As we move into the age of cryptocurrencies, we must acknowledge a deeper change in human societies: the age of digitalization. As a species, our lives have become irreversibly tied to the world of electronics and technology. Our games, hobbies, conversations, entertainment, shopping and even our very homes have adopted the technological revolution. Electric cars, smart homes, cellular phones, video conferences and digital dieting apps are markers of this larger change.
What about currencies?
For most of human civilization, a currency was an asset one could hold and display. In a physical realm, such benchmarks of value made sense, only physical objects may represent worth. A gold bar or a US dollar is yours to keep once acquired: your wealth.
But why does wealth exist?
Sure, a gold brick sounds enticing in theory, but is it actually valuable? That question is answered within the bounds of human society, for currencies are inherently social constructs. We as humans decide the worth of objects; to a deity, a gold bar is identical to an iron one. This brings us back to modern human civilization—the technological one.
As the judge, jury and executioner of value, we get to decide if cryptocurrencies are worth it or worthless.
So why crypto?
We have established that human society has progressed towards all-encompassing technological integration, that currency has yet to catch up and that value depends solely on humans' notion of it. If we trust our homes, cars and deepest secrets to the electronic world, then we must treasure, trust and believe in the integrity of such a system. The logical extension is that a widespread and indispensable system of technological value will usurp the physical one to align itself with the changing Earth: cryptocurrencies.
