Given today’s perspective, if this scene in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate hasn’t turned out to be cinema’s most ironic from the 1960s, it’s certainly among the top candidates:

To be sure, plastic is one of the most life-changing materials ever devised by man. With seemingly never-ending applications for it — think 3D printers, among other things — it’s going to be around for a long, long time.

As we now know, though, there’s a price to be paid:

It’s a daunting challenge, but modern solutions are coming to the rescue. At the forefront is nothing less than one of the most revolutionary developments of the last decade:

The blockchain.

Plastic waste is a significant problem worldwide, even more so in poor nations because they often lack a reliable waste-management system. In some countries, large stretches of land and rivers are carpeted with bottles, bags and other plastic debris.

According to one recent study, 90% percent of plastic jetsam in the ocean comes from 10 rivers, eight in Asia and two in Africa.

In 2013, a Vancouver BC startup had a plan to address this issue that would be both viable and scalable using the blockchain, and the Plastic Bank came into being:

Haiti was an ideal nation to put the Plastic Bank into practice, so it was where their operations began in 2015.

A decent wage there is around $2 a day, and the Plastic Bank offered $5 a day to a quickly grown legion of plastic waste collectors. To date, over 100million plastic bottles have been reclaimed. They’re then processed into flakes or pellets and exported to other countries, where they’re used to make new products.

As a result, participating Haitians have been able to establish financial profiles, enabling them to obtain credit and begin saving, although most don’t even have birth certificates or other means of official identification. It’s the blockchain’s unique ID nomenclature that overcomes the problem. In this instance, the platform deployed was IBM’s:

This is the concept that makes the blockchain invaluable.

No Bitcoin is needed, nor Litecoin, nor any other coin. The blockchain supports the Plastic Bank’s micro-economy, and its product-based digital token is transferable anywhere in the world.

When people bring plastic waste to recycling centers for export, they’re reimbursed via digital tokens into a bank account accessible by smartphone. They can then exchange the tokens for goods such as food, water, phone minutes, and more.

Plastic Bank has branded its product as social plastic. Great name. Great cause.

Plastic Bank operates as a business, which is one of its attractions. It’s also established a charitable wing for those who wish to donate. Feel free, and hard currency is welcome.

Ironically, they haven’t deployed the blockchain for that purpose yet.

First of all, do know we’re all for peace, love, and understanding.

As in …

• Peace of mind that we’re making a difference,
• Love what we’re doing, and
• Understanding how to be successful with it.

Secondly, the 3% who are relentlessly driven to achieve the Dot Com lifestyle are clearly motivated marketers, those whose inner strength doesn’t come from external sayings.

• They’re creating and operating a business, not a hobby.
• They’re not interested in a second income; they’re building a primary income.

Their particular commitment, then, is stark:

Achieve success through intensity.

This is clearly an approach that’s between you and whatever makes you tick. It’s the essence of what makes you unique, which is vital to Dot Com success.

Build on this by reflecting it in your brand.

There’s got to be more to your business than a desire to make money. That just reduces your existence to being a faceless cog in the base truism of economic reality:

There’s more to you than that, and the same goes for your customers.

With 4.39billion internet users worldwide — and counting — it’s beyond obvious that your interests and passions aren’t going to appeal to everyone. You only need a minuscule segment of them to be wildly successful.

So don’t try to be all things to all people. There’s nothing wrong with being polarizing. In fact, it’s preferable.

Your brand doesn’t need to be fiery-controversial to be polarizing, either, even though that works well in certain circumstances.

Nike, for instance, featured athlete-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick in a campaign that angered many but greatly appealed to their target market:

One of the best purpose-driven campaigns came from the European budget-travel company, Momondo.

Its objective was to share a greater purpose than just selling trips:

A company spokesman stated Momondo received a return on investment as high as $213 per every dollar spent, confirming a campaign that touches people creates value for both the recipient and the brand.

They followed the classic checklist for purpose-driven marketing:

• Choose your position and make a stand,
• Show people what’s in it for them,
• Showcase exactly who you are as a brand,
• Make them curious and wanting more,
• Use emotions to craft stronger relationships, and
• Start a movement of community and keep building on it.

This is brand-customer bonding at its best.

It’s one of the most sincere components of making your best customers your best customers.

What’s more, the intensity of a purpose-driven campaign is you, and if you’re loving what you do, it’ll show. That’s a very attractive business scenario.

Two significant developments have made headlines this month:

• The influential Binance Exchange reported that hackers stole 7000 Bitcoin — worth around $41million at the time — along with a few user two-factor authentication codes and API tokens, and
• The USA Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) dropped the hammer on Decentralized Applications (DApps) in their role as handlers of other people’s money.

Binance will cover the losses from the heist because …

• Of course they would in order to keep customers from abandoning them, and
• The amount was only about 2% of their overall holdings.

