Concepts are like seeds that can hold fundamental principles of a particular topic. Just like a seed can grow into a tree, fundamental principles can also offshoot into creating other principles. Mathematics as a topic include fundamental principles like arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. And these have branch off and created other principles like statistics and trigonometry.
Finance as a topic isn't excluded from this. Take the concept of money, which is arguably the most expansive concept in finance and many people usually have a rough understanding of what is money. Over the centuries, the concept of money has expanded from a seed to a full grown tree with branches in many directions. What is money, is it the leaf, the branches, or the fruit of the tree?
In particular, this post will focus on crypto, exploring how this concept have expanded over time. Crypto is relatively new, yet it has grown a lot within that time frame.
From Simple To Diverse
Cryptocurrency, in its early days was basically a digital currency that uses cryptography to verify and secure transactions. Bitcoin started as a peer-to-peer money system. But over the years, it has been recognized as a global store of value and a hedge against inflation, which is one of the reasons why more people are also viewing it as digital gold.
What was Steem/Hive in it's early days if not a social blogging platform? Today, is Hive still a social blogging platform? No and yes. No, because it has expanded beyond that and yes, because social blogging is a part of Hive.
It is said that Ethereum has become the crypto hub for innovation, experimentation and collaboration across different fields. Thanks to its invention of smart contracts and decentralized applications(Dapps) which it has developed and iterated over the years.
Apart from becoming a popular memecoin and a symbol of internet culture, Dogecoin has also been utilized as a vehicle for charitable donations. This cryptocurrency that started out as a joke and a parody of Bitcoin.
Possible Reasons For Expansion
Of course, crypto as a concept isn't strictly financial. However, finance is a core component of it. In a way, this is also a form of expansion.
Modern technologies are non-linear and multidimensional. They grow so fast and when they enter a particular field, they radically transform it. Besides, they're also very good at crossing different fields and domains, as they are often platform or protocol based. Blockchain technology and it's different mechanism are sometimes referred to as a protocol.
A possible reason for the expansion of crypto concept is the rapid development of this above mentioned technology, which has created new use cases and added features for crypto users. Apart from solving a problem(s), each new use case also expands the value of the technology.
Speaking of value, another possible reason for expansion could be the growing interest towards alternative forms of value creation and exchange that are transparent and inclusive.
Collectively, we're becoming more aware of the broken system we live in and this has fueled the need to change that through creating better systems that are not dependent on intermediaries or centralized authorities. We could say that centralized authorities are the main reason for the broken system and intermediaries reinforce the brokenness.
In Closing
As the digital age progresses, money is moving away from a simple or static concept, as it's becoming a more complex and dynamic concept that evolves and expands over time.
From an analogical viewpoint, money can be viewed as a tree that has grown from a seed of value exchange to a diverse and multifaceted system that has various functions and purposes.
Crypto is one of the recent branches from the tree and it has grown to also spawned sub-branches, such as tokens and applications. Going from a simple digital currency to a diverse and innovative ecosystem.
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.
Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha
This is beautifully simplified especially for persons like myself who consider financial speeches as a somewhat boring tale of terminologies that entails the use of a dictionary on hand🥴
I read till the very end and was enlightened some more about crypto as a branch of money and many more.
Please tell me you teach or at least make presentations at your workspace. I sure do know you will make an exceptional presentation to win a case over.
Right! I think analogies are a great way to simplify things and have a better understanding of them. Back then, the language of money bore me headaches whenever it was discussed. But now things are different, I just keep an open mind and let it sink in.
Lol, not at all. I do neither of those. Thank you for the compliment Whitney, I appreciate it :)
Thanks for stopping by :)
Very well explained. Financial aspect with used cases do hold a strong base and good adaption. The old fiat concepts are changing, where money was stagnant and used only for commodities, the growth of money has limitations where as in crypto it has some limitations but they are still far more lucrative then the fiat.
Exactly! Crypto allows us to go beyond the traditional limitations of money, which also brings along new functions or use cases for money. Being aware of these many functions of money can help us make better use of it.
Thanks for stopping by :)
They are the main reasons for the broken system especially here in Nigeria. More than anything the introduction of these alternative forms of exchange that are transparent will go a long way to elevating poverty if more people allow and access growth beyond the stagnant system of education that defines money as merely currencies/trade by barter.
Exactly! When the network effect kicks in through many more people using this alternative and better system, things will be unstoppable and the broken system will lose its grip on us. These centralized authorities have no aim of making the system better but rather making it worse at the expense of the many.
Thanks for stopping by again :)
I have come to realize that the subject of money is so complex, that I see myself open to learning more about it where possible.
I like your analog description of money and with cryptocurrency being a new form of money with many possibilities and use cases energy from its base technology.
Same here too! We never get to stop learning about money as it is part of the very fabric of society and it is evolving with it. I think that analogy will help us understand the basics and how it relates to the different parts as the tree grows bigger.
Thanks for stopping by :)
Good post.
This point in particular is important:
This is why we never predicted the full extent of the internets expansion. And we won’t predict the full extent of the blockchains use.
Very true! Fundamentally, our minds operate differently, it can't 'see' or think beyond a certain extent or level. I think we're in for a lot of surprises in the coming years with regards to these technologies.
Thanks for the kind remark and for stopping by :)
Yay! 🤗
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