Last night I found myself in the company of 3 guys who are fellow native English speakers, a breed which, though I have grown up with, I rarely find myself in long, face to face conversations with. As such, I found myself surprised at the level with which crypto has become a mainstream topic of conversation back in good ol Mericuh.
It seems everyone had a different stance and level of understanding of the stuff. As I’m not usually one to push a conversation unless I see a reason to do so, I sat and listened first, trying to feel them out a bit to see if I wanted to bite.
(Guys talking about stock market)
Guy 1 (unacquainted) : the stock market yeah.....I think I should stay away from markets for a while...crypto is crashing.
Guy 2 (loose acquaintance): yeah, you are asking for trouble with crypto. Everyone was nuts about it 3 weeks ago and now the same people are ready to jump off a bridge.
Guy 1: Yeah, I guess I’m one of those guys....I’m down 70% from last week.....I feel like an asshole.
Guy 2: I generally stay away from things I can’t make sense of and it seems no one can make sense of this stuff.
Guy 3 (the only one I’d consider a friend, although not incredibly close) remains silent. He either hates the stuff (not likely), is trying to keep it a secret that he’s a cryptomillionaire or....could it be...he fell for.....BITCONNEEEEEEEEEEEEEECT!
He’s probably just one of those guys who doesn’t like to share much about his financial situation, and maybe feeling the hurt of the red market. I also remain silent and the conversation moves to some other topics, of which I cannot relate, so I check in at discord...then coinmarketcap. They hit an awkward silence just as I realize the markets are back in the green.
“It looks like your coins are going to be ok, friend.” I say to the new guy.
His mood suddenly changes from one of cynicism to that of a kid who just got out of a dangerous situation by the skin of his teeth.
“It does this every January, this year was complicated by a bunch of things, bitcoin futures, new regulations, not to mentioned the fact that the level of growth of December was unsustainable.”
Everyone looked at me, waiting for more. I was suddenly being treated like an expert.....and in comparison, I was.
“Which coins do you have?”
Guy 1: I started with litecoin and one that’s really really unknown called Status. I made about $1000 on those and traded them for bitcoin and Etherium....I’ve lost more than half this past week though.
“Those sound like good plays to me, btc and eth are less volatile, you know, comparatively, they are likely to recover faster and even if they don't, they will surely recover. You have the safest coins out there. They probably won’t shoot up again right away but give it a few days, or even a few weeks and you’ll start to believe that they WILL recover and by the end of the year, at the VERY LEAST you will probably have twice what you had last week, as long as you don’t get sucked into any scams.”
He just kind of stared into space as a light smile came to his face. I realized how much he had been freaking out inside while trying to keep his mind off the markets earlier.
“Also Status isn’t an unknown coin. I’m pretty sure it’s a coin tied to a messenging app which sounds pretty cool, and it’s in the top 30. Top 30 out of over 1500 coins, half of those may be scams but the other half aren’t. It does seem a bit overvalued up that high but at this point I can’t say because I haven’t done research on it, you might have sold it at the perfect time”.
I had obviously done more research on it then him though.
Finally a smile came to his face. I looked at guy 3, his face still grim.... “BITCONNEEEEEEEEEEEEEECT” ...I thought to myself, and smiled back at guy 1.
It shocked me how much more I knew about crypto than the casual investor. I’ve essentially only spent 2 months researching it and while I’m practically a newb myself, I was a guru in comparison to these guys. Why shouldn’t I be? I’m essentially immersed in crypto every day just being at steemit.
You don’t even have to like the idea of crypto, I have my doubts, but you should know that it’s going to be a huge influence on the direction of our future. It’s best to know more about it. You have direct access here st steemit. You are knee deep in it so take advantage of that and help your panicky uninformed friends out.
