Hello World! #steemit #community

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Thanks for taking a glance at my first blog post!

I'll take this opportunity to introduce myself to the awesome steemit community!
My names Jez Smith, 25, Liverpool - UK.

Hobbies & Interests
• Cryptocurrency
• 3D Printing
• Game Development
• D.I.Y
• BMX

Career
• Software Developer
• Electrician

This is me below, chilling with the newcomer to the family, Milo, the Springerdoodle. Cute as hell...bites like he's straight from hell!

I'm incredibly excited to get started here on Steemit!

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First Thoughts...

Why Am I Here?

I'm sure like many of you, after delving into the world of cryptocurrency , it's not long until you realise Steem is everywhere you look. The majority of story's, personal experience blogs, crypto news and even crypto-advice articles that i came across in my desperate scramble to learn all and everything crypto, were posted here on the Steemit website. This re-occurrence of the steemit.com URL in my browser, led me to curiosity, and curiosity ultimately led me to creating an account. This was before i knew what on earth Steem or Steemit was all about, i just had the idea it was some sort of news site!

I was in for a pleasant surprise!

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What Is This Sorcery?

Exactly what i first thought, crypto for blog posts? Incentive to spur the motivation to write something constructive and valuable to the reader? Well it certainly does create incentive. After signing up and taking a look around, learning about Steem and about how Steemit works with the voting system etc, i was hooked! "Paid for likes? Yes please!".
The amazing thing is though, (and its not the seemingly freemoney), it's the fact the majority of posts on Steemit, well the ones I've read over the last couple days anyway, ACTUALLY do offer some real value to the reader. I find other social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter etc, to be very 'click baity' with no decent content once 'clicked'. Steemit offers real incentive to change that!

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Making Progress

For the first few weeks while getting into the crypto scene, I spent a lot of time researching and gaining as deep of an understanding of blockchain technology as possible.
For those that are new to it,
Wikipedia states:-"A blockchain facilitates secure online transactions. A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network"

Being a programmer myself, and a wannabe 'futurist' , i believe in the incredible potential, as well seeing the possible downfall of this technology. I am far from an economist, and have never had experience in the stock market, nor really had investments in anything apart from my own piggy bank! I was sceptical, for sure! But FOMO got the better of me.
After gaining a basic understanding of how Bitcoin and other similar cryptocurrencys and altcoins operate, creating a valuation for themselves in relation to either the USD/GBP/EUR or Bitcoin itself, the whole mining situation, wallets, exchanges, fees etc... I decided to go ahead and make my first purchase.

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MONEY!?

I needed to get some cryptocurrency...
So I went over and signed up to coinbase.com - due to its ease of use. Unfortunately at the time of signing up, Visa transactions from the UK weren't working, and after about a week of frustration I gave in and made a deposit in EUR via SEPA. This cost some hefty fees, and I had to initially send more money than I would of liked. But hey, it didn't matter, it felt good to finally be able to buy some crypto! So as soon as I could, I went and bought some Ethereum. After reading many articles/predictions/analysis on the 'future of ETH' and becoming intrigued by the idea of using ethereum blockchain to build apps upon. I decided ETH to be a worthy currency as my first adventure into the cryptospace. I bought £10 worth on June 8th, at around £195/$255. I watched over the next few days as my money grew.
I admit, i was shocked, excited, but still... very sceptical.

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A Bad Decision

Feeling annoyed with myself that I'd missed out on a week or so of profit due to the Visa issues, along with the surprise of the continually rising ETH price, aswell (and mainly) due to my in-experience in the market as a whole, for some stupid reason i thought it to be a great idea to buy 1.0ETH on no other than June 12th. Nearly $400 per ETH. As you probably know, this was a bad decision, as ETH price has taken a turn for the worst over the past month since the all time high on that date. I have since sent most of that initial ETH to multiple exchanges, and invested in a number of altcoins, as well as Litecoin and Bitcoin. I have rebought my 1.0ETH after trading multiple currency over the past month at a much lower price. Even though the price continues to fall, I feel much more familiar with the whole roller-coaster that is the crypto-market, and I am feeling much more on track with my crypto-life!

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Advice Welcome!

As with anything new and unfamiliar, research and studying will be on the agenda, I'd greatly appreciate any advice you awesome people in the steemit community can offer me!

Thanks again for taking the time to check this out!
Follow me so i can check out your profile and find some great feeds!