Andreas Antonoplous has stated many times that if you want to purchase crypto the best way to do so is earning crypto and that was originally what brought me to Steemit.
It was the best way, since I wasn't a coder, to be able to earn crypto and allowed me to learn about it at the same time, so I'm glad to see @steemitblog creating some crypto-related challenges this month!
Blogging Platforms
While this doesn't directly answer the questions about what cryptocurrency you like most, in a way it kind of does.
My favorite cryptos are the ones that I earn, for instance, Steem on Steemit, Leo on Leofinance, Ethereum and Bat on Publish0x, Blurt on Blurt.io BitcoinCash on read.cash.
I was always a horrible writer growing up and these platforms have allowed me to become a better writer, all while writing about content that I love, and making a small amount of income as well.
I've then used the crypto that I earn to buy @splinterland cards, an unstoppable domain gniksivart.crypto, and some @steemsilverrounds which I still own and love.
I have converted some to cash and supported some creators I love through Patreon and purchased some old coins off of @steembay when it was more active.
Learning and Trading Crypto
I first learned about Bitcoin when I was using faucets to earn what most considered Bitcoin dust. You'd spend a few minutes filling out captcha's to what amounted to a few fractions of a cent of Bitcoin.
What I didn't understand was if Bitcoin was truly going to the moon, why isn't it worth my time to earn such a small amount that one day would be worth a significant amount more?
As I was completing Bitcoin faucets, I found out about other faucets as well such as Primecoin, Peercoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Dash, Ripple, Ethereum, etc. These faucets are how I first found out about Bitcoin and crypto.
Since I first heard about Bitcoin and Steem, I've been holding those 2 cryptocurrencies in some percentage ever since.
When I first started stacking sats I didn't even have enough Bitcoin to trade on an exchange. As the price started to go up and as I slowly continue to stack sats, I was able to start trading on Bittrex.
Not long after that, another exchange came out called Binance that I did a small amount of trading on as well.
The first few trades I made were for some Ethereum, Ehtereum Classic, Digibyte, Dash, Civic, and Patientory (at least the few I can remember). Not all were winners, but after holding onto most for about 6 months I was able to make some nice profit.
I don't do nearly as much trading as I did during the bull run 3 or so years ago, but hoping to do some more as it looks like the start of the next bull run is approaching.
How Has Crypto Changed my Life and Why Might Business Accept Crypto
Crypto hasn't changed my life much except has created a fire in me to learn more about the space and things, such as trading, that surround the space.
I'm working on building a brand so that my articles are seen by more people in hopes of one day becoming a full-time writer, or get enough views to possibly sell ad space on my website or my articles.
I would one day like to be able to "retire early". By that I mean to be able to work on what I want when I want so that I can spend as much time with my kids while they are young as I can.
I'm not looking for Lambos or mansions, but a nice steady income that can replace what I'm currently making with my salary and benefits.
The way we're going to get businesses to accept crypto here in the US, to me, is going to be a lot harder and look a lot different than in some other parts of the world where we're already seeing much faster crypto adoption.
It will have to be fast, cheap, easy, convenient, and low volatility.
It will have to happen faster than credit cards or PayPal transacts today. While this may seem difficult it's not impossible. I think Steem payments are settled much quicker than having to swipe or scan a credit card but have never actually timed it.
It will have to be cheap. It will have to cost less than credit card transactions as most people are getting away from cash, which is essentially free. Once again it is looking good for Steem and DPOS tokens.
It will have to be easy. Easy for merchants is going to look a little different than easy for customers.
When I think of easy for merchants, I think customer A pays in Bitcoin, person B pays in Litecoin, and person C pays in Steem. The merchant can easily accept many different cryptos and doesn't care which, because at the end of the day all his money shows as either certain crypto they want, or their native currency and doesn't know which customer used which crypto to pay.
As a customer, I would think you have a wallet on your phone that shows you have x amount of dollars. It doesn't matter how much of what crypto you have as the phone automatically picks a crypto when you pay, deducts it from your wallet, and refreshes with the new dollar mount you have stored on your phone.
If it's as easy as stated above, I think that also covers the convenient part for both the business owner and the customer.
The last one that most crypto doesn't include for now, including Steem, is low volatility. While this isn't that big of a deal as the transaction can be converted to USD as soon as it happens, there is still a cost that will result in that exchange, which will more than likely, cost more than a credit card fee.
To sum it up, if we want to get businesses to accept crypto we need to the experience to be faster than credit cards, more convenient and easier to use than Pay Pal, and more private than using cash.
I have to admit that it felt awesome to be able to use Steem Backed Dollars (SBD), which could help solve the volatility issue if it was more closely pegged to the dollar, to be able to buy silver on Phelimint, but it looks like they no longer accept crypto.
In Conclusion
I think the US is still a ways away before crypto becomes "mainstream" if it ever does, but that still won't slow me down in stacking Steem and Bitcoin, but it will definitely happen sooner for others, especially those that are unbanked around the world.
After all, if enough people are asking to make payments to a company in crypto, you don't think they will eventually look into and possibly start accepting crypto as their payments?
Especially when their competition decides to start doing it?
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