I'm an engineer who came in during the COVID bull run, survived the LUNA crash, was stupid enough to stick around during the bear, and am now earnestly studying "crypto philosophy". What the hell is that, you ask? I just made it up. I think about cryptocurrency systems, financial systems, why they do what they do, whether they're fair, and whether they can be made better.

I'm just a regular old dumbass trying to learn and run commentary as cryptocurrencies go mainstream and evolve as they do. At the end of it, I might even decide if all the fuss and bother was worth it.

Some crypto-relevant ideals I've internalised after much reading and thought:

• I believe average people validating transactions and/or mining gives a unique power to the general population. I believe that, even if every average Joe doesn't run a Bitcoin node on his laptop, this is a critical right of the people, and that it has the power to keep authorities in check, even if it doesn't magically solve all the world's problems.

• On a similar note, I believe the radical transparency of a cryptocurrency ledger can be leveraged to create a more accountable society, if done right.

• I believe that man is flawed, and that awareness of our limitations can lead to the design of systems that help mitigate our worst impulses.

• I believe that hard money is important, but I also understand its limitations. The amount of productivity in a society is a flexible and abstract thing, and the monetary supply must change to match that as accurately as it can.

• I believe that Keynesian economics has gone too far in the modern day, and I believe a "best of both worlds" system is possible, if thought is put towards it.

• I do not believe that the US dollar will collapse dramatically like most Bitcoin proponents predict. I think that the monetary system will change fundamentally in our lifetimes, and I'm around to find out how. Why? Because money makes the world go around, and the system it runs on sets the speed.

  These thoughts and beliefs frame my study, and I am constantly challenging them, updating them, and scrutinising them.

  What kind of monetary system will we be running in twenty years? Will it involve cryptocurrency ideals that are still pure? Will the banks win in the end? Let's find out. Join me.

  -- Sheila.