Warning: this is an opinion piece, with a fair amount of snark, read with caution. You’ve been duly warned.
There has been all this talk about the great resignation…migration…reshuffling, whatever term you like. Couple that with all this talk about people getting rich on crypto and I’m wondering if I missed the boat on something here. Should I have bought bitcoin or ethereum or polkadot?
Maybe I should have just invested in crypto instead of applying for a job? Are other people wondering the same thing? Apparently 4% of the population has been able to retire early [or at least stop working for a little while] with their new digital funds.
In my opinion – it’s not worth it.
I am not here to educate you on the ins and outs of what crypto is so you can check out this article for all the info. I know it’s digital, you can have a wallet to hold it online, and that banks can’t regulate it.
I also know that a common misconception is that since it’s all digital that means less waste which is better for the environment.
Wrong.
Mining for crypto uses an actual f*ckton of electricity and buying the ‘right’ tech to be able to do it is pretty expensive. On top of the fact that computer hardware is hard to come by [the good stuff] it’s a stretch to think that you could make it work with the laptop you’re using right now.
These kids in Texas figured out a way to mine it by building out technology that recognizes which coin is the most profitable so it can jump back and forth mining the most successful in real time. They talk about the money they’re making but be sure to note the money they’re SPENDING and how much electricity they are using. I’ll save my opinions on crypto and climate change for another day. All I’m saying is you’re going to have to be okay with spending a nice amount in order to even have the setup you’d need to get started.
So, should you quit your job and try to get rich on crypto?
If you want to, go for it. But I’m wondering if that 4% of people consist of those few that got lucky during that Dogecoin craze in January 2021 when some Redditors decided to troll and wound up making themselves and some other people a nice chunk of change over something that started as a joke. Honestly, it seems like it’s just a right place right time kind of scenario.
But hey, if you quit and it works out let me know.
Comments