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Confessions of the Damaged - a collection of short stories
—-
by @skyleap
I was reintroduced to the crypto world by a guy that I work with. I had looked into Bitcoin back when it had just came out, but didn't get in because I was unsure and not in a financial place where I could play around at that time. He and I started talking about it one night and then it was off to the races for me. He spoke so passionately and informedly that he got me into it. Now we are the ones that are informing others around us and I can tell that others are checking out crypto because the bring more to the conversation every time. I am super excited to see where this goes and I am glad to have someone to talk to at work when things get boring at work or exciting in the market!
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It’s always fun to have common ground with coworkers. Two people can convince others a lot easier than one as well. I just discovered three of my old friends have been into crypto for a while and we have lots to talk about suddenly.
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I think that we are convincing people, even if they don't admit it!
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The problem with... mostly americans, but really english speakers is how they got their information.
If they listen to the news, to Jim sCammer, or to any of those talking pundits, then EVERYTHING they know is wrong. Its not like parts of what they know aren't correct, but the whole point of view sold is to become more sheep to be sheared in the investment market.
Like this past Monday with the stock market fiasco. You hear the talking pundits saying that it was a bad day in the market, that stocks are down, but they will recover. They don't say that all the big players just stopped trading. Prices went down and there was NO buyers. Like, all at once, EVERYBODY decided that the prices were 10% too high. The only way that EVERYBODY decides something is by someone pulling a scam.
And so, if you followed the TV advice, you would have lost money, and then been encouraged to set yourself to lose more money later.
So, if you actually get real information on cryptos, like from Clif High, Bix Weir, Jsnip4 and scardicat here on steemit, then you know FAR more than most of the other people out there.
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I don’t like to pick on Americans like that, but I can totally understand, I myself left because of the culture. People like to be so proud of their so called individuality and freedom while meanwhile they associate their individuality with their ego and heir freedom with the whims of said ego.
I have no idea who Jim scammer is, but I think there problem isn’t this news or that news, it’s simply relying primarily on news no matter what the source. We live in an interconnected world, it doesn’t take much to go out and see what’s happening for yourself. The problem is that we need to shut up and listen to others, rather than just trying to force our opinions down other people’s throats.
I didn’t try to share any opinions about Syria until I made a Syrian friend. I didn’t take his opinions and make them mine either, I just used it to inform me a lot better, I never tried to argue with him about what he said that contradicted with the media and didn’t fully discount the stories of the media, I just recognize their extreme bias, and that their main goal is to maintain viewership and they’re willing to sink low to do so.
In short, I don’t assume I know everything, I’m just a perspective, and an interesting undervalued one at that.
Thanks for your crypto recommendations! It’ll be fun to check them out. I always love your comments.
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Its not that I am saying americans are bad or stupid, they just have a certain slant, a certain proclivity. The Japanese have other blind spots. The Germans... The Swiss...
Americans have this unique bent, where they believe the TV people; when the TV people basically do not explain anything, they just tell you the result. And thus, many americans think they know something, but all the know is the talking point, and that's it.
Jim Cramer is a money news person, who did such thing as saying that Bear Stearns is strong and stable and everyone should invest in it, the day before it crashed. And he has continuously made such catastrophic calls. But, he is still on the TV and many people puppet his statements.
I admire people like you that actually get the low down from the source.
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I find most places brave a large majority who blindly trust their preferred media, even some who say they don’t trust it but actually do. But Americans have a strong desire to convince everyone else’s what they “know”, not exclusively Americans, but it can be very extreme sometimes.
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Good job man. The worry that must go through some newcomers minds must be frightening. It seems like you've eased his worries well with some solid advice.
People don't know how to research properly in the ever expanding doubt enforced by the media and governments. Steemit is the place to be and it's also great for getting good advice on cryptos without having to dig too deep.
I've tried to talk to some of my friends about it but they all still seem on the fence, with good reason. I've planned to just lead by example and hopefully over time they can join me on Steemit and enjoy what it has to offer.
Hope you have a good day. From an Englishman.
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i think poor research is the norm simply because we are so accustomed to being entertained, rather than entertaining ourselves and finding fun in learning about what we are interested in. People see study as work and it doesn’t have to be. Work doesn’t even have to be work.
