Integrity And Sustainability In Crypto Investment - Why It Matters More Than You Think

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20 May 2024

Many people fail to grasp the wider meaning of the cryptocurrency movement and why it’s important to invest in projects that you find to be personally meaningful.

When you use a currency, you are effectively supporting the country that the currency is designed to represent. This includes the legal, financial, and societal infrastructure that is in place, which is currently under gigantic strain in Western economies.

This infrastructure has led to huge inequality, unaffordable rent, and an overall cost of living crisis - and it needs to be replaced. The most efficient method of replacement is a decentralized economy using cryptocurrencies as a payment mechanism.

The Origins Of Cryptocurrency

While many are aware of cryptocurrency now, few understand its prime purpose as a disruptive mechanism. The Bitcoin Genesis Block reads “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks,” a reference to the fact that banks were being paid off with taxpayer money. Meanwhile, taxpayers were often evicted from their own homes as a result of a bank-induced crisis.

The mainstream media would spend more than 10 years in an outright assault against Bitcoin, calling it a Ponzi scheme and damaging to the environment. This is ironic, given that the banking system relies nearly exclusively on money printing to maintain its dominance. It has recently changed its tune somewhat.

While initially trading for practically nothing, Bitcoin is now valued at ~$65,000 and could soar higher in 2025 and beyond. Ethereum, meanwhile, also has a strong price forecast according to industry and AI analysis, potentially hitting $3,500 in the near future. Such impressive valuations are no longer representative of arbitrary price increases but signal a changing lifestyle and investor sentiment.

Bitcoin is increasingly accepted in smaller regions and is even an official legal tender for countries like El Salvador. BTC is further being used in many smaller regions in South Africa. At present, there are a plethora of cryptocurrencies to choose from, though the majority have next to zero utility value or long-term relevance.

Choosing Sustainable Crypto Projects

When selecting your cryptocurrency, you can approach it from a purely financial perspective, aiming to capitalize on technical analysis. But you can also approach it from a more humanitarian standpoint. It must be kept in mind that financial greed and the failure to hold politicians accountable are what has led to such a societal collapse - your investment makes a difference, so please make sure you allocate your funds to projects that make the best use of it for wider society.

For instance, there are decentralized options involved in the renewable energy sector, such as PowerLedger. This ecosystem aspires to create a P2P energy economy without third parties overcharging for an efficient energy model. Clearly, it’s more efficient to send energy to a nearby household than to transfer it to a large national hub, where it is potentially sold and transferred to other countries.

Source: Unsplash

The media industry has come under fire from its financial sources and biases, which encourage outlets to represent large conglomerates and uphold certain narratives while failing to genuinely represent the views of ordinary people.

Multiple projects are involved in the field of honest reporting and further provide alternative means of expression. This is what the meme industry is at its core. In spite of many degen coins and a bad reputation, they offer a means of expression for subcultural communities as an alternative form of expression. Veme offers a platform for decentralized community expression through video memes, which could be the next evolution of memes.

Another sector is privacy, and there are plenty of privacy coins to choose from that are hard to trace. In particular, Monero which tends to have a stronger reputation than other coins. The Brave browser enables online privacy, so outside of investment, you can use these tools as a form of support.

The list of projects and industries is too large to expand upon. But some projects are much more holistic than others and have better long-term potential. You can find those that match your ideological preferences while also having strong technical and financial architectures. Don’t invest in a well-meaning project if it has poor management or sloppy fundamentals - such an endeavor won’t help anyone at all.

Crypto Integrity  - The Golden Investment Path

Many people make the mistake of failing to invest in projects that are personally meaningful to them. This means that your money could be going towards an area that you don’t really believe in. Supporting an industry that you are against is actually a form of dishonesty against yourself! Do technical and personal research to align as many areas as possible for integrated, sustainable investment.

This concept is also gaining traction in the Web2 industry with the rise of ESG investment. Align your personal values with your financial aspirations, and you might find it helpful not only to your bank balance - but to your overall well-being and peace of mind.