My opening post, the genesis, the very first molecules of water vapour.. perhaps better referred to as Steem.

But how did I or any of us really end up posting to this new and in many ways exciting platform. Was it the innate desire to share my thoughts with the internet? Maybe it was the appeal of early adoption to blockchain technology. For all one knows it was the simple yet insatiable capitalistic desire that we as humans have become vulnerable to. It is likely to be a cumulation of these and many other factors that has drawn us all to Steemit.





So what is my Crypto/Blockchain story so far

Chapter 1 - You mean there is more than just Bitcoin?

I suppose I first "adopted" blockchain technology when I bought my first bit of cryptocurrency in 2017. Having stumbled across one of the thousand Top 5 cryptocurrencies for 2018 videos posted to youtube, my attention was drawn to the comments section where most of the comments were "shilling" (a term I became familiar with later) a token called Publica (PBL).

This lead to my next couple of weeks being spent largely researching cryptocurrency, exchanges and the community as a whole. After a bit of deliberation I ended up choosing Kucoin as my exchange of choice and voilà I became a crypto investor, all be it a small one.

Chapter 2 - The rise, the fall, the referrals

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had bought in at the beginning of the 2017 bull run and was about to go on one heck of a ride. My whole portfolio would gain literally 50% per day for about two weeks and I was running on a high. I felt as though I had uncovered this gold mine of unlimited earning and would be a proud lambo owner in no time.

This is when referrals sparked my interest. Kucoin offered one of the better referral systems where you would get paid 20% of the trading fee of anyone who you brought to the exchange, 12% of anyone they brought and 8% from your referrals, referrals, referrals (I think that's the right amount of referrals). Long story short this new source of potential earning rocketed me into the crypto community in an attempt to gain those precious commissions. In less than 3 weeks I had 150 referrals worth about $100-$200 a week in commission.

Then, it all came crashing down. As is no secret to any crypto follower the bear market came quickly in 2018 and hit hard. Due to my (not so) wealth of trading knowledge I hodl'ed through the price drop and soon my portfolio was back to where it started and my commissions were all but gone. Tis the way of crypto land.

Chapter 3 - Why Steemit

Before I even realised what Steemit was I had already read a number of articles posted here. Through links on other forums the Steemit name was already a familiar one, and I remember noticing the money value at the bottom of each post. It wasn't until I one day stuck around on the page for a bit longer that I decided to look up what Steemit was really about. As I'm sure is no surprise to anyone reading, I liked what I found.

I had been contemplating starting some sort of blog for a little while, a place to write articles about what interests me and perhaps might interest others too. Steemit just happened to be the perfect place to do so.

Who am I?

You may have deduced from my handle (benzene) that my name is Ben. I am from the great southern land, Australia, have a degree in Science and am currently continuing further study, while working in the field. My interests are not limited to any specific niche (on an ever eternal pursuit of knowledge) although my areas of strength are; people, science, health, sport, policy, exercise, education and hopefully one day cryptocurrency and blogging.

What is benzene you ask? Well its an organic molecule that just happened to have my name in it, it was also an available username, so that helps.

Benzene C6H6

What my blog will be about

My blog, it's content and direction will evolve over time as I become accustomed to this platform and find what works best for me. I endeavour to write something interesting, entertaining or at the very least informative on a bi-weekly basis and post it right here on Steemit. I aim to post articles on a variety of topics to broaden the knowledge and interests of all those who read them, and maybe give a few more talking points at your next dinner party. Let's say general interest.

I appreciate those of you who have spent time reading this.

Tl;dr - My name's Ben, blockchain technology spiked an interest and now starting on steemit seems to have happened organically. I'm interested in any many many topics and hope to post on a wide variety. Thanks :)