Another genesis? Will 15 September be as historic as 3 January?
15th August 2022 |
03/Jan/2009
That date, in that format, is historic.
It signifies two things. It was the date of the first ever bitcoin block – the genesis block. The precise time was 6:15pm UTC. The format reflects the snippet of data from within that block that outlines part of the core ethos of what bitcoin is all about.
The full data string looks like this:
The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks
The Times newspaper on that date ran with a headline that you can clearly see.
This headline was reflective of the global economy at the time, not just the UK. The world was in the depths of the “Global Financial Crisis” or more accurately, the global debt crisis: when central banks around the world were propping up a fractured and fragmented global financial system.
Since that time, fiscal and monetary policies have, in much of the developed world, been extraordinarily lax. Governments have spent far more than they have earned in tax revenues. Central banks have created money out of thin air in order to buy enormous quantities of government bonds and to keep interest rates at ultra-low (indeed, sometimes negative) levels.
What you’re seeing in global economies now – recessions, possibly depressions, inflation or possibly stagflation, and so on – are all basically issues that stem from 14 years of fiscal and monetary mismanagement. They are not the result of Covid or Russia. The problems have been a decade and a half in the making.
What’s fascinating about the situation the world finds itself in today is that it’s surprisingly similar to the situation of 2009.
Supply chains are about to break at the seams. Energy infrastructure is often unfit for purpose. Governments can’t plan ahead more than the current term that they’re trying to survive.
In 2009, however, we were witness to the birth of a powerful tool that gives people the power to escape the issues and problems of global financial ineptitude.
That tool was, of course, bitcoin. It began decentralised finance (DeFi), where power is decentralised to people like you. It breaks the shackles imposed by the traditional finance (TradFi) system.
Almost 14 years later, that genesis block of bitcoin has opened up a world of more than $1.2 trillion worth of value.
As noted, TradFi is in an eerily similar place to its position in 2009. If it breaks again, what happens next?
And, in particular, will bitcoin do over the next 14 years what it has done over the last 14 years?
The answer to that question is almost certainly no (if all you focus on is bitcoin’s price in USD). But we expect that in another 14 years’ time, the entire crypto world will be magnitudes more powerful, valuable and important, with arguably more progress in the next 14 years than in the last 14.
And much of that progress in the next 14 years could boil down to one major catalyst set to take place in just one month.
On 15 September, there will be one of the most widely anticipated changes in the crypto world. It could well turn out to be as significant as the creation of the genesis block of bitcoin on 3 January 2009.
The merge completes
It’s expected that on 15 September, just one month away, that Ethereum’s “merge” to ETH 2.0 will complete.
Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, recently posted to Twitter to say that Ethereum’s proofof-work (PoW) network now has a fixed number of hashes left to mine.
That means that, after those fixed hashes are mined, the network will continue on as 100% proof-of-stake (PoS). His post said that bordel.wtf predicts the “merge” to take place around 15 September.
This raises the question, why is this merge significant?
For a start, and appeasing the climate warriors, the shift to PoS will reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by 99.95%.
It also then allows for more upgrades to the long-term vision of Ethereum that previously PoW would not make feasible. These upgrades are things like sharding, increased transaction throughput, scaling and a more efficient network, which will all come thanks to the shift to PoS.
These things won’t come immediately. The merge also means that, as a PoS network, the ability to earn a yield on ETH will become easier.
In short, this merge means Ethereum gets better. It has the potential to unlock Ethereum’s vision as a global, open, secure, stable, decentralised network for all of humanity to utilise.
What does it mean if you’re holding ETH?
If you have ETH, you don’t need to do anything. This is all happening in the background. It also means you need to be very aware of scams and scammers. These kinds of major upgrades, especially for something like Ethereum, will bring out all kinds of scams trying to get you to convert or swap your ETH for something else.
Be aware, there is nothing you need to do.
Anything or anyone saying otherwise is trying to rip you off. You can read more about the merge here.
We also expect that the merge will build momentum behind ETH and Ethereum-built projects. It could be a catalyst for the entire crypto world to move into the next boom.
15 September is now the date – give or take perhaps a day – for the merge. But the merge really is happening, finally.
We think that in 14 years’ time, when we look back on the history of the crypto world, that 15 September 2022 will be seen as being an important a date as 3 January 2009.
Crypto to Know
Below is our “Crypto to Know” list where you’ll find several cryptos that we think you should be taking the time to learn and understand.
They each form an important part of the burgeoning crypto ecosystem.
Several of these cryptos are doing very different things to others.
What’s key is to learn that every crypto has its own use cases, its own guiding principles, and its own particular potential.
Each crypto is to be judged and assessed on its own merits.
Our aim here is to help you understand these cryptos and the wider crypto world.
These aren’t specific recommendations but a guide to help you learn and build your confidence in operating in this space.
We will add more names to this list over time. However, if you’re new to the world of crypto, these are the names where we think you should start your education and learning.
We’ve also added links to each one.
The links are to what we believe, in each case, is the best resource for learning about that crypto.
“Crypto to Know” watchlist
- Bitcoin – it/wiki/Main_Page
- Ethereum – org/en/what–is–ethereum
- IOTA – iota.org
- Tezos – https://tezos.com/learn/getting–started/
- Filecoin – filecoin.io
- Cosmos – cosmos.network/intro
- Binance – com/en/about & research.binance.com/en/projects/bnb
- FTX – com & help.ftx.com/hc/en–us
- Solana – https://docs.solana.com/introduction
- Secret Network – https://scrt.network/about/about–secret–network
Sam Volkering
Editor, Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network
