Walking next to my dad in Shenandoah National Park in the heart of the pandemic, I recall my first time talking about Bitcoin. He talked about how he was concerned about not knowing the creator of it, but was also very interested in the technology it and other cryptocurrencies brought into the world. As this came from my dad, I quickly absorbed the same mindset, but since that hike, I have become more engrossed in the cryptocurrency world and have realized one thing: Everyone is talking about crypto.
A high school student working as an intern for Lucrisma might seem odd, as I am only one year older than Bitcoin itself, and I still can’t even open my own Coinbase account, but being part of Gen Z has placed me at the heart of the Cryptocurrency Revolution. In 7th and 8th grade, I witnessed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) rapidly rise and then slowly fizzle out, leading me to write a report on Bored Apes. This essay reappeared when a freshman year current events teacher questioned the legitimacy of these JPEGs, which led to me sharing my essay with him. Sophomore year saw me searching for a topic for my Advanced Placement (AP) Seminar argumentative paper based on courage, which also became crypto-focused after seeing a headline surrounding the legalization of Bitcoin in El Salvador. The pattern of papers reemerging continues, as my AP Seminar paper became a topic of discussion during my interview for this position. Within the space, the talk is stronger than ever, yet to any outsider, I think it is still apparent.
Even if you have not followed our previous blogs or don’t consider yourself a crypto enthusiast, I would assume you have heard the terms “Bitcoin,” “blockchain,” or “DeFi” in some setting. It seems as if wherever you have been over the last few years, the topic is being discussed in some way. It has been up for conversation on the news, of course, whether it be FTX going under or Bitcoin hitting the $100,000 benchmark. Yet even with the buzz surrounding it in the public eye, I have witnessed crypto at a more personal level. Over the last couple of weeks, I have engaged in countless crypto-related conversations within the walls of my own school. I had a friend ask me to “explain Bitcoin mining in under a minute” in macroeconomics; saw another friend checking the value of XRP during our statistics class; and discussed types of cryptocurrencies in our investing club, which was solely centered around traditional finance a mere two years ago. Outside of school, I have explained decentralized finance at family gatherings, and laid out the applications and values of Bitcoin to an adult from Philadelphia over a communal dinner at a resort. Across all of these experiences, no matter the audience or the location, one concept is still evident: Everyone is talking about crypto.
Having spent the last few months with Lucrisma, I have come to realize and take note of how impactful crypto and the technology behind it has become. Although its image has been plagued by rug pulls and schemes, the utility and importance of it is stronger than ever. As I have essentially grown up alongside this field, and have become more involved with it over time, I can confidently (and still unbiasedly) say that this is our future. Whether it be for transparency, security, efficiency, or more, crypto and decentralized finance have worked, and will continue to work, their ways into the core of our society and economy. Going back to my initial interaction with Lucrisma, I took the internship offer because 1) I felt like I would belong in this growing community and 2) what Lucrisma does, synthesizing the traditional and decentralized worlds of finance for its users, is inevitably going to take form.