To the moon

Perhaps you have not been following the up-and-down, Bitcoin roller coaster ride as closely as this author has? If that’s the case, you’re probably confused by the headline above.

Allow me to explain.

“To the moon” is a popular rallying cry among digital currency enthusiasts. The phrase celebrates the stratospheric projected growth outlooks of the various digital tokens like Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), DOGE (DGE) and Stellar (XLM). There are many, many people who are much, much smarter than I who truly believe that these decentralized, technology-backed currencies are the future of global commerce.

Bitcoin has already had its Neil Armstrong moment. The currency was valued at $580 per coin seven years ago this month. Today, a single bitcoin fetches just shy of $51,000 (as of press time). Do I even need to do the math there? Recent estimates project Bitcoin rocketing through the $100,000 per coin price ceiling by the end of 2021, and some of the most bullish advocates believe that one day a single Bitcoin could potentially be worth over $1 million.

Like an investment vehicle, crypto currency does carry it’s fair share of risk and price volatility. Still, many short-sighted, so-called financial sector “experts” at the time dismissed it as merely another Internet flavor of the month, a tool of internet criminals, hustlers and smugglers. How wrong has history proven those prognostications? Upon review they look pretty cringe-worthy today, no doubt.

Pondering bitcoin’s meteoric rise over the last decade, I keep coming back to the early days of the indoor produce farming space. Back then, there were plenty of skeptics that were outspoken that growing things like lettuce and microgreens under LEDS in climate-controlled warehouses was “not scalable” and “inefficient.” Peruse through the pages of this magazine today, however, and you get a decidedly different outlook.

Vertical farming industry stalwart Gotham Greens (page 12) and hydroponic greenhouse lettuce producer Great Lakes Growers (page 18) are both aggressively expanding to meet increased demand from food retailers. And, once the food service sector rebounds and restaurants and bars are back fully open, you could see a similar growth curve out of these types of vertical farming operations that the crypto enthusiasts have enjoyed so much in their little corner of the internet.

So, as any crypto investor worth his or her salt would say, get ready for another exciting year in the vertical farming world, and #HODL (Hold On for Dear Life). like you’ve never HODL’d before! There are still good times ahead.

(Editor’s Note: Interested in learning more about digital currencies? Coindesk.com is a solid resource for news and pricing information.)