As my first blog post on Publish0x, I'd like to introduce myself, the purpose of this blog, and the ethos I will use in achieving it.

"Who are you? And why should I care?"

I'm Sinistra, and unlike most crypto writers here, I am an average Joe. I didn't get a higher education in economics, computer science, engineering, or math. Everything I learnt was from the internet.

I write and edit stories over at In Real Life Malaysia, where I've interviewed students, teachers, doctors, newspaper vendors, sex workers, jewellery entrepreneurs, drag queens, prison wardens, HR consultants, bipolar artists, game designers, youtubers, and the homeless. 

They say there's 4 levels of awareness: Unconscious Incompetence. Conscious Incompetence. Conscious Competence. Unconscious Competence.

This places me squarely in the second category — conscious incompetence. I'm aware that I don't know enough about crypto to know what I'm doing. 

As such, most of what I write here will sound dumber than the majority of writers on Publish0x. I'd be like Homer Simpson at a science convention. 

"So what do you have to share as someone with no expertise in this field?"

Honestly? That's why I started this blog — to make sense of crypto from the eyes of an outsider.  

The problem with crypto, despite being around for so long, is that there is still a huge barrier to entry for regular people with no background in tech, finance, IT, or stock market trading.

How can anyone say (with a straight face) that it's the "key to financial freedom" when the only people with access to the key already have experience in all of these fields?

What about the minimum-wage waitress, the pension fund retiree, the primary school teacher, or the roadside burger seller?

Do they know what "bridging" is? What's a "protocol"? And why is nothing all under the same app?

Quite simply, crypto is still cryptic to the masses.

How can someone with a surface-level understanding of technology, finances, human nature, and market forces navigate the esoteric and often intentionally obtuse world of the crypto technocrats?

The answer is, with great difficulty. Is this a bug or a feature of cryptocurrency communities?

That's what this blog intends to answer.

And by the end of this journey, I hope to advance to the next stage of awareness — conscious competence.

Come along for the ride.

Sinistra