Hazim Oraibi is a newcomer to the cryptocurrency game, but is taking it by storm. He is an avid developer and admirer of the technology for just a few months now, but one would think he’s a veteran by the knowledge he’s gained. Cryptocurrency has been around for quite awhile, but it seems that the world is catching up rapidly. There’s a news story every other day on a new outlet accepting cryptocurrency as payment, or a celebrity endorsement of the decentralized concept. It seems that the runaway train is not slowing down and is now permeating into the culture in a positive way.
We had a chance to sit down with Hazim who is an up-and-coming developer in the field of cryptocurrency and discuss his thoughts on the Crypto community, the power or hindrance of celebrity endorsements, the ethics of data mining and where the industry is headed in the next decade.
Hello Hazim, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. First things first, what enticed you into the Cryptocurrency world?
Hello, thank you for the interview. Well, multiple things led to my cryptocurrency journey. Truthfully it started from an investing point of view, I was day trading stocks for a few months and once I heard about the numbers in cryptocurrency, I was shocked and felt like I had to get in on it. I started with simply trading cryptocurrencies, but after a couple weeks of trading and learning more about it, I wanted to get involved on the development side of things and the technology. This led to me spending a few weeks of learning how to read/write contracts in solidity and create my own projects. I found myself really intrigued with the mechanics of it all which is what has led me to pursuing cryptocurrency in a more dedicated fashion.
It’s certainly a unique landscape, especially with all the press regarding celebrity endorsements and the volatility of the market, do you attribute it to misinformation surrounding Crypto?
Very much so, it seems that over the last decade there was not a lot of mainstream coverage, unless it was people saying not to invest in it due to its supposed volatility. I recall a video circulating of bank managers warning “not to invest in this Bitcoin nonsense” when the price was still in the low hundreds.
If you’re referring to Elon Musk with the endorsements then yes, he does impact how people consider it. It really is a venture and enterprise that has a massive potential, and the big banks seem to know this and are frightened of its power in the long term. However, endorsements overall I see as a positive thing rather than a negative. It spreads awareness and gives an opportunity for those in the general public to learn more about it. Just as I did myself, one of the first cryptocurrencies I invested in was found via an influencer endorsement.
The misinformation aspect comes in rather strongly as well when a lot of people don’t really understand what it’s all about, they just see a joke coin or a meme come to life which is only a small aspect of what makes Crypto so different.
Where do you see the market trending towards? In other words, do you believe that cryptocurrency will be accepted by the mainstream community in the near future?
Well, I believe we are already seeing the fruits of this trend come out. With so many platforms allowing the trading of cryptocurrency it’s steadily making its way into the mainstream which is very good to see. Seeing people get used to it and start investing their money into it is helping us to grow as a larger community.
We’re also seeing a lot of businesses adopt the use of cryptocurrency, of course it’s still early days for that, but as more companies look towards accepting payment in cryptocurrency variants which is very exciting as it means we’ve broken through into the market and will hopefully see a more worldwide currency exchange that isn’t held back by borders.
For those who are still a little confused on the concept, what is the mining process of cryptocurrency?
Yes, it is a strange concept to explain, mostly because of the way it’s framed as being a simple on/off switch for mining. For cryptocurrency to have any intrinsic value, there needs to be some in circulation, like any currency. In order to put more into circulation, there needs to be a mining of some kind, for cryptocurrency it’s conducted in a digital format. It involves the use of often very powerful computers solving computational mathematics problems that are not possible to complete by hand and often work a computer extremely hard.
The result of solving these complex equations is the monetary gain of the currency which is similar to how regular mining works if you think about it in terms of gold. It also assists in securing the network the currency resides on, ensuring that counterfeiting isn’t possible and adds tremendous amounts of value to the integrity of the payment network which is how the cryptocurrencies are able to maintain their value and trust in the eyes of their users.
There have been news stories recently about the tremendous amount of technological power it takes to mine certain coins that have a high value, this is because the more valuable a coin is in the market, the more complex the computational problems they need to solve are, this has resulted in a lot of overheated computers and the establishment of ‘farms’ to increase the processing power by a significant margin for higher rewards.
Like I said, it is a little complicated, but it’s not dissimilar than mining for oil or any other precious metal – just done with different tools and in a digital format.
Do you have any opinions as to the raging debate of environmental responsibility in the process of mining cryptocurrency?
Yes, this has been a complicated issue, especially as of late with people referring to the amount of electricity and processing power that a mining setup requires. No doubt you have seen the news stories about it parading across the news. It is a new technology, and as such has some infantile steps to take before it truly matures. This is why there are newer coins and cryptocurrencies that have focused on this very issue, new networks with more efficient means of mining that do not waste nearly as much power to produce viable results.
As the technology grows and matures, so too will the focus on power-conservation become more advanced. Consider the days of transportation, the cars that once spooled toxic fumes and required a lot of fossil fuel to move are fast becoming irrelevant as electric cars have made their impact more known, making transport energy efficient and less environmentally damaging. It’s only a matter of time.
What are you hoping to achieve with the ‘Eye Profit’ brand?
Well, something I’ve always cared about is giving back and providing opportunities for others as well as having a positive impact on the community. I plan on providing educational content and having a team of trusted individuals to offer their personal experiences and what their day to day looks like in terms of trading stocks, options, and cryptos. Of course the notion of being on the ground floor of cryptocurrency as it gains momentum is very exciting, and as a developer I will be sharing my personal projects through the Eye Profit platform before making public announcements.
There are many applications worldwide that allow the layman access to the once niche marketplace, do you have any tips on those starting out in the investing world?
Yes, there are so many ways for people to get involved from small to large investments. With the applications I’d recommend you go for one that is trusted and verified by a large amount of people. The mainstream ones are great for beginners as there is more security and a feeling that you can mess around a little bit in them without feeling too worried. There’s also a large community of support available online that answered a lot of my own questions when I was just starting out.
If I could give this one piece of advice, do your research! Especially if you are just starting out, I’d highly recommend you only invest a small amount to start off with, get used to the market, notice the trends and don’t go over your head.
There’s a lot of meme trends out there that people fall for, if you do your research and treat it as you would the stock market, you’ll start making more sensible decisions which you’ll be thanking yourself for later on.
Finally, what are your thoughts on where crypto is heading in the next 5-10 years?
That is one big mystery, 10 years ago no one would’ve predicted that it would be at this level of popularity and discussion, with the trends going the way they are, there’s no telling where the ceiling will be for the cryptocurrency world. It’s a long-term game for the serious players and investors, if we invest wisely and hold accordingly, we could be in a very good position in the next decade.
I’m already able to book flights with cryptocurrency and I’ve seen some stores in person that accept it as payment as well. It seems every week there’s a news story that piques my interest and advances cryptocurrency discussion that little bit further into the mainstream, I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Thank you Hazim for your time!
You can follow up and connect with Hazim Oraibi at IG @hazimoraibi
