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Monday 30 November 2015

When I'm 64...

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There are only two things that come second to my wife and family '" GetGems and The LTB Network.

But everything has to start somewhere. At school, I liked reading better than playing sports, probably because I couldn't see past my arm, and I really needed glasses, but didn't find out until grade 3.

Reading eventually became writing and turned into my passionate interest in journalism in the early 1960s. School paper, local community weekly newspaper, and a few features in the larger metro rags. By the time I was 21, I knew everything, so I moved on to science fiction.

By the time I was 30, I had earned a reputation for knowing very little about everything, and I wore my "general specialist" T-shirt with pride.

The science of the future helped me develop an obsession for the rapid growth in technology.

My family kept growing too, and in 1984, when a TV ad for the Apple Macintosh computer iconified the promise of a future free from tyranny, I bought it '" hook, line, and sinker.

The 28th of November, my birthday, has had the same energy for me every year. In addition to adding a number to my age, I get a chance to "come out" a little bit more, because the joy of getting older is that what others think of you just doesn't make a difference to what's important. Including my current fixation with the creation and ongoing development of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Most of the people I work with are half my age. In Bitcoin, we are all driven by the humbling thought that we are just a few steps closer to realizing our full value, both as individuals and as contributing members of the human tribe. In the 1960s (yes, I was a hippie), we thought we could win with peace and love alone. We were wrong. The missing ingredient for true long-term success was money for everyone.

In 2012, after four depressing economic years, I became aware of a way that we could all regain hope. The Bitcoin blockchain, an idea that simply worked, is now the greatest invention of the past two decades. Move over Apple.

I made a choice early to follow Bitcoin, the strongest protocol, and ignore the thousands of other "tech-wanna-babies" that also spawned from Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper. If you have not, please read it.

In 2013, I started listening to Adam B. Levine's podcast, and I thought it would be very cool to get to know him and offer some of my experience to help out where I could. From thousands of listeners, a small group gathered regularly to read and comment on his work. Adam bore a faint resemblance to an easy-going cult hero I had known in my younger years, and he attracted smart people with good intentions, which made a great combination.

The Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast has been and continues to be a source of inspiration and a conduit to many of the other pieces of the puzzle. As a student, volunteer, advisor, and now Sales and General Manager at the LTB Network, this is the best year of my life.

Here, I met all the great people we have on staff '" Cheryl, Jeff, Nick, and Devon, and until recently Tuomas. Without Tuomas, I would probably not have asked the very tough questions. I thank him every day for that. Of course, without Steven and Denise there would be no Adam, so kudos to them both for that.

And for well over a year I have had the privilege of working with a team in Israel, and Daniel Peled, CEO and visionary of GetGems. You will hear a lot more about GetGems very soon and I am proud to have played a part in its success.

Like most of the people involved in cryptocurrency, I know a lot of interconnected projects and people. Each of the projects has at least one technical guy or gal, who sometimes might also be the marketer and the bookkeeper. Often the groups are small, made up of four to eight. As the projects flourish, they begin to swallow up those with the keenest sense of what the future might hold. In the past three years, I have had the honour to speak with hundreds of people who really want to make things work.

Bitcoin is my conduit to the fountain of youth. Sure, my trainer-wife will kick my butt to make sure I get enough exercise so I can keep up with the kids, but the drive for a better world is coming from key people in this Bitcoin space, and it provides me with all the energy I need to run fast.

It was a Happy Birthday for me and my new blog, the Joy of Bitcoin!

Tips to this post go to my Bitcoin Friends in Africa.

..... to be continued



via The Let's Talk Bitcoin Network http://ift.tt/1SrSBDc

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