How Did We Get Here?
Who remembers the Subprime Banking Collapse of 2008-2009? Cheap credit and loose lending standards in the banking sector became the norm and many Americans who may not have been able buy a home, soon realized the American dream of home ownership was more than possible. This was due in part to years of rock bottom interest rates that fell as low as 1%. Well, everything that glitters ain’t gold!
What goes up must come down and in the case of mortgage interest rates, what went down was bound to go up! Interest rates started to climb and millions of people found themselves in a financial bind. The value of their homes started to depreciate and people couldn’t sell their homes without owing money to the lenders. Big problems ensued! Financial institutions began to freeze completely for fear of the unknown and eventually, some of the biggest lending institutions began filing for bankruptcy.
As a result of their involvement in securitization during the subprime mortgage crisis, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and others were bailed out by the federal government. The day after Lehman’s bankruptcy filing, the Fed bailed out AIG, and a few weeks later, Congress passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”), which allocated $700 billion to stabilizing the financial system. Who did the relief go to? Not the little guy! Not the millions of home owners who were about to loose his/her shirt, LITERALLY!
These lending practices may not have started as criminal, but they continued long after realizing that granting loans to people who couldn’t afford them would have long term drastic effects! The financial crisis of 2008 altered so many lives: Millions of people lost their homes, their jobs and their savings. According to Marketplace.org, it set off a recession that collectively destroyed over $30 trillion of the world’s wealth. And though the crisis grew out of big banks’ handling of mortgage-backed securities, no Wall Street executive went to jail for it.
Introducing Cryptocurrency
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the world’s first digital cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) was proposed. The introduced platform allowed peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place, eliminating the need for intermediary financial authorities, being the first fully decentralized commercial system of its kind. It was created as a way for people to control their money themselves, without having to rely on companies, banks, or governments and their fees and controls.
Personally, I like most people, was very skeptical in reference to cryptocurrency. We only know what we know, and all I knew was government issued Fiat Currency (money not backed by a physical commodity like Gold, or Silver). The idea that someone could create a new form of currency that wasn’t tangible was foreign to me. Although I had been approached with the idea of investing in Bitcoin early on, I had very little interest to say the least. As someone who is college educated, I can say it was pure ignorance that kept me from investigating this new form of currency that would take the world by storm.
Imagine if I would have listened to my friend who was obviously onto something huge? How many of you reading this post got the Bitcoin call and ignored it? OMG to say the least right!!! This post might read a whole lot differently had we done just a little research! Just imagine if you threw $1000 at Bitcoin in 2015 when the coin was valued at $237 USD. That would have given you 4.21 Bitcoins. At its highest in February of 2021, 1 Bitcoin was valued at $65,000 USD. Your $1000 would have returned you $260,000. Yes I’m sick to my stomach too!
I started dabbling in Crypto in October 2022 and I can honestly say I’ve been extremely successful! As someone who was opposed to the idea of Crypto and ignored “The Call”, it’s funny how things come full circle. From the guy who wanted no parts of Crypto to being asked to be the Keynote Speaker at a Crypto event held at Skyline Water Place in Providence RI. i guess success leaves clues and I hope I left a few behind. There’s no better feeling than being being asked to add value to the lives of others! I take pride in knowing that sharing my story may empower others to create theirs!
Mason Santos aka Thee Dj Finesse
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