My Intro To Crypto
Tags: cryptocurrency, blockchain, arcblock
Published: 2024-04-04 18:41:23

Boredom, and broke-ness have led me to develop somewhat of a curiosity about the vast realm that is, cryptocurrency. Initially, I first heard a tiny bit about cryptocurrency around eight or nine years ago, when a coworker at the restaurant I worked at was discussing their Bitcoin investments. 

“This stuff’s DEFINITELY going to blow up!!” exclaimed the confident early-investor-slash-line-cook.

“I swear this dude is stupid…” mumbled a nearby line-cook-slash-skeptic.

Sometimes I wonder if the first guy ended up holding on to his Bitcoin for long enough to reap the rewards, but besides that, I can’t say I’ve thought much about the whole crypto thing since then. It seemed cool enough, but I was too impatient and unsure to join the craze. 

Which brings me to today…  After witnessing my brother make a little money with crypto, and developing a healthy curiosity based on the growing phenomenon and its many success stories, I’ve decided to compose a blog about my crypto journey to help me learn, grow my understanding, and document my progress while delving into the world of crypto currency.

My first real introduction into and participation in cryptocurrency would be the DID Wallet app, which I will explain in further detail momentarily. Basically, my brother texted me to download some app, that he would be sending me NFTs on occasion. I didn’t really understand what I was getting into, but I figured there’s no harm in accepting gifts from my brother. Over the course of a year or so, my brother sent me the occasional NFT, usually something I would think is cute like a chicken or robot, and I’d allow it to remain in my unused DID Wallet until further notice. 

Now, all of those NFTs are still there, unused and unbothered, but I decided it’s about time I took the time to learn what this DID Wallet app is, and what are its capabilities. In order to grasp this idea, I found I needed to figure out what a few terms that were being thrown around frequently meant.

DID Wallet is a decentralized wallet application that uses decentralized identity to protect/ensure privacy and allows the users to maintain several different block chains and exchange tokens, NFTs and cryptocurrencies outside of a centralized system. A centralized system, for example, is a typical bank, wherein contacting/utilizing the features of the bank is necessary in order to move money from your account, to a different account, or to send money outside of your account. It’s your money, but some greater entity essentially has direct control of it, and you will need to go through it in order to access your funds. In terms of social media, Twitter and Facebook are centralized applications in that there is a centralized entity that can remove content at will as a means of censorship, for better or for worse. Ebay and Amazon are centralized applications that are governed by a central host and its policies, and in addition, they charge its vendors a fee in order to utilize their platforms. A decentralized platform is, of course, the opposite of those. There is no central server that governs the use of the application. Cryptocurrency can be bought, sold and moved around without interference from a central server, same with NFTs. In terms of social media, posts cannot be removed nor censored to comply with a centralized policy. Basically decentralized applications are controlled by the individual users rather than a central entity. It has a bit of a wild west vibe to it, don’t you think?

Blockchains are transparent systems that record exchanges, especially in terms of cryptocurrency. ArcBlock is a particular decentralized blockchain that can be openly invested in and traded via purchasing the cryptocurrency, ABT or ArcBlock. ArcBlock is the creator of the DID Wallet app, which is used to maintain a variety of blockchains for trading and storing cryptocurrencies, tokens and NFTs. DID technology uses the idea of decentralized identities to create various DIDs which encrypt one’s identity while maintaining various private channels for communication with other users.

In short, I found out the DID Wallet my NFTs have been living in is an ultra encrypted, identity protecting wallet app that can be used to manage various blockchains at once, as well as store tokens and NFTs. I’ve still got a ton of stuff I need to wrap my head around in this vast universe that is cryptocurrency, but I’ll be taking it day by day, learning more as I go, until I’ve grasped enough fundamental information to feel confident enough to begin making my own investments and decisions. In my next blog, I’ll likely dig even deeper into the fundamentals in order to gain a better understanding before jumping back into the specific systems at play in my own journey. Thanks for reading this far, I hope you’ll join me as I grow and document my journey into cryptocurrency.