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Many people inside the cryptocurrency community spend extended periods of time in front of their computers. When they do take a break and step out into the real world, they often have a hard time explaining what they do. The very words âcryptocurrencyâ or âblockchainâ often provoke ill-concealed smirks or outright guffaws followed by remarks like, âOh, but thatâs all a scam,â or âYouâll never replace real money with cryptocurrency.â
Those whoâve heard a little (or even a lot) about Bitcoin generally know about the rampant volatility, high-profile hacks, perhaps its association with the Silk Road and ransomware, or the fact that major economists have labeled Bitcoin a bubble.
And many of their arguments are valid. Even some of the most invested in the space building blockchain companies of their own still use PayPal or bank transfers as their payment method of choice. The irony is not lost, but neither is the problem. The fact is that most cryptocurrencies simply havenât reached a point where theyâre a viable daily currency.
Thereâs too little infrastructure, lack of regulation, usability issues, question marks over taxation, legality, and security. And then, of course, thereâs the volatility. If youâve ever heard of buyerâs remorse, never does that apply more aptly than to a person who bought an apartment in Bitcoin at the end of 2017 and then watched the prices tank.
In Other Words, Man (or Woman) Shall Not Live by Cryptocurrency Alone
Yet, volatility, like all things, is relative. Complain about even Bitcoinâs rise and fall in value to the people of Venezuela. Their national currency, the bolivar, just devalued by 95 percent, and the countryâs inflation level is on track to hit â wait for it â 1,000,000 percent (one million) by the end of this year. Whatâs a little 5 percent â or even 50 percent â drop compared to stats like that?
Then thereâs JoĂ«l Valenzuela, Partner and Public Outreach Director at Dash Force. The man who closed his bank account in 2016 and has lived off cryptocurrency ever since. Despite the volatility, despite the daily struggles, Valenzuela is sticking to his principles. Man shall live by cryptocurrency alone. And heâs proving that itâs possible.
Live Free or Die
Valenzuelaâs story isnât conventional. Growing up in Mexico in the 1990s, he saw the effects of currency devaluation firsthand. âI was always aware that currency inflation hurts people. When people work all their lives for it and the value diminishes, itâs devastating.â So he set about finding out how to make a more stable currency and moved to New Hampshire in 2013.
Non-conventional people tend to attract other non-conventional people, and New Hampshire is home to the Free State Project. In fact, âLive Free or Dieâ isnât just a bumper sticker. Itâs the motto of the state of New Hampshire and youâll find it on all car license plates here.
As the freest state in North America, New Hampshire is home to the worldâs largest community of pro-liberty thinkers and activists, working to reduce the impact of the government, bring down taxes, and live a freer and more prosperous life. If ever a group of people were destined to get into Bitcoin, it was these folk.
âSome 3,000 or so people from the movement accepted Bitcoin right away [in 2013],â Valenzuela explains. âIt was kind of like an unspoken pledge to use it. I was fascinated by the fact that you could get it instantly, how easy it was to send back and forth, a real, peer-to-peer digital currency. I thought, when the rest of the world starts using it, this is going to change the world. People can use something thatâs strong.â
Standing by Your Principles
Valenzuelaâs early days in the states saw him actively working in Washington, D.C. as a fundraiser. âI always cared about making humankind as a whole freer and more prosperous.â And his early years spent watching the Mexico peso devalue and his parents struggle to put food on the table were ever-present in his mind.
âYou cannot understand prosperity without knowing the opposite,â he says. âIn Mexico in the rural north, there are people living in shacks with no roofs. There is so much inequality in this world. You canât sit in your bubble without any context of what is going on in the world.â
Valenzuela has been accepting Bitcoin since 2013 but always as a means of currency, not as a get-rich scheme. He says, âPeople assume that those of us who started out with Bitcoin back in the day are extremely rich, but even last year, I was stressing over how to pay rent. There have been times when Iâve been cleaned out by a monetary dip like in 2014. There are times when everything is amazing and times when everything crashes.â
Closing His Bank Account
By the beginning of 2016, he decided it was time to stand by his principles and only accept and live off Bitcoin. At the time, there were plenty of vendors who worked with Bitcoin and you could buy a cup of coffee or a slice of pizza with relative ease.
