DNotes Turns Four
As human beings, we tend to mark the passage of time by holding certain dates and events in high regard – especially those dates that have a special meaning for us. That’s why we celebrate things like birthdays and anniversaries. They provide us an opportunity to take stock of where we’ve come from by celebrating specific milestones that have helped to bring us to where we are now. At DNotes, we’re now celebrating a very important milestone, as we prepare to enjoy our four-year anniversary. Yes, it’s been four years since DNotes first launched – and what a four-year journey it has been!
As part of that celebration, I would like to review the path we’ve taken to get to where we are, to better understand just how far we’ve come. In addition, I think it’s important to look at where we’re going in the immediate future as we roll out new features and services in the months and years to come. As anyone who has followed our progress over the last four years already knows, DNotes is an idea with world changing possibilities. I hope you’ll join me as we celebrate yet another milestone on the path to realizing its true potential.
A Digital Currency with Purpose
We launched DNotes in February of 2014. From the beginning, we knew that we wanted this digital currency to be something different than all other cryptocurrencies. Our goal was to make DNotes a digital currency with purpose: to become an accepted cryptocurrency that can supplement the world’s fiat currencies and provide financial inclusions and empowerment for people everywhere.
That laudable goal was born from our recognition that the current financial system doesn’t always work for everyone. Now, I recognize that there will be some in the financial industry who would reflexively argue against that assessment. Indeed, one of the primary objections raised by crypto-skeptics tends to focus on this very issue. Some have even suggested that digital currency is a solution in search of a problem. In other words, they would have us believe that there is really nothing wrong with the current system, and that it’s working just fine.
Move along, they say… nothing to see here.
But we know that’s not true. According to estimates, roughly 2 billion people around the world lack access to basic financial services – like savings accounts. In the United States and most other developed countries, we get alarmed if our bank account balances fall below a certain level. Imagine what it must be like to be denied access to an account altogether. How do you participate in an economy where there is no financial inclusion?
DNotes was designed to serve as a supplemental currency accessible to everyone around the world. Its goal is to provide people with greater access to financial inclusion and economic participation – two essential components of personal empowerment. For while the world has seen a drop in the number of people who lack access to banking services, that progress has not come quickly enough. Too many of the world’s citizens are being left behind as the global economy moves forward at breakneck speed. We intend for DNotes to help provide the tools they need to gain access to everything that the modern economy has to offer.
Building an Infrastructure to Fulfill Digital Currency’s Promise
When Bitcoin arrived on the scene, there were many early enthusiasts who hailed it as the future of money. Many of those folks sincerely believed that the new digital currency would eventually replace the world’s fiat currencies, and usher in a new golden age where people would finally control their own money. The world is no closer to seeing that dream come true than it was the day Bitcoin was born.
We recognized right away that digital currency adoption will never occur on a worldwide scale without a solid ecosystem to provide people with the comfort level they need to trust a new currency option. That’s why we started to build out the DNotes ecosystem in our first year of existence, establishing critical infrastructure components that support, protect, and educate cryptocurrency users.
In 2014, we created CryptoMoms, an online educational center that provides critical information about digital currency to women and anyone else interested in becoming more engaged with this new technology. CryptoMoms provides a perfect forum for people to discuss and learn about cryptocurrency and its benefits, and a resource to address the industry’s failure to attract more participation from women.
That same year also saw the launch of our CRISP program, with the introduction of CRISP for Kids. The goal of that program was simple: to encourage younger generations to learn and practice sound savings habits. Most people understand that these savings habits are essential for financial security, but there are few resources out there to help kids learn how to save. CRISP offers an unstructured, DNotes-driven savings and investment opportunity that keeps control in the hands of savers.
The DNotesVault also launched in 2014, providing DNotes stakeholders with a secure and reliable environment for storage of their DNotes. All stakeholders have the option to store their DNotes in the vault, where all funds are kept in cold storage to prevent illicit access and potential loss. The DNotesVault website also provides a simple user interface that allows stakeholders to manage their funds. As an added element of security, we also included a 100% matching fund to ensure that stakeholders are protected from losses that might result from unforeseen future risks.
