Finney Vol. 1 - Immutable Journey - Flipbook - Page 16
Making his way along the bustling street,
heading in the direction the billboard had
pointed him, Finney noticed something
odd about the cobblestone roadway.
One of its stones appeared gold, rather
than sand colored. Half a block later,
he saw another gold cobblestone. Then
another. “It must be a good omen,” he
said.
Soon enough, Finney saw another
promising sign. “Exchange Gold for
Crypto at Shift Tower!!!” it said. The
address on the sign was the same as
the address on the billboard had been.
Finney was overjoyed. “I’m on my way!”
he exclaimed to no one.
“Brilliant costume,” said a passing
gentleman in a derby hat. “Is there a
convention in town or something?”
“I’m in town to learn about crypto,”
answered Finney.
“Very good,” said the man. “I was just
reading about the Ethereum Virtual
Machine. Fascinating stuff. Shame about
the environmental impact, though.”
The comment captured Finney’s full
attention. “Environmental impact?” he
asked.
“Of proof-of-work mining,” said the man.
“Bitcoin and Ethereum both require huge
amounts of energy. There are other tokens
that are better, from what I’ve read. But
the energy use is still a concern.”
“Why do they need so much energy?”
asked Finney.
“It’s all about the consensus algorithms,
my boy,” said the man. “Proof-of-work
versus proof-of-stake and so forth. I don’t
really understand the finer points.”
16
“Have you ever been to Shift Tower?”
asked Finney.
“I see it every day, but have never had
the pleasure,” said the man. “But good
luck to you.”
“Thanks,” said Finney. “Is that Shift
Tower?” he asked, pointing to a vaguely
ominous skyscraper in the distance.
“That’s the one,” said the man, walking
away.
Finney saw another sign for crypto at Shift
tower on the next block. There were two
such signs on the following block, and
many more gold cobblestones. Growing
increasingly excited, he resisted the
urge to run, afraid of missing important
opportunities to learn about crypto in
his haste. This slow pace paid off when
he came upon a pair of young people
bunched up on the sidewalk, talking
about crypto.
“I sold all my crypto when the market
tanked,” lamented a young man.
“FUD get to you?” asked a young woman.
“I’m still all in on WAX. WAX is the king
of NFTs and doesn’t care what Bitcoin
does.”
“I want to buy back in, but the market’s
just moving sideways now,” said the man.
“That’s what you said last time,” teased
the young woman. “Then you bought at
the peak because of FOMO and sold
instead of hodling in the downturn.”
“Excuse me,” said Finney. “I heard you
talking and was wondering. What’s a
FOMO?”
“Fear of missing out,” said the young
woman. “Like, if you see someone making
FINNEY VOLUME ONE - IMMUTABLE JOURNEY