I've been meaning to create my self-introductory post for quite some time now, but it has been a challenge. Multiple revisions and delays because I want it to be more straightforward, and a reminder to myself that I'm not writing an autobiography. Here it goes! :)
自己紹介 (Self-Intro)
ScIoN was my chosen in-game name way back in High school. I wanted something that sounds 'cool' and representative of me. Although literally it only means a "male offspring" hahaha! The term 'scion' is usually used in referring to an offspring of notable individuals. Although I'm not of notable descent, probably that's something I wish I would become of myself and my future offsprings.
My family is from Benguet, as I grew up and studied in Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines (due to relatively cool temperature). I moved to Metro Manila as a University student and finished Computer Engineering.
I specialized in microelectronics (i.e. chip design) and even worked as a Research Engineer in Japan for the first 3 years until I went back to the Philippines for good. I pursued graduate studies but wanted to be in the Finance industry so I took and finished MS Finance.
I'm a geek when it comes to Technology and Finance. I have been exposed to the Capital Markets for more than a decade. At work, I am involved with risk management and data analytics. I've handled data operations and project management revolving around financial data.
I used to be a stock market addict, loving both fundamental and technical analysis. Crypto market was an easy transition with the benefit of having better tools and more liquidity. I have always wanted to own and manage a business, or even setup my own startup company, but I know it involves a lot of capital, time and effort. For the meantime, investing has been my primary focus as it does not necessarily require additional labor.
How I came into Hive
In 2021, Axie Infinity brought in a lot of attention towards NFT gaming as a lot of Filipinos were able to earn loads of money by simply investing into the game. Being the yield seeker that I am, I wanted to try and see for myself. It was already hyped up during that time so the cost of investment was already too high and the game doesn't even offer a trial period. As I watched some youtube videos about NFT games, this is where I discovered Splinterlands.
Start of My Splinterlands Journey
Splinterlands (SPL) has a free practice mode for new users to try out. If one considers to continue and be serious with the game one just needs tobuy a 'spellbook' and this gives access to more features. It costs around Php500 (~$10) which is minimal compared to the others.
What I love about SPL is that it reminds me of other Collectible Card Games (CCGs) such as Magic The Gathering, Pokemon, Yugi-Oh, etc. I have been a MTG player when I was in elementary and I was addicted to it. Seeing a CCG in the NFT Gaming space, I knew it has huge potential. My thoughts on SPL, I would probably blog more about it. (Stay tuned~)
There is More to Explore in HIVE
While navigating through Splinterlands which resides in the Hive Blockchain, I got immersed into the whole blockchain experience. My knowledge in crypto before was limited to trading, but now I'm able to appreciate actual utility of a blockchain, and this is what excites me most!
Proof-of-Stake, Nodes, Discord Servers, Tokenomics, Web 3.0, etc. A lot of these are great concepts and technologies that I encounter on a daily basis outside the conventional work routine. While Bitcoin has been the 'gold standard' for the crypto market, it doesn't have the utility except as a store for value. Hive blockchain may not (yet) be mainstream, but I'm happy to see the potential of such technology as we move on towards Web 3.0.
Steemit and Hive Blogging
In my college days (200x), blogging was a popular form of communication. Video content was not yet mainstream and efficient before and this was around the early years prior of facebook. I enjoyed blogging with my friends back then and we were not even thinking of monetizing anything. I was also into photography so most of my posts before was on image content. I stopped during the start of the video era, but I do remember I signed up on Steemit, but blogging was no longer in vogue and I lost the will to continue writing.
As Steemit hardforked into Hive, it's like a full circle moment that I came back to it, albeit through a different path (i.e. NFT gaming). I like the concept of having a community of content contributors interacting within a blockchain. More than the rewards, I would like to see sustainability of a community, and hope for wider adoption.
Epilogue
Lots of topics to discuss and share but let's save it for another post. I look forward to learning more and at the same time interacting more with people within the community. Despite my circles being on the tech and finance side, I don't see much colleagues within this space yet. I'll take that as a challenge to write more posts about such topics and to engage more people through content on this blog.
See you around! :)
P.S.
My other interests include but not limited to the ff:
- Tennis
- Photography (Nikon/Fujifilm)
- Freediving
- Badminton
- Biking (folding bike)
- Travel (priority: Philippines)
- Agriculture
- Entrepreneurship
