We All Love The Memes But Crypto's No Joke. It’s Your Future.

You’ve probably heard a bit about crypto and blockchain. You might even have started to invest and noticed that it’s one hell of a rollercoaster ride…

Great! We’re excited that you’re here with us. But do you fully understand what you’re getting yourself into?

Let’s take a look at this together. We’ve been poking around in the wider world of crypto and it seems clear that we’re all dabbling in something that is going to fundamentally alter the way we live. It’ll impact how we do business, transform many industries, and upend many things we take for granted.

How cool is it that you’re already on this journey? 

So if you need to brush up on your crypto and blockchain knowledge, and are looking to have some fun with it, then we’re here to help you. And just by being here, you’re one step ahead of most people. 

Or if you are just using crypto as a profitable slice of your investment portfolio, then it’s time to take a deeper look at where this is all going. If you get ahead now, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about the future of crypto in your life and your community as this technology starts to take hold.

That’s right, this is serious business. Because everyone, whether they like it or not, will have a future in crypto.

But isn’t crypto just a digital currency? Well yes… and no. Here’s some context. 

PwC have recently estimated that blockchain technology could add $1.76 TRILLION to the world economy by 2030 and enhance over 40 million jobs. 

So, how will it have such a big impact on the world economy?

The New Internet Era

The first era of the Internet, the one we’re just coming to the end of, massively disrupted the world we live in. It has transformed the way we work, interact, shop, do business, and consume media. You name it, the internet has probably changed it in some way or another. This is what the World Economic Forum calls the “Internet of Information”. 

Cryptocurrency and the underlying technology, blockchain, are propelling the Internet into the next phase known as the “Internet of Value”.

What does this mean for the Internet (and more importantly, you)?

Here’s a quick crypto recap. Crypto sits on top of blockchain technology. And blockchain is essentially a decentralized ledger. 

Now, in the “old world” the auditing of transactions was controlled by central institutions: governments and banks, for example. In the blockchain world, these transactions are held on a distributed ledger which makes them far more secure and unhackable. It essentially removes the middle person from the transaction. The transactions are way more transparent: you can always see, if you want to, which two parties are involved in the transfer of value. 

This means that blockchain can become the main way of exchanging and tracking value: whether that be financial assets, real estate, art, copyrights, or even your voice within a democracy. It will become the way creators and consumers transfer goods or services between each other without the involvement of a central authority.

This is all held on a decentralized network on the Internet. We call this the “Internet of Value”.

(By the way, if you want to know more about all of this… or if this is starting to sound too technical for you… then don’t worry. We’ve got something for you at SquareWon… go to our website to sign up to be one of the first to get your hands on what we’re building. We’ve got a way to help you and we can’t wait to share it!).

So, let’s look at some of the real-life examples of how crypto and blockchain are going to disrupt the world.

Here Comes The Metaverse

Everyone is talking about the Metaverse. Do you have any idea what it is? It sounds like a Bond villain’s playground, but right now we’re lucky that only the evil geniuses at Facebook are getting into it… too soon?

The Metaverse will be the new way of interacting over the Internet - a place where virtual reality, augmented reality, and extended reality all come together and provide a place for humans to exist.

You’ll be able to shop in the metaverse, buy real estate, hang out with your friends… the list keeps growing. All of this needs a payment system, a way to track transactions. It’ll be underpinned with crypto and the blockchain.

Finance

The most obvious space where blockchain technology will have an impact is within Finance. Obvious because one of the manifestations of blockchain technology is spendable digital currency, hence the term “cryptocurrency”. Here at SquareWon, we like the term “CryptoAssets” instead. While many projects are looking at creating spendable currency some, like Bitcoin, work better as a store of value. Others, like Ethereum, are used more as a means of transacting within an ecosystem or within smart contracts, rather than being intended for use in our day-to-day spending that we normally associate with the concept of “currency”. 

But, there is so much more that blockchain can offer the finance space.

Being able to audit and review all transactions on a blockchain opens up transparency like never before. Imagine a world where you’d be able to assess the true value of a financial asset because you’d be able to understand how it is made up of its various parts. 

We’re willing to bet the 2008 crash would never have happened with such an insight. A bold claim, but we see blockchain as being part of the answer to reign in excesses within the financial sector by giving people and governments the transparency they need to make good decisions.

Blockchain and crypto have led the way in creating disruptive financial companies. Keep an eye out for an article on #DeFi and what it means for you, us, and everyone… watch this space!

Real Estate

Now, you might think: how can blockchain impact real estate? How can blockchain, which is all just ones and zeros, actually impact the buying and selling of properties?

Well, in this new era of the “Internet of Value” all assets will be tracked online. Including bricks and mortar. Imagine not having to employ someone to search for deed titles. Or being able to understand who owns which property at any one time. And being comfortable in the knowledge that the ownership of your property is recorded securely and immutably on the blockchain.

Government

Being able to trust that your vote is secure and that it hasn’t been interfered with by a malicious external influence would save us all from some of the political headaches that currently engulf our democracies.

And blockchain can help us with this.

By putting voting mechanisms on the blockchain, we’d be able to securely verify identities and ensure that a vote is not tampered with. This, we believe, is how democracies will manage elections in the future.

Blockchain has wider implications for the government. Imagine a future where you’ll be able to track where your tax dollars go, all on the blockchain. This blows government accountability wide open and could potentially restore faith in governments worldwide.

Education

We love learning at SquareWon. And it should be a barrel of laughs too. That’s why we’re creating an extra special platform to combine gaming and learning so that you can get ahead with crypto. 

Now, imagine your results from that platform are being recorded on the blockchain. You’ll be able to prove to your friends, family, potential employers, and the whole damn world your abilities and achievements.

No one will ever doubt you again!

It’s all part of the decentralized education (or DeEd) revolution. And we’re a part of that. This record of results will help you make an informed choice about advisors or partners you’re looking to work with, not only in the crypto space but potentially in other industries too.

And this won’t just happen at SquareWon. Blockchain will have a massive impact on education as a whole. Recording of results on the blockchain is the future. NFT diplomas, anyone?

And Finally...

There are other ways crypto and blockchain are going to impact our world (look out for our upcoming deep dive series!) but we hope we’ve given you a taste of things to come.

There is, though, something bigger to think about, and it is one of the main reasons why you need to know more about these technologies. In the early days of the Internet, many believed that it would help people be freer from the influence of corporations and governments. Freedom of speech and the proliferation of ideas would be easier and unconstrained by central authorities.

Whilst some of these goals have been achieved, national governments and huge corporations still hold great power over the digital world. The Internet has revolutionized everything, but a lot of power still rests with the usual gatekeepers. The same could happen to CryptoAssets and blockchain, so it is vital that you start to understand these technologies so that you are able to influence the way this technology is integrated before it really begins to impact your everyday life.

Do you want to help us in our goal to help bring crypto to the masses? Check out how you can get involved here. Let’s go!