Like everyone and their dog (er, CryptoKitties), I've been digging into cryptocurrencies lately. I'm fascinated by the underlying blockchain technology and believe that sort of tech has a significant future.
As for the future of cryptocurrencies, I think these will likely replace traditional currencies at some point, but predicting how and when and what kinds of twists and turns that will arise... well, that's tough.
But one idea that's been fun (or terrifying) to think about is: if there were no currencies, what value would you have? In other words, what could you exchange for the things you need?
I'm not suggesting time-traveling back to a trade and barter era. Instead, imagine that, in 30 years, cryptocurrencies have overtaken all traditional currencies. But for some reason or another (hyperinflation, hyper-definflation, who knows), they become extremely volatile, people lose faith in them, and we're left in a world with no currency. I'm not saying this is feasible; I just want to set the scene.
So your bank accounts are empty, crypto wallets useless -- what do you have? What's your non-currency wealth? Everyone is on a much evener playing field, but it's definitely not even. Taylor Swift is going to be just fine. PewDiePie should be able to adapt pretty easily, as long as people can still use the internet. If a new currency takes over, these influencers should rake it in quickly.
What has value?
Of course, if something this crazy were to happen, there could be a lot more problems to deal with. Riots, businesses collapsing, governments collapsing. In that case, better sharpen up on survival skills.
But I think it's good to think about diversifying your wealth. And maybe you'll realize that, if you were to lose all your money, it may not be as bad as you think. On a sorta related note, I recently read The Alchemist.