I got a glimpse of the future today and I have to say, it made me excited for the things to come. For the most part, the future we envisioned is already here. With electric cars, computers everywhere, and personal AI assistants, we are living through a time that was predicted mainly by science fiction novels. As a crypto-currency believer right to my core, it was a thrilling surprise to see my own personal idea of the future start to bloom.

I woke up today, like any other day, with a list of chores I had to get done. Knowing that tonight was the anniversary between my girlfriend and I, there were a lot of chores associated with getting ready for the big celebration I had planned. Now, I should mention that I get paid in Bitcoin for my salary, so for someone who lives primarily in the digital ecosystem like I do, there are steps I have to take to switch some of my crypto in cold-hard cash so I can continue to live in the physical world. I plan for this and sometimes it can take days but it’s a decision I made when I decided to go all in the digital currency industry. I had heard about a Bitcoin ATM at a coffee shop near myself but I have never utilized it but knowing I needed some extra cash and faster than my normal time line, I decided to try it out.

I walked into the doors of the coffee shop, looked around and settled my eyes on the machine that would become my new best friend. Tucked into the corner where nobody could see, as if it was an after-thought, a half-heart-ed attempt to include outsiders with a subtle way of saying, “don’t get in the way”. It was something I was used to as most of us in the crypto-currency industry feel like we are outsiders in a lot of ways, and I’m sure that people are tirelessly annoyed with hearing my rants about how fascinating the blockchain is so it’s something I have come to accept.

I walked up to the ATM, which was built by BitNational, and had no idea what to accept. I pressed start, selected my denomination I wanted to withdrawal and scanned the QR code with my wallet. Within a few seconds, I had the cash in my hand. It was such an easy experience and the whole thing only took 41 seconds from pressing start on the machine and receiving cash in my hand.

The next place on my list was to the jewelry shop. I had my eye on a beautiful jade necklace for my girlfriend, something to really surprise her. As I was standing in line to pay the gentleman in front of me, used his phone to pay. After speaking to the shop owner, it turns out the gentleman was using Bitcoin to pay for his purchase. The shop-owner was using an app called BlockPay, which is developed by Bitshares-Munich, to accept Bitcoin payments. I couldn’t believe it, here I am excited about the fact that I could take my own Bitcoin out at the ATM with such short notice and it turns out I could have just used my Bitcoin to pay for this beautiful jade necklace directly. The shop-owner mentioned to me that he got into crypto-currency about a year ago but just recently made the plunge to start accepting it for payments. With BlockPay, he pays no fees and every crypto-currency can be used to pay for the services. The potential to use Dogecoin to pay for expensive jewelry made me laugh a bit. Thank you Bitshares-Munich because that is amazing to see.

To top this wonderful day off, I received an email from my landlord who was notifying me that he would be willing to accept Bitcoin for my rent each month. He had done some research into it and realized that there is some amazing value to blockchain and what it is working to achieve. In one day I went from sitting on the outside of the economic system to being a part of it again. At this rate, I could see myself living completely off crypto-currency with no need to transfer in and out of traditional currency.

Overall, I was on top of the world. The industry that I work so hard to promote. The awkward smiles I get when I lose people trying to explain the technical side of things. The judgement people thinking I am a drug-dealer or running a ponzi scheme when I say I work in the industry. All of it is worth it for something I believe in, and to see it in action is just the validation I need to know that I am on the right path. Things are looking up for crypto-currencies. Having just grown out of our teen years, we are starting to find ourselves. With the awkward puberty stage behind us, the growing pains are starting to become distant memories. The road ahead full of possibilities, no longer intimidated by the things to come. The future is now exciting, the future is now.