Much of the blame for this hack lies within the Bitcoin format itself to the point that Binance had already delisted the original coin, now known as Bitcoin SV (for Satoshi Version).

Here’s Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of the Bitcoin Association, on BSV fighting back to retain its relevance in both the crypto world and the real world:

This is the Holy Grail of any digital token.

Because of the blockchain’s core versatility, it’s totally inconceivable that there there will ever be one dominant token such as Bitcoin. However, there will be a few that rise above the rest, just like there’s a basket of major hard currencies today.

And that’s what the ultimate cryptocurrency race is all about, which is of immense interest to ecommerce store owners who are already generating serious revenues due to accepting them for payment.

Currently, Ripple is the one banks and other financial institutions not only favor, but are scaling up:

Following the money is rarely a bad idea, and if the banking system is shifting to digital tokens like Ripple, then the ecommerce entrepreneurs who likewise adapt will be well-positioned to benefit from a greater market share due to a greater variety of payment methods they’ll accept.

The irony, of course, is that the cryptocurrency movement was inspired by the concept of decentralizing the financial system.

World peace is a cool concept, too, but it’s also foiled by those troublesome issues of human nature and coveted power getting in the way.

If the decentralization crowd can’t be trusted to police their own, then for the good of the movement, real policing must be part of the system. At least, for now.

As Nguyen himself said even before the Binance hack:

Somehow, this must also include putting more Bitcoin into circulation by customers as opposed to speculators.

From a practical standpoint, the thought of this happening is absolutely ridiculous when the share of actual commercial transactions via Bitcoin stands at only 11% of the total in circulation:

It’s a major reason why Bitcoin is vulnerable as a dominant player.

With over half of its supply held by investors and speculators, Bitcoin’s gonna be subject to wild swings in value, which can be totally unappealing and impractical to those who would use it to pay for items in the real world.

Then there’s the point that most of Bitcoin’s commercial users tend to be millennials and younger, and those demographic groups are well attuned into the effects of climate change.

In contrast, Bitcoin mining is toxic:

• It produces as much carbon dioxide a year as one million transatlantic flights, and
• In November 2018, it consumed more power than the entire Republic of Ireland.

Blockchain, on the other hand, is eco-friendly.

Clearly, something’s gotta change for Bitcoin in that regard, too.

Weiss Ratings is attempting to establish itself as the Standard & Poor’s of the crypto world, and it lists today’s top tokens as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and EOS. All, however have Risk/Reward grades of D+ to D- as investment vehicles. Until the stability of more commercial transaction usage is present, these won’t be rising anytime soon.

Bitcoin was once the undisputed flagship of the digital token armada. It’s clearly waned in influence since its introduction.

If Bitcoin — or any other token — is to become more than a speculation widget and make an impact in the real world, it well and truly is time to grow up and accept more responsibility for its actions.

Now that Facebook’s officially released the white paper announcing its version of a digital token, here’s a random sarcastic comment that indicates the upcoming challenge:

Now I can finally buy some friends.

He’ll be here all night.

Or, as Axios put it …

• On the positive side, Facebook isn’t allowing privacy or antitrust concerns to thwart its ambitions.
• On the negative side, Facebook isn’t allowing privacy or antitrust concerns to thwart its ambitions.

Whatever the perspective, Facebook’s Libra is here:

The advent of blockchain has made digital tokenization inevitable, and cryptocurrencies are just another form of tokens.

In this regard, let’s draw some important distinctions:

• Virtually all fiat currencies are backed by the full faith and credit of the centralized government that issued them;
• Most digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ether, etc, are backed not by a centralized government, but by the complex math that digital miners solve to earn; and
• Some digital currencies like Tether are backed by the value of underlying assets, which are called stablecoins.

Since Facebook has chosen the latter for Libra, here’s a deeper look at them:

As to the concept of a basket of currencies supporting the Libra’s value, that’s nothing new, either.

It’s actually how the euro came to be.

A mega-platform deploying its own currency is also an established practice. China’s WeChat Pay, for example, already accommodates cross-border settlements, which is what Facebook intends for the Libra.

So, what’s the real controversy about Facebook’s commitment to issue a new currency? What else?

Besides trust issues, there’s the matter of the demographic groups most comfortable with digital tokens being Millennials and Gen Z’s, a great many of whom generally refer to Facebook as Instagram for old people.

Somehow, Facebook’s gotta find a way to attract more of them back to the platform. This could be where WhatsApp plays a role, but the moment Facebook acquired it, other messaging apps such as Telegram and Signal experienced a surge in users.

Plus, with the Calibra consortium looking for all intents and purposes like the Illuminati 2.0 and possibly winding up as an actual Illuminati, consumers are gonna have to decide whether they want to exchange government oversight of their holdings in favor of corporate supervision.

On the other side of the coin, as it were, Facebook could be doing its bit to bring cryptocurrencies into the mainstream.

