How Crypto Went Mainstream In Less Than Two Years
Athletes with laser eyes in support of Bitcoin on Twitter, Rap stars holding private meta verse parties, NBA players seeking NFT advice on Twitter and crypto companies becoming key sponsors for leading sports teams! https://decrypt.co/81720/snoop-dogg-1000-nft-passes-private-ethereum-metaverse-party https://twitter.com/StephenCurry30/status/1435047716950667264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1435047716950667264%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publish0x.com%2Fembed%2Ftwitter%2Ftweet%3Fid%3D1435047716950667264 https://www.sportbible.com/football/news-psg-sign-mega-lucrative-cryptocurrency-sponsorship-deal-its-huge-20210910
**What the hell happened in the last few years?**
From the disliked mysterious kid in the playground to now the coolest kid on the block who everyone wants to be friends with, the crypto world has undergone a massive transformation — when it comes to its brand anyway.
Not so long ago, you were laughed at if you spoke about investing in Bitcoin but in 2021 you’re treated like some kind of divine being who is intelligent beyond comparison.
So, **how have we got here?**
Well, a lot of reasons, NFT’s, FOMO, tech billionaires and fluffy dogs have all played their part but I personally believe that the biggest driver was the pandemic (which we’re still not out of FYI).
You see, nothing makes you re-evaluate life and the way you operate in it than when you’re staring down the barrel of your own mortality on a global scale from an unknown threat.
And this is exactly what happened to all of us at the same time.
It might seem distant now but there was a connected experience where we were all in unison of the thought “We could be fucked here, this might be it!”. Mass viral pandemics with no cure in sight have a way of doing that to you.
And of course, like any good crisis — **shit got crazy.**
Yes, people did that dumb shit of fighting over toilet roll and hand sanitizer (they need to cover that in future history classes to highlight the stupidity of our species at this time) but there were far more larger macro events happening.
Like with the stock market. Which does what it does best in any crisis — it tanks. People freaked out and thought the best way to survive this unknown viral threat was to sell off stocks to combat what was to come.
Understandable.
At this time of complete instability and fear, of course, people were seeking something they thought might bring them some form of stability (or perhaps even an escape!).
Enter cryptocurrencies.
Now the words stability and crypto are not words that actually go together at all, ever! The market is extremely volatile.
You can be a millionaire today and a penniless fool tomorrow. That’s an extreme set of emotions to have to navigate. Yet, when you think the world might be ending, is anything actually risky anymore? One tends to think not.
Back in March 2020, when all the real crazy stuff started to kick off, the humble top 2 cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin and Ethereum were valued at **$6,483** and **$133.76** each.
The funny thing is that a lot of traditional finance people thought these assets were way overvalued at that time. It would be fascinating to know what they think today as BTC sits between the **$40-$50k** valuation and Eth at **$2500 — $3k.**
Since this point, the world of crypto has literally blown up and the everyday human has started to take notice. With less than favourable interest rates from traditional finance products and plenty of free time on our hands from lockdowns every other month, people were starting to take an interest in this crypto thing.
Coincide this with the explosion of De-Fi (decentralised finance for the uninitiated) and what seems to be the unstoppable rise of digital assets in the form of NFT’s, and you have the perfect recipe for stardom. Plus, when there’s money to be made, everyone and their mother doesn’t want to miss out.
So, as I read more and more headlines about cryptocurrencies being adopted as legal tender of countries and organisations, along with the rampant mass societal interest. I believe *the question is no longer* “when will it go mainstream”, because that seems to have been and gone.
The more interesting questions are **“How did it become so popular in less than 2 years? And, how long till it grows its empire?”.**
**More from me**
Fractionalised NFT’s explained: Can’t afford a whole NFT? Just buy one part instead https://www.publish0x.com/eckbloc/fractionalised-nfts-explained-cant-afford-a-whole-nft-just-b-xvyzpxg
The Matrix Influenced Everything About Blockchain, Crypto, De-Fi And NFT’s https://www.publish0x.com/eckbloc/the-matrix-influenced-everything-about-blockchain-crypto-de-xznqezv
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**Important 🚨**
I’m not a financial advisor, a psychologist or any from of accredited professional. As such, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.
Million Dollar Bitcoin: Fantasy or a certain reality?
I must have seen the headline declaring that Bitcoin will eventually hit the $1 million dollars mark at least a hundred times in the past 12 months.
And, that’s crazy when you think about it.
An asset that was worth **$7,476 USD on Jan 1st 2020** and now (at time of writing this in late August 2021) is **currently valued at just over $48,000 USD** going to $1 million dollars in the next 3 - 5 years! Madness, right?
Perhaps, *and perhaps not.*
This tsunami of headlines got me thinking, is this really possible? Could a $1 million dollar Bitcoin really be something we see or just another cult-like prediction?
This article is essentially a curation of the research I’ve gathered that would support the potential milestone of a million dollar Bitcoin, and the reasons why it could happen.
I’m not saying it will happen (remember not a financial advisor, I have no accreditations in this and none of this is financial advice - only for education purposes) but I am intrigued to see why our feeds are clogged up by so many people who think we will.
**It’s supply is limited**
Unlike traditional financial institutes who print more and more money every year, Bitcoin has a fixed supply.
BTC’s circulation is capped at 21 million, which, if you think about it, is tiny considering there are nearly 8 billion people in our world. The full circulating supply of 21 million has yet to be reached but we aren't that far from it.
To add more to this already limited supply, it’s estimated that about 7 million Bitcoins have been lost by owners in a variety of ways over the last decade (you know they feel pain!).