I have lots of different kind of friends, some get it, some don’t. I didn’t get into crypto until I learned I didn’t have to invest, I could “work” for it.
And goodday from a pineapple!
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I think every person that have at least daily visits here on steemit to catch up on things will probably have a little more knowledge than the average person.
I remember back in November, I was talking with a friend that was telling me one of his dad’s friends had started to mine bitcoin and I remember he asking me if mining bitcoin wasn’t illegal? In my mind I was like WTF dude?
To explain the context, in my country Venezuela mining bitcoin is probably illegal because of the currency exchange control we have here, either way ton of people do it on a clandestine way, but my friend was asking if it was illegal not in Venezuela but in the world... and I was like damn! How could you ask that xD?
In that moment I realize he didn’t quite get how bitcoin worked, so I explain to him the miners are the one who support and confirm the blockchain and it’s information... and that it’s not illegal to be a miner lol
But as crypto goes mainstream the people with little knowledge will also increase by a lot. It’s our duty to teach them so they can get on board with crypto faster and help with its takeover.
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Yes, I find myself a bit shocked at how blindly people follow trends. I remember this from high school but I haven’t put myself in many situations with so many of these kind stuff of people during the past 10 years. I supposed it’s good that I became a teacher, I never imagined I’d do most of my teaching informally outside of work though.
Now that the age of crypto is upon us, many of us will become teachers. We should always remain students as well, the best teachers do!
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Glad all that learning got to pay off!
I'm slowly moving forward with very teeny, tiny steps. Today I learned how to buy Steem, should I want to do so. All very professional. Drawn on the back of a napkin by @adetorrent.
If it was good enough for the Beatles (think Hey Jude) it's good enough for me!
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I hope I can write on napkins for all my fellow steemians one day!
Make it fun. For me it wasn’t just fun to learn what all the different coins do, it was like collecting Pokémon.
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@whatamidoing: I do agree with your scope on crypto. Knowledge gives one power, for the informed would always wield a power over the uninformed. I think i would feature you in my top five steemit writers of quality content on my blog this evening.
Thank you for sharing this. Lokking forward to more. By the way your stories sure would be amazing just about to read though, @donjyde.
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I am looking for power over myself, not over others, but knowledge can certainly help me have power over myself and prevent others from having power over me, i can also share it to help liberate others.
Thank you for your kind words!
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Haha nice story. It's so me... I have been preaching crypto and specifically Steem to few of my friends recently
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I don’t preach much, I do obsess but I found that It’s impossible to convince anyone of anything, when they see me quit my job without any worries they’ll come running to join.
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That was a great read.
I, on the other hand seem to be in the opposite scenario. My friends know more about crypto than I do, lol. Sure I've "known about" crypto for a few years but never really got around to looking into it, despite sharing a house with a miner aprox 5 years ago. All I really knew about mining back then, was that it was a strain on the electricity bill ^^.
It was only just over a week ago when Kurt (churdtzu) came down to visit that I was introduced to both steemit and consequently crypto at the same time. The following day after joining steemit, Kurt and I went into the city to catchup for coffee with the afore mentioned miner friend. Not being one to speak much whilst in the company of people more knowledgeable than myself on a subject matter, I mostly just listened to them talking about their last few years experience with crypto and heard the acronym "fomo" for the first time, as they discussed highs and lows they had ridden in the market. I was inspired, came back home and with Kurt's help started my steemit journey.
Initially impressed with watching my intro blog reach nearly $7, I then spent the last week, contributing and building up my reputation whilst watching that $7 slowly decline, day by day, to its current value of about $5.20 ^^ Without the support of my guru friends, especially Kurt, the declining value and all the fomo "shit posts" (as you call them ), I too may have acted a bit like chicken little. I'm also a huge fan of The Paradise Paradox so watching those podcasts also helped me keep my focus. As a newbie into both steemit and crypto, but also a veteran researcher, I couldn't think of a better way to learn about crypto than by getting involved in the steemit community spirit and earning while learning. Even though I'm only a week in, and what I know is still only the equivalent of my current voting power, compared to my guru friends, I can see that it wont take long before I can be the guru that you say to be, to my other friends, not involved in crypto yet. It's been a massive learning curve, but I'm not freaking at all regarding the current decline. Thanks for this article, you have inspired me further to be that guru :)
Speaking of learning curves, I only just yesterday really learned about voting power, and on checking mine (about 43% yesterday) am giving myself a 2 day voting break to recharge, but I will come back then and give you an upvote :)
Peace.
