Bitcoin might be coming back down to earth, but that might just mean that it is becoming more and more accessible to regular investors. It is certainly a great time to get to know everything out there about blockchain technology so you can become well versed in the next stages of the internet boom.
While most everyone all thought that the explosion in the cryptocurrency spacing seeming to spill over into 2018, the temptation is to get in on the action as an investor. While that may seem like a good idea, unless you are great at speculative bubbles, it is probably time to sit back and take advantage of all the great resources out there to learn about blockchain technology and what it can do. Bitcoin mining, Ethereum smart contracts, something called Ripple. The industry is wildly confusing and fascinating at the same time. It helps to read a whole lot of white papers and download a lot of learning into your noggin.
Regardless of what happens with Bitcoin as a digital currency, blockchain tech is most likely going to power a new era of growth in the Internet. The ability to have a decentralized ledger that is housed on multiple nodes of a network can have a profound effect on lots of industries. You can keep records of all sorts of inventory and items with much less oversight and infrastructure. And the speed to verify records and transfer ownership digitally can vastly alter the landscape of businesses that function as middlemen.
Early adopters of the tech, and it is still early when it comes to blockchain deployment, will win out, not only from a startup lottery perspective, but from having intimate knowledge of the tech and its functioning in the real world. Bitcoin got its start as the brainchild of a small group of cryptographic programmers and it retains some semblance of utopian thinking. The fracture of the community into Bitcoin Cash and the constellation of other blockchain entities makes for a fascinating subculture to study and understand.
But the most important thing to understand right now is the nuts and bolts of blockchain development. The demand for that knowledge is going to be high and getting higher and more intense as adoption continues in the wider world. Learning how to develop a blockchain app or how the underpinnings of the tech works is valuable, no matter if you go on to become a developer or an investor or a participant in the blockchain community.
With the speculation at an intermediate point, after Bitcoin jumped to $20,000 and dropped down to under $10,000, the time is now to get interested. Many no-coiners are crowing with certainty about the death of Bitcoin, but the story is not over yet. There is still a chance to becoming a recurring character in the narrative.
Day trading Bitcoin and other currencies is possible right now, if you have extra cash and the appetite for risk that goes beyond typical day trading. But the real value is in the education you will receive as you delve into the crypto world, day after day.