older generations.
As for my crazy guess on the coin. New Yorkers love to talk about just NY so naturally it must be the little known NYC coin:) Take care.
Ha, that's a great guess @zhawk26, but no cigar. Thanks for your comment all the same!
Just today @geke posted on how the US dollar has been steadily losing value since FDR removed the gold standard. The problem with your dad's generation is that when that happened, normal people didn't realize the dollar was losing value. Still don't. I'll guess you bet on STEEM.
Thanks @jimitations! I do bet on STEEM every day! But not with my dad ;-)
@dougkarr You will definitely WIN this bet! Haha! I don't think it's even fair! I say you bet on ETH.
Another hint, the current value of the coin we bet is roughly 35x less than ETH's current price.
@dougkarr Raiblocks
you an your dad make bet on bitcoin,, i think
Thanks for the guess @katiksigh. there's a hint in the current value of the coin and what it would be if it was 10% less. When we made the bet that was $3... as of this moment it's $2.684
Hope it starts climbing again or I may lose the bet ;-)
Ripple
Nope. Sorry.
& 2 vote max!
Haha what a great healthy bet!
My guess is.. Hmm... ETH?
Thanks @the-alien! Nope, see my answer to @lordneroo on that one...
haha... but the truth is yes, gotta reach out globally like STEEM/Steemit is doing to empower Asia, Africa, South America, a new global consensus around decentralized info, money and community power. The best is yet to come / peace !
I think it would be XRB ( Raiblocks)
You got it @dragonking!! Well done!!
3 Steem Points!!
Woohoo.......I'm winner. Thank you for the guessing contest @dougkarr
Absolutely I believe you'll win both of yours bet with dad. Interesting post of cryptocurrencies. Most of attractive contents included. Appreciate your effort @dougkarr.
Upvote & Resteem
I guess you bet with your dad about IOTA.
Thanks @madushanka. IOTA is very close, but not quite it!
hehehehehe i really love this your story Dads generation is different with this ours i strongly believe with steemit our future is secured
That is quite the bet! It seems like you and your father get into great debates, which is exactly how my dad and I are. We get all heated but its all in the debate and we aren't ACTUALLY mad at eachother...but it sure does seem like that from the outside.
great post.
I was early to join steemit. I have followed you, if there is time to see my blog and give a good voice steemit community
@dorsuwa-photography
Sometimes when I read your post, I feel like you write from another realm.
I'm awestruck
it will be so cool..
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post @dougkarr and only wish that I saw it in time to upvote!
Your conversation represents the composite both of thoughts running around in my head over the last 18 months and conversations I've had with people of all generations.
Something that IS quite different for us genxers and younger that wasn't true in when our parents were young is that the almighty dollar is no longer backed by gold so really it functions similarly to crypto but since more people believe it in, it's less volatile for the time being at least.
I really like what you said about the impact of crypto for people in developing nations with already volatile currency and completely agree. Crytpo (steemit specifically) empowers them to have an access to wealth and to have a means to earn money that they otherwise don't.
Great food for thought, thanks for the great post!