## *It's Great to Have a Great Idea, BUT...*

New industries — think mobile communications, the Internet, cryptocurrencies — always seem to go through their share of growing pains.

One of the most frequent pains *(in everyone's ass, mostly!)* can be the large number of carpetbaggers and opportunists who see the new trend not so much as a chance to build something amazing at the ground level to become multi-millionaires... but as an opportunity to (largely) extract *"money for nothing"* from the emerging technology.

![0362-Mint.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdFuULumQSXUXBjj14BREx5rf5b9mL22vJna4tSxRjuE4/0362-Mint.jpg)

Often without having anything to offer, aside from flimsy ideas and empty promises.

Maybe that's a bit harsh, because often it is not so much directly malicious intent that's at play for these people, as it is the alluring idea that you can just *"cook up some scheme"* and people will throw money at you, regardless. It's not really *stealing* or *scamming,* so much as the lure of easy money.

Back in the 1990's people raised insane amounts of money by simply having an idea, coming up with a company name and then adding "dot com" to it. Of course, in the real world of day-to-day operations, that's never enough to sustain an actual business in the long run.

![0375-OrangeLeaves3.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcusShieKnkQhCpxtUqFLnahLmVNLuDV7aG2YFZuNAuAN/0375-OrangeLeaves3.jpg)

Anyone remember *eToys?* In most cases, the extent to which anyone remembers them amounts to *"they were NOT Toys-r-Us."* Makes about as much sense as starting a WalMart clone named LoftMart and thinking that'll actually *become* something.

Chances are you've never heard of a venture called *"Flooz"* These people had the idea of creating their own *"online currency"* that people could then use to buy stuff from participating retailers. WTF, over??? They actually raised $35 million and then went bankrupt.

Most of the time, the losers in the equation are the investors and supporters, not the actual idea creators who managed to score a yacht, an executive jet and a beachfront mansion in Costa Rica on the deal.

Sound familiar, when you consider cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology?

![0491-Magenta.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmV1qrdxrmfFEPXzkky1Dca3F7MLKYMGdABaobmm4RX6ET/0491-Magenta.jpg)

I got to thinking about these things today, as I started looking at the more than *five thousand* cryptocurrencies tracked by the Coinmarketcap web site. 

Who the hell actually *needs* that many tokens? Granted, a great many of them are pretty worthless... *but* a great many of them had valuations in the *tens of millions of dollars* in late 2017. 

It's funny how people are often more drawn to unproven *concepts* than they are to proven things that actually *work.* Which — I suppose — is why in the investing world, buying a high flying biotech stock is far more *"romantic"* than buying stock in a basic materials company that has had steady profits for fifty years.

All makes me wonder what the Cryptocurrency field will evolve into. What do YOU think?

Thanks for reading!

***Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!***

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*(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200214 01:02 PST*
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