Mariner always has preferred paying cash. There were times though, when having credit was a life saver; credit cards and mortgage loans made life doable. Fortunately, mariner still uses credit cards only when cash is not acceptable. What mariner likes about cash is that it is relatively untraceable; no one knows mariner bought some trendy toy or paid for a trip to a vacation spot. The nosiness of social media and big data don’t know except through post-purchase commercial services that don’t have his profile data. Mariner’s vehicle tracking is disconnected so he can drive where he likes without big data knowing.
But now mariner must learn about a whole new banking system: crypto cash, the bitcoin world. We must all adjust. Even today banks and retail are planning conversion. The U.S. government already is deep into having taxes paid with bitcoin – or as the news media calls it, govcoin.
Understand that bitcoins are not physical and only exist in the digital world! One cannot trade a silver quarter for a bitcoin. That’s why bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are often called digital currencies. The reader won’t need a wallet, only a computer. The reader won’t need a credit card, only a computer. In fact, the reader won’t even need a bank – only a computer. It should be noted that significantly large areas of the U.S. don’t have access to the Internet.
The simplest way to convert cash/credit to bit coin is through a crypto-exchange. One example for demonstration purposes is COINBASE. Bitcoin was invented to remove one type of middleman — the banks. Banks are famous for taking fees for transactions. Banks played a big role in the financial crisis of 2008; bitcoin started in 2009, just after that crisis.
This is a deep statement: In a decentralized network, the data is everywhere, it can’t be shutdown. More important, however, is bitcoin behaves more like the stock market than a bank account. There is a limit to how many bitcoins are available (Bitcoin has a limit of 21 million coins; once there are 21 million bitcoins, no more coins can be created). This means that bitcoin values can rise and fall just like any real estate or stock market investment.
As a new investment source, bitcoins and other self-defined coins are a heady investment but the downside is the coins are not regulated like the reader’s local bank. It truly is like gambling on the stock market hoping a rise in value will pay your tax bill.
Mariner likes his twenty dollar bills.
Ancient Mariner