Crypto from the eyes of an insider
Following a high energy social event, decompressing in nature has become a ritual of mine.
I had spent the evening with like-minded individuals navigating the world of web3 and blockchain technology.
As I made my way down a snow-covered roadway in the mountains of Breckenridge, taking in the peaceful beauty of the forest that towered around me, lights began to approach from behind me.
As the headlights came closer, the vehicle began to slow. I kept on walking until the white truck with blacked-out windows came to a halt beside me. I stopped as the began window to roll down.
‘Hey, it’s my buddy!’ Was shouted with excitement from the window.
The truck was packed with others from the event I had just attended, and they were offering me a lift. I awkwardly opened the back door only to see that there was no room and realized the spot they were offering me was in the cargo bed of the truck. Perfect! I thought. This way I still got to enjoy the beauty of the forest as we made our way back into town.
While it may seem like a small thing to stop and offer a ride to someone, especially someone you may know, this one small act of kindness brought reflection to the surface of my thoughts. After spending over a week with this community, everything I believed this world of ‘crypto’ could be, was already being realized.
For those that aren’t aware, the crypto community has a myriad of events that take place all over the world. This past month, an event took place. This event is known as ETH Denver. This event has been happening for the past several years, growing its community of pilgrims that come to share ideas, discover new projects and meet their fellow decentralists.
ETH Denver is an interesting event. While it is to some extent hosted, it has an air of open source, which is at the core of the crypto world. Tickets are free and members of the public can submit events.
While this wasn’t my first event, it was my first ETH Denver. The experience was both reaffirming and inspiring.
For the past few months, I had been coming to the conclusion that the market conditions were different now. While analysts were comparing the particular moment in time to some past event or another, we forget to remember that we do not have much history to compare the present moment with. This evolution in technology has barely been around a decade.
As I have become more engrained in the crypto space, I began seeing noticeable changes. The industry has begun to mature to a state of developing real-world utility. We are beginning to find functional ways to create real-world change, and the potential of blockchain is beginning to be realized. Whatever the market conditions might look like from a strictly financial perspective is beginning to matter less; people are focused on building and exploring what’s possible. Radical new developments are showcasing ways that could revolutionize the way society functions. But this was all just a theory.
From the moment I arrived at ETH Denver, there was an air of excitement. Almost everyone was building something, and they all believed — whether delusional or not — that they were doing something for the betterment of society.
Everywhere you went you were surrounded by conversation. The atmosphere was electric. But what excited me most was the substance. People here weren’t discussing get-rich-quick schemes or the price of their project — they were talking about real-world problems, social dilemmas, and how we could use this technology to help facilitate change and create equality. Stage presenters were discussing failed attempts and what they had learned, often even presenting new potential solutions, building on the shoulders of what had come before. These were innovators, programmers, data-driven individuals that were examining the problems of society and bootstrapping solutions.
Everything from personal data protection to climate change solutions to immutable ownership was being discussed — and that barely scratches the surface. Think of something you know that has communication failure or corruption in its current state; there’s someone here trying to solve it. The crypto community is all about equality, transparency, efficiency, and giving rights and control back to the people. These are not people looking to take advantage of those new to the game. In fact, if you were to find yourself here as someone new to the space, you would find yourself surrounded by members of the community looking to help you in your education. To them, the more people that are a part of this movement, the closer we become to a fair society. To them, it’s only a matter of time.
If you’re a non-believer in this ‘web3’ world, I urge you to explore the technology. Understand what it is and what it does, and perhaps even more than that, understand what’s possible.
These innovators are quietly working to make the world a better place — giving you back control of your finances, making processes more transparent & efficient, and empowering the voice of the collective. So if you bump into one of these folks along your way, maybe wish them well!
