COVER N. 221 - PORTUGAL

Postmark: Crypto Stamp  Caravela CTT LIsboa 28.02.23  

Posted on the 28th February; Received on the 7th March 2023

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2023 - a Crypto Adventure

No, I am not the kind of guy who would ever waste a single minute of his life going after Pokémons with a  cell phone, and, for the moment, (never say never) I don't think I will ever enter into any monetary transaction that isn't based on what I've known and used since my parents first decided to give me a weekly allowance for my personal spendings, that is to say actual physical money (I know, I know, I do use  electronic money, in homebanking, for instance, but that can be afterwards converted into actual bits and pieces, i.e. coins and bills).

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And nostalgia kicks in again.... I still remember the day: a 20 escudos bill, received each Saturday, that would immediately enter the economic chain, converted in one black series FROG aircraft kit (17,5 escudos at the local store) and later at the bar of the Asas do Atlântico club in 5 caramels...

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Postal services companies have broadened their scope of business in  order to cater for the loss of revenue that electronic mail has generated in their balance sheets. In fact, at least here, you can go to the post office to buy a book, a lottery ticket, bank services, souvenirs... just don't go there to buy stamps, because most likely you'll come home empty handed....

In an effort to keep diversifying their offer and increase their revenues,  Postal Administrations have now started to issue what is labelled as crypto stamps.

Now this is a concept that I, to this day, do not yet understand to the fullest. 

What I know (or I think I know) is:

i) you buy a stamp that can actually be used for what a stamp is meant to do;

ii) other than the physical stamp you get a code to redeem  a virtual stamp that serves no purpose other than collecting, or trading;

iii) this virtual thing can be different from the physical in terms of rarity, and as such of inherent speculative value;

iv) the virtual stamp is therefore not a stamp, but a non-monetary asset that can be traded;

v) in order to buy a stamp such as this, you have to spend a ridiculous amount of  physical money.

But, in spite of all that, the inquisitive mind in me wanted to try and understand, so when CTT announced that they’d be issuing the first Portuguese crypto stamp I happily traded a physical bill of 10 € by a little box and 10 cent change.

After removing the physical stamp from the backing sheet and affixing it to an envelope that I sent away to be first day of issue  postmarked, i went home and read the instructions carefully.

Now these are much more complicated than the "lick the back of the printed paper  with your tongue, making sure it is moist but not overly wet, and press the thus activated item against the envelope face" that you'd expect for a stamp, and run for a full six pages of the bilingual instruction booklet.

After reading it carefully I turned on my computer and started the procedure.

All went reasonably well, but at times what I was reading was not exactly what I was seeing, but this is common place with computers and software instructions, so I did not worry too much.

The last step, after creating an account somewhere in cyberspace and a gallery where I would be able to collect my virtual stamps, would be to actually redeem the image of the stamp, using a code that I had to unveil by scratching the backing support of the physical stamp.

This I did and entered the code into the box where it should go, and so the redemption process started.... and so it went… on.... and on... an on...

Before I had hit the start  button, I had read that I had three opportunities to complete this action, so suspecting that something was not working properly  I decided to abort the operation and start anew....

I entered the redeeming code again and... to my utter dismay the computer screen informed me that "the code has already been used"....

So, there goes my pokemon stamp....lost in (cyber)space for ever, I guess... for all I know I might be the owner of the sole white Caravela crypto stamp that would pave my way for immense wealth....

As a consolation prize, a couple of days after, I received the first day of issue postmarked cover with a nice orange Caravela stamp, with a face value of 9,99 €, which is quite classy, to say the least, for a domestic, up to 20 g, sending....

In these days of fast and elusive cyber everything, and most especially after a cyberdisaster such as the one I reported  above, I was happy to learn, some days afterwards, while on a leisure weeked trip, that one can still get some solace. All it takes is a good look at the world around you....

So if ever I feel the urgent need to send some fast message,  I will not have to use any cyber stamp at all. All it will take will be a trip to the little village of Brotas,  not that far from Lisbon, They seem to have a telegraph somewhere, just the thing for an ... --- ...!