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Review of “Crypto for People Who Don’t Follow Crypto” by Jon Stokes

This is a poigniant article that conveys the reckoning and creative rebirthing of commerce & finance that Blockchain tech is a harbinger of.

The article opens up with Uniswap. A crypto exchange, similar to Coinbase. In the crypto world, we call an exchange like Uniswap a DEX (Decentralized Exchange). There are some aspects about Uniswap that are not mentioned but still lend to the articles points about how revolutionary it is. One, providing liquidity on the DEX earns you money. Bankless has a great piece on being a liquidity provider (LP) on the platform. While it is a more advanced tool and the article is targeted at ‘people who don’t follow crypto’ , its worth a mention. Making your money work for you is vital to growing wealth. Second, if you are new to crypto you may notice that there are tons of ways to earn more crypto. Staking your crypto for higher APY’s than any banks offer (crypto.com currently offers 10-14% on MATIC, 10-12% on their CRO native token, 10% on USDC stablecoin and more). There is also Celsius & Blockfi that offer great rates for deposits.

The article brings up excellent points about retail commerce. One of the best lines is “Of those four parties, the only two that are theoretically necessary for a sale transaction are the vendor and the customer. Both the retailer and the bank are intermediaries and facilitators.” There is a lot of padding in the prices we pay as consumers for these intermediaries. This is an excellent point. While I still think there is some need for intermediaries (the way Coinbase has brought them into the fold, they can be much less intrusive on the consumers wallet in addition to less labor intensive costs for the vendor).

Blockchain in the instance of retail has the power to reduce the cost of goods to the consumer as well as fatten the bottom line of the companies who utilize the tech. Walmart has been testing Blockchain tech out for traceability. Think E.coli outbreaks and the subsequent attempts at tracking the inventory from individual, scattered and unreliable databases. It is an organizational nightmare for a company like Walmart to figure out where in the supply chain the contamination was and then how many different places the contaminated product went to. Blockchain delivers a more efficient way to solve the logistical difficulties of traceability. Blockchain is going to revolutionize supply chains not just in food traceability but in all aspects. Target is also using Blockchain tech to help manage inventory. Target like many large retailers have difficulty in knowing what inventory they actually have. Blockchain technology is going to change that. When a big box retailer knows exactly whats in inventory, they do not over order, or spend as much money ordering more, and those savings will be passed on down to the consumer (partially). Chances are you have shopped at a Target or Walmart. I am using the word Blockchain a lot. Blockchain is the technology that allows for crypto currencies to operate the way they do. Target & Walmart are using Blockchain technology to make their businesses run more efficiently, imagine what it can do for governments (as mentioned in Stokes’ article with municpalities). More efficient government? Let us all dream.

The article ends with a nod to creative destruction. An apt ending. Blockchain is going to disrupt the banks and diminish legacy institutions that have fought against progress. Blockchain is their reckoning. It will also be our gain.