Here’s how former PayPal president David Marcus — who’s now spearheading the Calibra consortium — pitches what he says will be Calibra’s insular approach to the market and marketing:

Bitcoin was a radical and necessary idea, but to date, it and others blew it by becoming more of a marker for speculators than a widespread means of exchange.

Facebook is clearly designing Libra to be business-friendly and, from a currency standpoint anyway, less threatening.

The first wave of cryptocurrencies represented a radical revolution in how the future of money could look, kinda like how the Internet itself was a radical revolution in the future of information.

In its World Wide Web stage, the Internet may have gone mainstream, but it did so warts and all.

Only in recent years has it come to light that Big Tech‘s been as Wild West in terms of its cavalier handling personal data that cryptos continue to be in terms of its financial ambiguity.

Facebook’s right in the thick of one corral with guns blazing, and now it’s determined to stick Libra in the other and bring the Earp brothers along this time.

Actions will speak louder than spins.

Those who achieve and maintain the Dot Com lifestyle will confirm the effort to get there is well worth it.

However, most who take the journey can’t help but notice a litany of cautionary tales that are strewn along the wayside.

There are many rewarding reasons for becoming an online entrepreneur. Getting rich quick isn’t one of them, as those who drink that particular brand of kool-aid usually discover the hard way.

Serious achievers who get into the business usually start by seeking a second income, learning the fundamentals, and scaling up if they find a spark’s ignited as a result of their efforts.

Chris Record is one entrepreneur who fast-tracked by necessity. He’s a natural salesman who saw online enterprise as his avenue to rise from humble beginnings to financial freedom.

We connected a few years ago. We’d taken different routes to success, but I’ve found Chris to be straight-up about his hits and misses, genuinely sincere, and unfailingly positive.

While we’ve never collaborated on any business or project, I’ve been impressed with Chris’s willingness to hold up his life experiences as examples of what works and what doesn’t in online business.

Here’s his account of something that doesn’t, and it reflects an obliviousness to an obviosity that seems to happen to millennials who get so consumed in their business, they forget they’re operating a business:

Sometimes the simplest things teach the hardest lessons.

Chris’s dilemma, amazingly enough, is not an isolated situation. It seems that millennials, especially, expect to break through in online business, become single-minded about generating the income, and have a tendency to treat its nuts and bolts as secondary considerations.

Identifying a niche and a product or service that would benefit those within it is a key factor in dot com success.

However, amidst that euphoria, a bitta planning wouldn’t go amiss. As we’ve just seen, it’s actually essential.

It’s time.

Not only that, it’s been time for nearly half a generation.

And yet, even as Apple’s iMessage has evolved to almost keep up with a swath of multi-function texting apps, the smartphone’s last dinosaur — Android’s Short Messaging Service, or SMS — was still used to send 40billion texts in 2018 alone.

Until now, Google just couldn’t rid itself of SMS without suffering setbacks.

Devised as a way to transmit messages through phone carrier signal systems in 1982, SMS went mainstream in 1992 and proceeded to go stale ever since.

Since then, the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and Facebook Messenger have left it in the dust with now-expected features such as message-received notifications, group messaging, graphics, and streaming.

Once Apple’s standard-issue iMessenger got just as versatile, Google’s SMS offering has basically been a vanilla annoyance.

It’s not like the behemoth hasn’t tried to find a popular way to cast SMS aside, but  tech and/or marketing problems always got in the way.

Now, they’re finally sure they’ve got it sorted, so SMS is gradually being replaced by Rich Communication Services, or RCS.

Here’s Dieter Bohn of The Verge to explain:

In essence, then, when your smartphone’s carrier incorporates into the system, you’ll have RCS instead of SMS, and you’ll see it as Chat with this icon:

If you contact someone who doesn’t yet have RCS, they’ll get your message in SMS until their carrier upgrades.

They’ll likely want access themselves sooner rather than later:

The RCS rollout is thus in process, and it can be downloaded in the Play Store under Messages.

Here’s how to determine if your phone has RCS support:

• Open the app and hit the menu in the top right-hand corner;
• Select settings;
• Select Chat features;
• They’ll tell you whether you have support and if it’s enabled; and
• If you see the word Chat in the app, the person you’re messaging also has RCS.

When RCS becomes available via Google or your provider, you’ll receive a notification asking you to opt in. You’ll have to agree to Google’s terms and conditions.

Google’s also released a web version of Android Messages so users will be able to pair their Messages app to the web service via a QR code, allowing the full Chat experience from a computer.

It’s ironic that a central pillar of Big Tech is the last to move its messaging platform into the 21st century, but that’s what comes with open source.

Being clear, then, Chat is not another Android-based messaging app; it’s the user-friendly name for the RCS protocol. It’s not necessarily breaking new ground, but it’s given Google a ubiquitous platform that can finally compete with what’s out there.