âIt worked very well for most of 2016,â he says, âbut then transaction times and fees started to go way up. Sometimes, I would try to make a purchase and it would take an hour to confirm. I was wandering around the store. Other times I was trying to buy something under a dollar and paying 50-cent fees. The whole thing broke down. I could no longer live this way. So I thought, do I give up? Or do I try to find a way to make it work?â
Valenzuela chose the latter option and started looking at the list of available cryptos. âEthereum wasnât used as money and wasnât convenient,â he says. âRipple didnât have the recent push to use the XRP token; there was no way I could use Ripple. Litecoin was abandoned at that time I believe. Then I looked at Dash. There were just enough services that accepted Dash and at the time it was really Dash or nothing. Dash was the only thing people were trying to use as money.â
Living on Dash Alone
While speaking to Valenzuela, so many unanswered questions remained in the back of my mind. Was it really and truly possible to live using only Dash? What happened when he wanted to travel? Eat out? Pay for groceries? Settle his rent?
âIt has had significant effects on life,â he admits. âThereâs much more planning, more workarounds, limited variety and limited options for eating out. You know one place in town and only go there. When it comes to groceries, I buy all my organic produce from a local farmer who accepts Dash.â
Itâs pertinent to remember that Valenzuela lives in the freest state in the United States where there are nearly 30 businesses that accept Dash in a town of just 24,000 people. âThere are also a few property groups in New Hampshire that take Dash,â he says. âThey used to take Bitcoin, but there are plenty of places where you can take crypto, especially if your landlord is a member of the Free State Project.â
But thatâs New Hampshire. Good luck moving to the midwest or a backward European fishing village. Yet Valenzuela doesnât live in a bubble. He travels frequently for Dash conferences, even on a global scale. How?
âYou have to plan your trips really well,â he explains, âbut there are websites like cheapair.com where you can pay with crypto and rental cars and hotels. You can also buy gift cards from hotels.com and gift cards for Uber. You have to pay vast chunks of your trip before you go.â
And what about when you get there? âThereâs a Free State Bitcoin shop with a crypto ATM and they sell gift cards, one of which is a prepaid Visa card. I take one of them just as a backup,â he says.
Growing the Dash Network
Yet Valenzuela isnât crazy about the idea of using established payment rails for cryptocurrency. Thatâs getting uncomfortably close to the current banking system. So, how else do you grow the Dash network? Spread the word about digital cash and get more people to accept payment in cryptocurrency?
âAlways remember that itâs about the exchange of value. Ask, is this something people value? If it is, you should absolutely be able to pay that wayâŠ. When I went to a conference in San Diego, I managed to get a kombucha shop to accept Dash. In Austin, we found a food truck that also accepted Dash, and when I went to a conference in Austria, they have a House of Nakamoto in Vienna that has a few ATMs and other services. It makes you a real problem-solver, but itâs starting to flesh out a lot more.â
And while he argues that the infrastructure has gotten worse for most cryptocurrencies, Dash is stepping up a few gears.
Valenzuela founded Discoverdash.com, a global directory of merchants that accept Dash. âThe gaps in the map are filling out a lot more,â he enthuses. âIn the US, yes, but also in Kiev [Ukraine], Venezuela, Ghana, Lithuania⊠Australia has well over 100 merchants who take Dash. I believe you can travel pretty much anywhere in the world and you will be able to find someone who will accept Dash. We now have a universal baseline where you can use it somewhere, and youâll be able to see that change in rapid succession.â
What Challenges Lie Ahead?
There are still plenty of bumps in the road to mass cryptocurrency adoption, from lack of infrastructure to usability, regulation and taxation issues. âCryptocurrency is not user-friendly,â he admits, âwith those long cryptographic hashes, writing down long seeds⊠and how do you tell someone your Dash address? Uppercase A, lowercase b, dashâŠ. itâs impossible.â
Yet thereâs plenty of work being done at Dash that will resolve these issues. And Valenzuela believes that in the same way as weâve seen innovative developers working on the Ethereum blockchain with DApps, the same will soon happen with Dash.
âAn update is being implemented in the Dash Evolution wallet by the end of the year that will replace long cryptographic hashes with usernames and it will generate a new address each time. So you can send Dash to âtheflyingmonkeyâ, for example, and it will be so much easier to use.â
And what about the volatility? What can be done about that?
âVolatility,â says Valenzuela, âis tied to speculation. Buying something and hoping its price is going to be different on another day. Bitcoin has transitioned away from a means of exchange to a speculative asset; thatâs whatâs driving volatility. If you have a remittance business, if you buy Dash and send it to people at home in Venezuela â and weâre coming up on 1,000 stores in the country â when the prime customer is someone who wants it to use it rather than speculate on it, it will grow by leaps and bounds.â
He admits thereâs still a lot of work to do, but also reminds us that Apple Pay isnât widely used either. Dash is getting serious about growing its network, working on infrastructure, scalability, and usability. âWhen we have something so easy your grandma can use it, thereâs nothing stopping this cryptocurrency from taking over the world,â he says.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.