Depending on when you got into crypto, and to what extent you opted to be a maximalist for a certain cause (most likely either Bitcoin or, later, Ethereum, since these have the most single-minded communities), your initial perception of the sector would have been very different.
In the early days, even that word sector would not be an appropriate descriptor, and crypto meant bitcoin. Initially, it was a fringe movement, with all the positives and negatives that being on the fringe consists of.
To the good, alternative movements are subversive, disruptive and unlimited in their capacity to ignore convention and play by their own rules. On the other hand, they are open to dismissal or ridicule from the mainstream. Not that ridicule usually matters, as another characteristic of outsider movements is that they are not seeking approval, even if they do seek, in the case of bitcoin, an ambition no less profound than to change the world.
And, it tends to be the case that people, products and ideas that actually do change the world don’t wait around to request permission, they simply go ahead and produce alternatives.
Exploring New Uses
In the next crypto era, as Ethereum and altcoins
