I learned about cryptocurrency, namely Bitcoin, around 2011 or 2012 in a group chat I was in with people around the world that enjoyed playing and talking poker. A few members of this chat had already purchased several Bitcoin and were often talking to others about how they felt it, and the Blockchain, could have a positive impact on society. I did some basic research, and continued talking to this group about Bitcoin, and decided that the potential use cases could be interesting, and so I decided to purchase Bitcoin. I used Bitcoin to make some purchases online from Bitcoin-only retailers as well as used it to play online poker.

At this point I am in the implementation stage of Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrency, as I do use cryptocurrency in some instances, normally when moving money from one online poker site to another or from one site to my bank account. I am not certain if I will reach the confirmation stage. I have not had the time to continue my research into the positives and negatives of the technology, so I feel like I am in limbo between the decision and implementation stages. New ideas about cryptocurrency and the blockchain have led to new technologies using both, but without more information, I cannot properly weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the innovation outside of my current usage.

The Wikipedia article states that the definition of the Implementation adoption process includes “[t]he individual employs the innovation to a varying degree depending on the situation” then this would put me into the Implementation category (Wikipedia contributors, 2022). I would also put myself in the early adopter’s category as I used the few exchanges that were currently available at the time for purchasing, sending, storing, and spending cryptocurrencies and gave feedback to those companies when I had an issue or felt that something could be improved upon.

I was in the late majority category of adults when it came to owning a cell phone. Based on data collected by Pew Research, approximately two-thirds of adults in the US owned a cell phone by the time I purchased my own cell phone in 2005 (Mobile Fact Sheet, 2021). At the time, I did not feel the need to be available at all hours and I was not in a place financially where I felt like it was smart to take the risk despite many of my friends owning a cell phone. I preferred instant messaging people to talk to them, so talking on a phone was of little interest to me and sending text messages felt like a slower way to instant message. Plus, I lived in a very rural area that to this day still can struggle quite a bit with cell phone service, so spending the money on a phone that was unlikely to have service most places I went seemed silly.

References:

Mobile Fact Sheet. (2021, November 23). Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, January 29). Diffusion of Innovations. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations#Diffusion_versus_adoption