Crypto MUST be able to function WITHOUT identifying the user (privacy) and without involving governments, corporations, or banks (decentralization). There's NO way to convert Bitcoin to cash without identifying oneself. I believe this is one of the main issues preventing mass adoption of cryptocurrency!
A potential solution appeared:
While accumulating crypto to conduct a trial run (and report in detail on the results), steem-engine.com stopped allowing private exchange of tokens, and I discovered there's no private way provided for converting STEEM or HIVE into BTC.
Losing steem-engine income - and functionality - wasn't helpful, but the inability to privately convert blockchain income to Bitcoin was a potentially crippling blow to the solution:
I devised a workaround to get part of my earnings (my HIVE) into BTC: send them to hive-engine.com, convert into the BTCswap token, and withdraw that to my BTC wallet. It's clunky, and there's a 2% loss to fees, but all we need is a way through, and we can worry about efficiency later:
Not only are the current issues unsolved, but there are two new developments in the way of our progress! One, bullion has doubled in price, and most online dealers are sold out, or have months-long wait times. And if that wasn't bad enough, the test payment from BTCswap tokens in hive-engine to my private Bitcoin wallet never arrived, and I don't know why. That means the expensive workaround isn't even available to us:
Feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. I'm not widely-read, but those fine folks who do follow me have been very supportive. A few offered advice, tips, and suggestions and in some cases they ended up being useful. This has been a team effort, no doubt about it.
I'd like to share a comment from 2 weeks ago (there was no episode last week), that comes from somebody whose opinion I value:
That's real talk. Essentially, privacy is going to happen for crypto users in the future, but rarely does at the moment, so efforts to find private pathways are important. I appreciate that, but even so...
As you read in the title, I'm putting the series on hold. I decided that before reading the above comment. And I agree, we're doing good work here. But right now, there's no private pathway available to us, and there's no bullion available to make that part of the process flow, so we're stuck. As always, I'm open to investigating new avenues if/when they happen, but the trend appears to be going toward less privacy, not more. I'll believe it when I see it.
Also, the progress I've made with this series has been slow, and I find myself discouraged. Not just a little, but to the point where I'm stressing about it, and to be honest, I'm already under a lot of stress. There's the societal shutdown, my undiagnosed health problems, my wife's disability, and a baby on top of it. Maybe I'm not the one to carry this forward? Or maybe something good will happen sometime soon, and I'll revive the series?
Until then, I'm virtually putting aside the funds earned via Crypto Lunch posts. I consider them earmarked toward funding that meal, whenever a private way to do it is available!
To be honest, I find myself wishing my crypto funds were in gold or silver bullion, under my bed. I feel like if things don't go well in the future, I'll never get ANY value out of ANY of my crypto, which means I will have wasted at least 3 years of my time.
That JPG file is about the most tangible thing I've received on the blockchain for my effort, expertise, risk, and years. Now, I have to sit on my various wallets and apps and platforms, in the hopes that trends will reverse, and privacy will return to the crypto realm.
The previous post (week 7) brought in 6.46 HIVE and 1.71 STEEM, so that much has been added to the totals.
BTC: 0
HIVE: 99.87
STEEM: 18.74
CAD: 0
USD: 0
We made it about 1/3 of the way to the first Crypto Lunch. The funds will be saved for when Crypto Lunch resumes.
Who knows what the ongoing crypto bull market will bring? The next several months should be very interesting, and if the previous bull markets are any indication, new services, products, and pathways will be created at record pace. So, who knows?
In Liberty,
DRutter
