My journey to Bitshares Enlightenment

I got into cryptocurrency by accident, while reading an inflight magazine in mid-July, 2017. Bitcoin had dropped to US$1895. I thought, I've got to get into this; it's about to take off. I then had the KYC headache of trying to use a European passport and an Australian Credit Card, overseas. By the time this was sorted out, I could buy a maximum of AU$500, and Bitcoin had already jumped 50%. I put in AU$10,000 - six weeks later, I took out AU$15,000, capturing another 50%. I was annoyed that, but for banking regulations, it could have been a 100% gain. In the meantime, I'd had a look around inside the cryptosphere.

Today, I am one of the many who bought into Electroneum. I also have wallets with PIVX/VERGE/NEM/NEO etc. in other words, I see it as a realistic investment option.

The main obstacles to mass adoption have been identified, and addressed, by the Electroneum issue.

Top of that list is ease of use. People are time poor. Unless you're a developer, or an IT professional, or a tech geek, or a gamer, it's a step out of your ordinary world.

I am an English teacher. The issues I have encountered, besides the initial KYC and anti-money laundering regulations already mentioned, have been:

First, I like to read all about what I'm buying into. This is the easy part. Where I've encountered difficulties have been technical. It's a steep learning curve. But in the past two months, my Windows platform upgraded to Windows 10. Suddenly, I didn't know where anything was on my computer. It automatically changed documents en masse into PDF files. Like, what the? All of the downloaded JSON files are encrypted into God knows what, but it may as well be Egyptian because it's all hieroglyphics. At the same time as upgrading from a known operating system to an alien invasion - Windows 7 to 10 - my Comodo anti-virus program also upgraded, with a new set of issues, all of which affected my ability to access cryptocurrency wallets.

Then there are all the warnings. This heightens anxiety. Anxiety creates its own obstacles. I think there need to be more dummy runs.

I'm not stupid. I was Dux of my high school. I'm not bragging. I'm saying, I'm not stupid. I'm an English teacher. I haven't spent - or needed to spend - a lot of time learning about computer programming. Sometimes you don't know the right questions to ask to elicit the response you are seeking. But I can read and I can learn.

Now, to the point of why this is called, "Bitshares."

In my opinion, if there is an intelligent replacement out there for Bitcoin, it IS Bitshares. I'm already convinced.

There are a few issues that could be addressed, to do with accessibility. If these were ironed out, then adaptation would be assured, and accelerated. I have approached my computer with the express intention of buying Bitshares twice. And on both occasions, I have not proceeded because of technical issues.

So I bought into Electroneum and read that they might actually have quite a good chance of doing well. Okay. I have joined some Blockchain Meetup groups to extend my expertise and form links so I can maybe address issues I'm having. I'm a great believer in pooled knowledge. The first was at Bond University. The talk was focused on applications for blockchain technology, specifically in relation to Ethereum and its potential uses for altruistic community sharing. It was attended by developers and also some businesses interested in being able to set up their own airbnb style transactions without the middle-person. I then attended the Byron Bay Blockchain meetup, attended by a diverse group of cryptocurrency fans, including Ethereum miners and BTC holders. I attended alone, daunting enough for a woman in a male-dominated group.

At the end of the presentations, I asked the question, "Okay, so you've got your cryptocurrency, where can you spend it? And how can you spend it?" I wanted to know the best means of accessing cryptocurrency to pay bills, interact in the commercial marketplace, basically. I'm not into hoarding...I want to spend it. I'm mindful that I might, through my purchase of Electroneum, be approaching a point that I have a significant amount of cryptocurrency to spend. I copped the kind of derisive response that would keep me away from attending male-dominated technology groups in the future. I was told, "At the Satoshi Store in Sydney." Because I'm very straight-forward, I thought, "Is he making fun of me?" (He was.) I would never do this to someone else. Encouraged by his elder, the young man beside me, whose girlfriend was openly laughing AT me, said, "You sell it on an exchange." He obviously hasn't tried to cash out more than $10,000 at one time from an exchange in Australia, (specifically, Coinspot).

