It was 2011 and I was at Doug Casey's "La Estancia de Cafayate" in Argentina sipping on a Torrontés and dining on some parilla amongst a group of elite anarcho-capitalists when I first heard the word.
"Have you heard of bitcoin?" he said.
It's one of those moments you never forget. I've never forgotten the first time someone asked me, "Have you heard of the internet?" either.
Many people say how they remember where they were when JFK was killed by the financial elites... but I hadn't been born yet, so the "internet", "bitcoin" and the false flag attack on September 11, 2001, are my three memorable moments.
Soon after, still in Argentina, Trace Mayer (see my first Anarchast interview with him here on bitcoin in 2012), a noted anarcho-capitalist and crypto-connoisseur, pulled me aside at another gathering and said, "You have to get into bitcoin man."
Unlike the internet, which I knew was coming due to my being involved in computers since the age of 12, I had NO idea bitcoin was coming.
I replied to him, "Someone just told me about it last night. What exactly is it?"
Not too long after, Trace walked me through opening a wallet, transferred me about $10 in bitcoin (which would be over $2,000 today), and told me to go to an online bookstore that accepted bitcoin and buy something.
I did it all, from start to finish, in about one minute.
My eyes opened wide, "This changes everything!" I said.
He winked.
HOW I BECAME A STEEM BELIEVER
Fast forward five years and I heard the word "Steem" and "Steemit" from a few people.
By this time I was inundated with amazing new cryptocurrency and blockchain innovations. The Dollar Vigilante had become one of the largest financial newsletters in the world and was, by far, the biggest promoter of the cryptospace.
I must hear about something that sounds like it is revolutionary, or better said evolutionary, nearly every day.
So, when I heard about Steem, it was in the background of a dozen other amazing-sounding advancements.
"Social media on the blockchain?" I asked, "Sounds interesting, when I have time I'll look into it."
It wasn't until two days ago that a good friend, Sterlin Luxan @sterlinluxan (see an Anarchast episode with him here) posted a video declaring Steemit to be not only important in terms of social media but also important for getting out the word on anarcho-capitalism, which is one of my passions.
That video got me interested enough to make a short, introductory post on Steemit.
$15,000 later and it had caught my attention!
Now, I realize my popularity in the liberty and crypto space is what made the post gain so much money in upvotes.
But it was then that I began really looking into Steem and Steemit.
I interviewed the founders, @dan and @ned, and was fascinated at what they had built and how they had built it.
Then I began to look into all the potential of Steem and Steemit. I even read the White Paper on it, something I rarely do, due to my allergic reaction to highly technical details.
By the end of 48 hours a light went off in my head.
"This changes everything!" I said... much like I did with bitcoin and the internet.
Don't get me wrong, the internet was more important than bitcoin. Without the internet there would be no bitcoin.
And bitcoin is more important than Steem. Without bitcoin and its blockchain technology, Steem would never have come about.
However, when it comes to publishing information on the internet, something I know quite a bit about, having founded Canada's largest financial website, Stockhouse.com (which reached a $240 million valuation at its peak) and now operating one of the top financial newsletters in the world, The Dollar Vigilante, I can see MASSIVE potential for Steem and Steemit.
Will Steem and Steemit eventually succeed? Meaning, will it still be around in a few years and be exponentially bigger and ubiquitous in the internet media space?
That's anyone's guess. It's only six months old and, like any start-up, will have to make its way through a minefield of potential problems along the way.
In the meantime, count me as one of its biggest fans.
I'll be posting here nearly daily for the foreseeable future, with exclusive content, to support the platform and will be evangelizing it to as many as I can through my other outlets.
Follow me here and please upvote if you enjoy my content.
I'm a Steem believer.