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knowing less than everyone is a great place to be. You can learn so much! I have fun learning about the differences between each coin. The only problem is that after I learn about them, I want to hold them and I don’t have much to invest, only my sbd and I’d also like to power up when Steem is low and sbd is high....so I find myself putting a measly $15 usd in a lot of coins.
Learn about the usage and philosophy of different coins first and you will learn a lot of the context from there. I meant to research “what is proof of stake” but eventually I learned it just researching coins.
Don’t worry about it. I understand the desire to vote a lot of people, we used to have 40 upvotes but our upvotes were weaker, I actually prefer that though.
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Thanks for the support and understanding. I'm on a double learning curve here haha. Learning how to steemit though, is an amazing way to gain understanding into the basic aspects of crypto anyway. I mean just to convert my rewards into steem dollars, into steem, into steem power, is a lesson in itself :)
Peace.
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I have also only been in the space for a short time,
but have become completely committed after participating in BitCamp.
I agree with accepting doubts, but gaining an understanding of the technology behind it all works to build confidence in the space for investment, and more importantly, for major improvements to society overall.
Here is a short summary of the course.
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A friend of mine interviewed me about Dash and other cryptos a while back, and he referred to me as an "expert". I thought he was exaggerating or trying to build me up somehow, but looking back I think he was being sincere. It's strange to be seen as the guru, especially when you get messages from people asking you about it so suddenly, after years of them not paying attention.
One time my friends who run a café in Mexico City messaged me asking about crypto, because they wanted to process transactions without using a bank. So it's cool to have the opportunity to give people ideas that will really help them.
Thanks for the great post.
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I don’t think it’s actually that hard to be a relative expert at something. Relative is relative though haha. You certainly not don’t need a certificate or formal training or even recognition to be an expert at something though. It is nice to help people with these things though.
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Yes... but technically all experts are relative experts ;)
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Such a great post... I read it just minutes after telling my friend back home to sell some of my silver for me so I can invest in Crypto and that we both gotta ride this wave or we're gonna get left behind... and I know neither of us are so stupid as to let a huge boat like this pass us by.
So thank you for this. I'm even more of a newbie but I am learning. I plan to just put my cash into BTC, ETH and STEEM and see where that goes, plus a few small investments of $10 - $20 into some smaller coins I've been recommended by other 'gurus' who are just newbies slightly along the line than me!
After being in this community just 10 days I can see that Steem definitely has so much potential and I really believe in it... Plus I want some Steem Power so that my votes actually count for something :P
Thanks for creating and sharing this post. It's inspired me!
With love
Hart Floe
<3
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Oh also thank you for the link to the discord group... I'll see you there!
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It’s amazing how much you can learn in a few weeks if you are interested in what you are learning. Keep at it! You’ll be an “expert” in no time haha
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I'm imagining the awe and wonder in which they would have been regarding you at that stage XD
I still know nothing about crypto, I only ever know what's going on when the feed and Discord explodes over whatever XP
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You are too busy being badass with your Mohawk. I only learn as much as it’s fun for me. It’s fun because I see good people freeing themselves from the 9-5 and that’s exciting! You probably know, I’m very very not into the idea of finance, and to me, transfer or storage of value is quite arbitrary
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My precious..... dogecoin.....
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Thank you for advise
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Your post is very nice ... @whatamidoing
I upvote 100% of your posts ...
Continue to work ...
If you do not mind my upvote back posting too: https://steemit.com/crypto/@aaabangganteng/my-problem-with-bitcoin-usdbtc-today-vs-nasdaq-99-bubble-chart-in-3-pictures
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