I went home and googled, "Best way to access cryptocurrency." I came up with a number of responses. I went on to youtube and played a few videos. I found Cryptopay, which only pays out on BTC. I don't hold any BTC. I buy it only to transact and purchase other coins, but accept if this is what I need to do to access my cryptocurrency, then so be it. I bought into the Cryptopay ICO. I hope to order a card. It doesn't operate in Australia, but it operates in Europe. My son currently lives in Ireland, and I hope to visit him and spend some time there. Within three hours of discovering the existence of Cryptopay, I had viewed a number of youtube videos about it, and I had bought into the ICO. It was seamless, and easy. There wasn't an excessive amount of material to read. After buying into Cryptopay, I checked my emails. I had one from OpenLedger. Now, I have previously bought into the ICO Powerledger and somehow or other I had mixed these two up. I read the OpenLedger email. It was about the upcoming ICO for OCash. I read about it and thought, "Holy cow! This is what I'm after - a credit card for ALL crypto."

So I started reading up about OCash. The initial 30% discount period was extended to 30 October. There was still time. There was SO much to read. And it was confusing. What are OBits? What is Airbitz? It was introducing SO MUCH new information. When I bought into Crytopay, it was simple. One idea. Do it. Done.

The amount of information with the OCash ICO was mindboggling. I finally turned off the computer at 2 am, went to bed and thought, I'll buy in tomorrow when my brain is fresh. I couldn't find the Ocash ICO website again, at least not where I could enter and make a purchase.

I noticed in my Comodo window, top-righthand corner of my screen a couple of programs and icons I hadn't noticed before. I clicked on them, one by one. One icon was very interesting, it held "applications in containment" - I opened it. There were the wallets I'd downloaded - the PIVX wallet, the Bitshares Wallet, the NEO Wallet - all functioning in containment, where I couldn't locate them.

As a non-tech person convinced of the advantages of buying into the cryptosphere, the simplest hurdles can become formidable and sometimes insurmountable obstacles to participation. At this point, a lot of good people would throw their hands in the air, declare, "Life is too short for this sh*t" and give up.

Some things I think need to be addressed by Bitshares in its goal for world-domination of the cryptosphere - think average time-poor Joe/Jo.

I would have bought into Ocash if I could have found the website the next day. I would have invested a sum that would have guaranteed me access to the perks listed.

There was a positively mindboggling amount of information presented - and I'm an English teacher. It took a few hours to digest. You're basically learning a new language.

BTS needs to ditch the one free account per member. I understand they don't want to clog up their system with unused accounts, but seriously. By the time I worked out the system, my free browser account had shut down - without my recording the password, and the other free account had been put into containment by my antivirus program and by the time I managed to free it, once I'd found it six weeks later, I'd thrown out the paper wallet information. I now have 0.45 BTS winking at me every time I open the DEX webpage on my browser. I'm an average Jo at this caper. Second time around, I'd be more savvy on what to do. The first time, I was a newbie on the site.

Whether or not these issues are addressed, I hope to finally make a BTS purchase over the next four days. I'm just working out how I'm going to organise a new wallet interface. But definitely, if you want global domination, you need to allow maybe up to 3 "free" password controlled accounts, in order to allow for end-user fallibility, i.e. the system will be used by humans.

Also, the first experience I had with the DEX exchange, I noted that it was hard for a be-spectacled person to view and interact with - this has been addressed. The visual presentation is now much more user-friendly.

It's a PR exercise for Bitshares to convince people of the superiority of the product it is offering. Most people are not developers, gamers or IT professionals. So how to reach them and convince them that what BTS/OpenLedger is offering is the best available in the marketplace? Or do they just wait for it to happen organically? Also, the branding - one name/one mantra. Keep it Simple....

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