Granny's experience with Cryptocurrencies

Relax!....it's just a fridge magnet!!

I just watched the Anarchast youtube video of Jeff Berwick interviewing @dantheman Larimer and Ned Scott, the creators of Steemit. (link below) I was hoping to get some understanding about how this whole Steemit thing works. I enjoyed listening. I found it inspirational. The big ideas....the creative ways of putting ideas in motion...of creating something to do good...I loved it but...

BAM!! …sigh…I totally don’t get it…. But even @dollarvigilante had a lot of questions, so as far as steemit goes, I’m going to see if I can flip the switch to turn on the lights even without understanding of how or why electricity works. That was how I began with computers…and I like that analogy which @ned Scott encouragingly alluded to on the video. I have no care whether or not I make a bucket it steem…(whatever that is). I just hope that one or two people will relate to something I have to say. If they upvote it and I make one penny…well…that’s just gravy. My experience with bitcoin was an even more mystifying experience than steem as I recall. (but maybe that was because I had to invest real money...ignorantly)

I am what I like to call, a granarchist. (someone who discovered she was an anarchist after she was a grandmother) As an granarchist, I should really be into Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. I know this because, like the rest of you, I would dearly love to stick it to the bankers....but there is no way that I can get a handle on how cryptos work. (and I’ve tried) When I first looked into Bitcoin…I think it was at $700, and I know I should have bought some. But the way I saw it, I would have to find some way to get my hands on some (pretend) Bitcoin…and the only way I could think of, since I know nothing about (pretend) mining, was to find a way to purchase it. which somehow seemed counterintuitive at the time.

On inquiring among other assorted anarchists libertarians, voluntarists, and cryptocurrency gurus, I learned there was an new ATM being installed in my city where I could put in my money and get (pretend) Bitcoin but it seemed a little like putting my money in a bottle and sending it out on the tide. Assuming I wouldn’t lose or forget my key, my password, my account, or whatever, was like assuming my money in a bottle would come back sometime when I was at the beach.

Assuming I never forgot my information, I could theoretically access my (pretend) currency in my (pretend) wallet, with my brand new and completely incomprehensible smart phone. But then there was the problem of having to find a way to spend my bitcoin since I already had all the hemp clothing I needed. I guess it would have been better to think of it as I might a collection of loose diamonds….not spending money…but hoarding money. I was thinking more of switching to a new spending currency and taking the kids out for ice-cream, but I'm starting to see that that's the wrong way to think of it maybe....Although if we want to replace the currency... shouldn't we be able to purchase ice-cream?

One thing I eventually learned was that bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are for speculators. An investment. People like me, who just want to get their RRSP safely out of the hands of the bankers and preserve it’s value are better to go for precious metals. (Correct me if I'm I wrong about this?) All I really want to do is to get my resources, out from under the watchful eye of the powers that be, because as my old Dad was fond of saying,

What the eye does not see….the hand does not reach for.

In spite of my attempts to use what little knowledge of finance I have though, at the end of the day I don’t obsess about preservation of wealth. I'm well aware that gold bullion could be lost just as easily as bitcoin. ( oh yeah...it's stuck to the fridge.) I'm just trying to be a good steward, so I don't end up living under a bridge... but ultimately my trust is not in finances…but in He who watches over the little sparrows.
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