We introduced even more of the ecosystem in 2015, with the launch of new CRISP options for Retirement, Students, and Employees. In addition, we created the DNotesEDU App, which offered the world the first app designed to educate people about digital currencies. These innovations combined to provide stakeholders with new opportunities for savings and investment, and new ways to learn about the cryptocurrency revolution.
Additionally, we launched DCEBrief in 2015. We wanted to create a news and information site that would provide a more objective take on everything that is happening in the digital currency space. We also recognized that businessmen, government regulators, and most digital currency enthusiasts rarely have time to wade through overly long news accounts. That’s where the “Brief” in DCEBrief comes into play. We are committed to providing our readers with the more condensed news content they need to help them remain informed about important cryptocurrency developments.
DNotes Global Inc Arrives
As 2016 arrived, we decided that it was time to initiate the next stage of our long-term plan. We launched DNotes Global Inc, an incorporated, for-profit company designed to provide, coordinate, and nurture DNotes’ ecosystem, and bridge the gap between the decentralized and centralized worlds. The DNotes digital currency holds up to a 25% stake in the company as well, to provide the currency with something that even Bitcoin can’t match: the real intrinsic value as a result of being supported by the company and all of the component parts increasing its value and usefulness.
In that same year, I published my business book, Improve Your Odds: The Four Pillars of Business Success, and launched the Four Pillars of Business Success website. Both are designed to help today’s entrepreneurs overcome the daunting challenges they confront in an ever-changing business environment. The book provides insight and principles that I have developed over the course of several decades of business ownership. The online site reinforces those principles, while also providing important business resources to help entrepreneurs put them into practice.
DNotesEDU, funded and launched independently by members of the DNotes team, was later launched, with a website platform designed to increase our educational outreach. Mass adoption of digital currency will require mass awareness and acceptance – and that will not happen unless someone does the hard work of educating the world about this new technology. At DNotes, we are thrilled to be playing a part in that effort.
DNotes 2.0 and the Future of Money
Throughout 2017, we continued to build on that momentum, as we planned for the next stage of our evolution. Later in the year, we were finally ready to start revealing that plan and the new version of DNotes that would soon be born: DNotes 2.0. That new version of the cryptocurrency will be launching soon and will offer DNotes stakeholders the security and community that they’ve grown to love and trust, while also providing new features and new opportunities.
DNotes 2.0 will be different from DNotes 1.0 in many respects but one of the major ones is that the new version will be based on Proof of Stake rather than Proof of Work. This change will provide greater protection against potential centralization, while allowing every stakeholder to enjoy the benefits of the staking process. Some of those benefits will be experienced with the introduction of CRISP 2.0, as our new blockchain will be set up to reward those stakeholders just for holding onto their DNotes for specified periods of time.
We’ll also be offering deferred staking that integrates perfectly with cold storage. That will ensure that stakeholders who want to protect their DNotes in offline wallets will still be able to gain the advantages of staking by deferring staking rights to their online wallet.
In the months and years to come, we have many other features that will be introduced as we continue to advance toward the goal of establishing DNotes as a reliable, trusted supplemental currency for people around the world.
Those features include a blockchain integrated payment network that will enable merchants to accept DNotes through decentralized payment verification, without having to maintain their own cryptocurrency wallets – and a multi-currency payment card system for stakeholders. In addition, we plan to implement a governance system that will offer a decentralized way for our stakeholders to exercise voting rights on upgrades to the DNotes blockchain.
We also have other big plans as well, including a digital currency exchange, and potential banking services. How and when those plans come to fruition will depend greatly on the outcome of any regulatory efforts in the future. We will also launch NextGenVC services to partner with businesses, offering consulting and other crucial benefits for those partners to help make them even more successful.
In the meantime, we look forward to the launch of DNotes 2.0, and our planned mini-IPO launch to raise the funds required for the advancement of these important project goals. We will have more news on that front in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!
The last four years have gone by so quickly that it is easy to forget just how far we have come from the early days of DNotes existence. On this, our four-year anniversary, we can all take pride in everything that our community has achieved in such a short period of time – even as we look forward to the unfinished work that lies ahead. As we move forward into our fifth year and beyond, let us never forget everything that we’ve accomplished to bring us to this point in our history. But more importantly, let us draw inspiration from those accomplishments to inspire us to reach for even loftier heights of success!
Happy birthday, DNotes.
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