What is Crypto, and why should I care?

Cryptocurrency is a new technology, built on top of the internet and combining several different other technologies together to facilitate a decentralized and distributed ledger of peer-to-peer transactions. These "transactions" are really just entries on a ledger, that utilize a consensus mechanism to ensure the entries are legitimate and should be added to the blockchain. The fact that it's peer-to-peer and that the consensus mechanism is decentralized allow for the realization of crypto's true value proposition, which is, trustlessness. Whether it's the fact that Bitcoin has a fixed, capped supply of 21 million coins, with a defined known inflation rate, or that a smart contract deployed on Ethereum can't/won't be censored, both are examples of the value and use cases enbled by trustlessness. This is what makes crypto one of the most disruptive technologies in history, possibly eclipsing even the disruption caused by the internet, and the mobile net which empowered the proliferation of smart phones. Crypto has the ability to eliminate middlemen, and enforce consensus without a central authority. This can increase capital efficiency and operational uptime, as well as serve as the foundation to create entirely new primitives. There will be an ongoing issue between legacy systems, and their decentralized counterparts, as crypto continues to eat marketshare from them in different verticals. Okay, technology can be interesting, and the internet obviously changed the world, but why should I as an individual care about Crypto? The reasons are plentiful, our chief concern here at FSC is capturing value created by the new influx of wealth into the space. Any astute investor with solid portfolio construction, income, and patience made generational wealth in the 80s/90s/00s, from the internet boom. A similar story is already playing out in crypto and will continue to, for at least until the technology reaches maturity. One of the fundamentally new primitives to cryptocurrency is tokenization itself. Using the decentralized infrastructure enabled by blockchain tech, developers can use a token to faciliate the growth and use of a protocol. Tokens can be NFTS, unique tokens which prove ownership of a digital good, or as a unique identifier for a physical item. Tokens can be used for proof-of-stake consensus mechnisms to ensure proper behvior is enforced economically. They can also be used as utility tokens and serve as "gas" for the sake of use of a prticular protocol. These are just a couple of examples of how tokenization serves as a mechanism to capture and coordinate value, trustlessly. And another reason why crypto will be enable new avenues for wealth creation. Now apply this idea conceptully to the many different industries threatened by decentralization and disintermediation. In later articles we will further explore the legitimate innovations enabled by Crypto, and its possibilities for growth to further drive home the reality of crypto's value capture potential. Beyond the wealth generation cause by the tech, we should also care because sooner or later, just like the internet, this technology will be integrated into many parts of our lives, and will cause a cultural shift. Play to earn, virtual real estate, and much more will be commonplace in the future, while now may be considered "odd" or "out there"or "without value." This wont be the cultural viewpoint in the next few years, and you'd be advised to prepare for this shift head of time. But take this primer for what it is, a clear explanation through which to see why crypto has value. Decentralized escrow accounts for another example, ensuring fraud is near, if not totally, impossible. Use your imagination, think about the technology conceptually, and be aware there are billions of dollars of capital flowing into the space, and many of the most talented developers and computer scientists alive today are building in this space, and we have yet to see its full potential. When people say that crypto is uselss, pointless, a pipe dream or a "scam", remember that they are truly the uninformed, and will ultimately be late adopters. Let's not join their ranks.