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When I think of Cryptocurrencies I think of the Blockchains that support them. The Cryptocurrencies to me are a secondary piece of technology that just tagged along with Blockchain. When Satoshi was creating Bitcoin he couldn't just create a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. He had to create the underlying foundation that would support BTC. He had to figure out a way to code for nodes talking to each other, a way for ASIC miners to talk to each other and collectively mine and support one another and approve blocks together.
I often feel like that part gets overlooked. The technology behind all these tokens we like to collect and HODL. Which is why I have always been so gun-ho about THETA and what they are doing with their blockchain and revolutionizing Digital Consumption and Peer to Peer sharing. I will not bore you with another Theta article as I have posted many and that is not what this article is about.
What this article is about though is thinking long term. Progress doesn't happen by chance or overnight. It takes people to come up with ideas and then people to create those ideas. Progress takes time. Invention takes time. I am not a program coder or someone who could create my own blockchain. Sure I am a IT Engineer but I know my limits. However I can still get excited over what the future holds for blockchains.
I have always been a little skeptical on Cryptocurrencies and their long term value as a fiat replacement. I have always had a feelings that too many governments wouldn't sanction currencies that they couldn't control and regulate so they would end up using blockchain technology and creating their own digital currency that they control. Think about it for a second if the US Government accepted Bitcoin (or any PoW crypto) as their countries currency. The US Government would effective be paying everyday users to confirm payments in their country (mining). The Treasurer would be so far removed from the currency and they would have no control over it, even if the Government ran it's own nodes/miners. Without 51% of BTC they would have no real control.
The one thing I have never doubted though is that Blockchains are here to stay forever. Regardless or not if people see the potential in NFT's or even Digital currencies for that matter. You can not deny Blockchain technology is revolutionary. Just think about this for a second okay?
A Blockchain as it's core is just a very large Database. Every company in the world uses Databases. Working in IT for years now I understand and appreciate what Databases can do and what they do.. well do. For example because of certain US laws and regulations I know that Hospitals have to keep certain patient records for years and years 15+ years in some cases. That is digital data that HAS to be kept securely because of HIPAA. Now what is a Hospital with say 10 locations put in place a blockchain.
Each Hospital location would be running it's own nodes maybe 2 per hospital. What the IT department would have to pay for is redundant internet services and storage for the LEDGER and all it's data. That Ledger could be locked down as much as they want for cold storage almost and it would always been in constant sync and verified by it's other locations. Each location could add to the blockchain when new data needed to be added. It may sound weird but you have to understand that Companies are going to start to sprout up that will create blockchains for businesses with their individual needs accounted for. This is just a fact.
Another example I can't wait for is a blockchain based computer Operating System. I was reinstalling Windows 10 Pro on my wife's laptop yesterday. It came with Windows 10 Home and I was not having that. So after fumbling around looking for my ISO and my Product Key I was able to mount the ISO and install Windows and then verify my install with a product key. And while it was installing Windows 10 from my year or so old ISO it was downloading updates from Microsoft servers. Then after it installed I had to do Windows Updates to get it even more up to date.
If you are a nerd like me then you know the term "Patch Tuesday". It is the second Tuesday on the month when Microsoft and other companies release updates for their software. And I am sure you all have heard of vulnerabilities in operating systems or software that allows hackers to well hack people. Why can this not all be decentralized? When are we going to get a Operating System that is built on the blockchain?
It would have a Governance token sure that would allow people to vote on new features or updates or even patches. People all around the world could run nodes that would act as peer to peer sites so you could download updates quicker or even the latest ISO. Your Operating System would natively connect to a blockchain to verify it's integrity or maybe even drivers?
We give so much control of our digital lives to big mega corporations right now. Apple of Microsoft that is the Operating Systems probably 95% of you are using. Yes the rest of you are using Linux, and good job to you. I am willing to bet 99% of you have a Google Account for free e-mail. What data does Google track of you because of that? Where you physically are? Who sends e-mails to you. What websites do you login to or even just go to? Our personal data is what these mega corporations make millions off of.
Brave did something about that and created a Browser that doesn't track us and doesn't invade our privacy and even pays us for viewing ads if we want. I want the BRAVE Operating System. When that days arrives I will be Customer #1.
So often I feel like we get caught up in worrying about the price of Bitcoin or buying the dip of some shitty cryptocurrency. We forget the big picture here. Most of us probably won't get rich from crypto. But "Crypto" is going to change our lives. Technology will always progress further and farther then we can imagine. Did the people who created the internet expect the likes of Rhapsody or Spotify to be a thing? Did they plan for cryptocurrencies to be thing? Did the people who created PONG expect Virtual Reality to come along? What we CAN do has never been a problem. What we envision and go after I feel like is the limiting factor.
