To expand on the point you made in the beginning of your article, what's most impressed me about the cryptocurrency frontier is the necessity for us cryptoneers to take more care with our finances. I admit that this lesson was a tough one for me to learn. Part of the crow I had to eat was realizing how sheltered I've been by the Regulatory State.

Over the long term, reclaiming responsibility - and being glad to shoulder the associated burdens of doing so - will be the "black swan" effect of the cryptocurrency revolution. We'll learn in our guts that more freedom entails more responsibility and more care.

One of the fascinating aspects of the altcoin space is seeing old frontier customs being rediscovered after they've had decades of dormancy. The most heartening one is the old-fashioned volunteerism where folks will drop what they're doing to help other out of a scrape. It's almost like living in the Old West where folks will spontaneously assemble to act as a rescue squad or a posse in the good sense. This ethic spreading will get a lot of people taking a second look at the Regulatory State...