Over the years, I've had the privilege of speaking to many people who are early adopters of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Some were rookie traders, engineers, and thinkers, while others were seasoned investors, developers, and philosophers. After speaking to a countless number of people, I came to the conclusion that there are three types of people who are active in the cryptocurrency world. These three types can overlap, and some people may fall under all three categories. But in this piece, I want to analyze the three major categories through this Venn diagram.
The Money Men
In this group are people who are into cryptocurrencies to make money. Whether it is by buying and holding long-term or day-trading, the people who fall in this category are characterized by the ultimate goal of increasing their stack. They may be expert traders with years of experience or professional shillers on Reddit, 4chan, and Twitter. They may be skilled in following trends and patterns in both social media and trading charts. What is clear is that they not only do not know the technology or adhere to any philosophy, but they don't care for them at the least.
The Technology Tribe
I've met some crypto fanatics who are captivated by the wondrous blockchain and other cryptocurrency technologies. Monetary gains do not matter to them. It's all about diving deeper into the technology, knowing more, programming masterfully, and inventing new protocols. A whole new world of cryptography has been unveiled before them, and they are explorers navigating every corner of this newfound land. This gives them joy. Ideology is a trivial matter that is irrelevant to these techies.
The Ideology Individuals
Convictions to an ideology are what drive these folks. Whether it is libertarian thought or meritocratic ideals, philosophy is of utmost importance. Money and technology are means to an end, which is decentralization that transforms the world by empowering the individual and creating a fairer system. Blockchain technology is an advancement that materializes their obscure ideas into a tangible entity that is easily understood by the common man. The benefits of decentralization can be explained with cryptocurrencies and blockchain structures, which eliminate inefficiencies found in the current setup of things. In the end, people of this group want their ideology to be adopted en masse, as they believe it is the right thing to do.
Of course, most people fall somewhere in between the three extremes. Who knows - maybe a lot of them actually stand where all three overlap. All I know is I have encountered people of all three categories. Where do you think you belong?