As first published in The Q Review Summer 2021/22 Magazine.  Follow the link to Subscribe and receive your FREE copy each quarter!

Ok, I am going to tread where arguably I shouldn’t…

I am going to talk, in very general terms, about cryptocurrency, the blockchain, NFTs and what has been coined “Web 3.0”.

Now there is no doubt these are dangerous steps to take. But given this is a topic that is part of the consciousness of every single CapitalQ Community Member, I can no longer ignore the elephant in the room.

I say these are dangerous steps to take because we are about as far from experts on the technical side of these things as you can get. We are little better informed in regards to the use case as well.

It is also dangerous because there are a lot of very passionate people out there who will no doubt disagree with some of my thoughts and comments, and will be lightning quick to point out any errors I make.

But the thing is, the number of people out there who can claim to be even moderately well informed, and comprehending, of the topic is, in my experience thus far, still small.

However this isn’t stopping crypto and the like from being an inevitable topic of conversation in almost any social environment (it was one of the first things to come up when having a beer after the game at cricket this weekend).

As suggested, I would say amongst the cohort of people I have interacted with over recent times there isn’t one who I felt truly understood how all these things work, how they will ultimately be used and how their future value can be accurately assessed.

…what we are presently experiencing in relation to crypto and the like is to an extent a repeat of history…

There are people who claim to know and understand these things. But frankly I remain sceptical of their knowledge and their confidence in that purported knowledge.

They clearly “believe”, and that is great. “Understand…” maybe that is another thing. But hey, maybe I’m the one who doesn’t understand.

Having said that, I think there is an argument to say even those in the know, don’t fully ‘know’, precisely where this is all going to go. And this can be said for many of the great advances over time.

Inventors (so to speak), often never really know just how their idea would end up being used and what it could ultimately achieve and become.

Certainly, it seems to be generally accepted even the makers of early personal computers, didn’t know just how far, powerful and ubiquitous it could be.

Similarly Zuckerberg didn’t know what his ‘invention’ would become (if you can believe anything in books and movies about those early days of Facebook).

Nevertheless, they had enough vision to know their thing was going to be big, one way or another. And the more I do learn about cryptocurrencies and blockchain in particular, and hear from those at the coal face, I can’t help but feel they are right when they say this is the next big thing.

Regardless, I think you have to accept that what we are presently experiencing in relation to crypto and the like is to an extent a repeat of history. In that it is not dissimilar to a gold rush, oil rush, the dotcom boom even some property booms.

It is the cool new thing, it seems to be a way to make a quick profit, and everyone is fearful of missing out.

From that point of view, there is nothing new to see here.

And as we know with all such periods and events, there will be winners and there will be losers!

Read more in Part 2 in coming weeks…