We Need Better Alt-Coins

Cryptocurrencies are so hot right now.

This is super great news. I am ecstatic. My friends that used to give me some crazy ass looks when I mentioned Dogecoin have now invested in it themselves. It is fantastic that crypto is now so widely accepted and talked about, but I do seeing this whole "trend" hitting a wall soon and for good reason.

There are so many alt-coins now, that say they are amazing and are going to revolutionize the world. The truth is, however, that few, if any, will still be around in 10 years. This is because most of them don't have much to offer. Someone creates a cool sounding crypto, writes up a white paper for it (or has someone on Fiverr do it) and then they sell their new "product" to the masses, claiming to have the newest, next best thing.

So many of these coins have not only failed miserably, but before they did, took millions - or even billions - of dollars down with them.

It is a miracle that these coins haven't managed to sully the good name of crypto in general, but they potentially could if we don't do something about it, and soon.

Steem is a valuable asset because it isn't just something you buy with fiat. It is a crypto that is earned through the production of something, like a blog. BAT is valuable because it is earned through an action - like surfing the web. These are the kind of revolutionary, if not evolutionary cryptos that will actually alter how society functions. If we have enough cryptos like these, we may not even need a UBI, especially if these cryptos have to compete for our attention. Right now, people are just throwing their money at cryptos, getting very little in return, unless they happen to invest at the right time and make money on its value, but it has to be more than that. There needs to be more cryptos that you earn through action or production. I personally think places like Yahoo and Yelp need to get onboard with this. They could create a crypto that you earn with reviews of places...the better the review, the higher the payout. For that matter, this could replace some jobs even.

Can you imagine if people were able to survey their towns the same way that Google does? What if there was a crypto competitor to Google maps? A giant, Wikipedia-like conglomerate of pictures and directions submitted by the actual people who live in their towns/cities/states? Each contribution could pay a nice amount of crypto, an the more people who onboarded it, the more the crypto would be worth, and the more your time would be worth. Google thinks they are invincible but they really aren't. In the same way, a competitor to Yelp would reward people for their contributions. Maybe people could even post those panoramic pics of the places they visit in order to give people a better idea of where they are going before they order from there or go there.

There is an endless amount of ways crypto could help contribute to society as a whole, so why do we keep settling for paying our hard earned money into endless altcoins with only the potential that they may increase in value and make us rich?

I am not saying to not invest in crypto, especially those that offer alternatives to the ones we currently have, but I am also saying that we should start demanding better from the blockchain, and really make it serve us. Otherwise, what's the point of it all?

Do you agree? Or are you happy just dumping that fiat into select alt-coins. Let me know!

• LS