Which means, we’re looking at only 14 million coins being available to actually own.
This means that BTC is an incredibly scarce asset. And human nature loves nothing more than to own something which is rare and limited to only a certain group. BTC is just this. It’s popularity over the last few years in particular means more than ever, people are wanting a slice of this pie.
And what happens when the demand is higher than the supply? **Prices increase**.
**Kyle Torpey** from finance publication The Motley Fool, laid out a potential path for a $1million dollar Bitcoin in his article on the same topic: https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/06/02/why-a-1-million-bitcoin-price-isnt-crazy/
*“Although there are currently 6.25 new bitcoin issued by miners roughly every ten minutes, the total supply will be capped at 21 million. This means a $1 million bitcoin price would equate to a total supply valuation of $21 trillion (once all coins have been mined, ignoring the millions of coins that have likely been lost forever).*
***Is that valuation realistic?*** *Let's take a look at some of the markets bitcoin could disrupt as a store of value.*
*The size of the global bond market was recently estimated at $119 trillion by Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). At the same time, yields earned on many of those bonds are at or near all-time lows. In fact, $18 trillion worth of those bonds have negative yields. It's not a crazy thought. In the current state of the bond market, Bridgewater Associates Chief Investment Officer Ray Dalio recently said he'd personally rather own bitcoin than bonds.*
*Let's imagine, for example, that holders of 10% of the global bond market ($11.9 trillion) want to sell their assets for bitcoin. They can't, at least not at current prices, because there's currently less than $1 trillion worth of bitcoin in existence and only a subset of the total bitcoin supply is available for sale at any given price. In other words, bond holders couldn't buy that amount of bitcoin, meaning the price would have to massively increase to absorb the buy orders. It's a simple case of supply and demand.*
*Or let's imagine a quarter of the gold market moved into bitcoin. That would equate another $3 trillion of buy pressure. Say two percent of the roughly $300 trillion held in the global equities and real estate markets moves into bitcoin, then that's another $6 trillion. You see what I'm saying here. We're looking at $20.9 trillion worth of hypothetical buy pressure from these four markets (bonds, gold, stocks, and real estate). The opportunity for upside is potentially exponential.*
*Remember, not all coins are for sale, meaning the total value of the bitcoin market would be far greater than $20.9 trillion if all of this money were to move into the crypto asset. Some estimates put the effect of new buy orders on bitcoin's market cap at 25x the value of the purchases, so from this perspective, $1 million looks quite conservative. While this buy pressure certainly isn't likely to happen tomorrow, bitcoin certainly stands to benefit from shaky global markets and uncertainty as an exciting new asset class.”*
**Its popularity is growing**
What was once the unpopular kid at school has now undergone a somewhat dramatic transformation to the coolest thing on the block.
Despite years of leading institutions including banks and hedge funds laughing at BTC and often labelling it a scam. Many are now offering it to their clients as part of their portfolio. Crypto is becoming more mainstream as the days go by and with that, the King of Crypto in BTC is on the minds of more and more investors.
**Seana Smith** shared the recent hot movements of 2021 from institutions in this break down from Yahoo Finance: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-will-eventually-hit-1-million-dollars-a-coin-coin-desk-editor-predicts-172810294.html
*“Earlier in 2021, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin, while Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs plan to offer select clients exposure to crypto. JPMorgan is also reportedly looking at its own product in partnership with NYDIG.*
*Crypto is gaining momentum in the payment space as well, with Mastercard, PayPal and Visa increasing crypto exposure over the past several months.*
*Wall Street’s big banks and payments firms are getting involved in digital assets as a result of client demand. A recent Mastercard survey found that 40% of people plan to use cryptocurrency in the next year.”*
And worldwide crypto adoption is on an exponential rise. Recent data from analytics firm Chainanalysis gave us a detailed look into how crypto is being adopted across our little planet. https://www.publish0x.com/eckbloc/worldwide-crypto-adoption-rises-by-888-percent-in-12-months-xppzrpx
Fidelity Investments thinks we’ll hit that $1 million milestone sometime in 2027- 2028.
**It’s looking to be a front runner in the green energy space**
Since a now famous tweet from a certain billionaire, the big B has been getting increased focus on it’s renewable energy usage with everyone and their cat claiming it’s solely responsible for global warming.
The real story beneath all of this is that miners are working more than ever to realise those green energy dreams. With more and more mining companies pushing to make their operations green, this will only make more institutional investors feel more comfortable.
**And why**? Because a better brand for crypto means more interest and thus more demand for an already incredibly limited supply base.
Plus, in April 2021, the crypto climate accord was created by industry leaders with the purpose of decarbonizing all cryptocurrency mining. Again, another good move for brand BTC and the crypto world overall.
You can see how a few of the world’s leading miners are working on the green energy challenge in the video below.
https://youtu.be/FHHlfX-APxk
**Conclusion: Can it really get there?**
Not a clue! Ha ha, look I’m human just like you and who knows what’s going to happen in this crazy thing we call life.
As I’ve said countless times, *I’m not a financial adviser and all of this is for educational purposes - always do your own research*. I’m sure we’ll see more development on this potential milestone as the years go on but I hope this piece has given you some interesting information to think over when it comes to this topic.
**More from me**
Worldwide crypto adoption rises by 888% in 12 months: What this means for the future of finance. https://www.publish0x.com/eckbloc/worldwide-crypto-adoption-rises-by-888-percent-in-12-months-xppzrpx
Exciting NFT art projects you need to know https://www.publish0x.com/eckbloc/exciting-nft-art-projects-you-need-to-know-xzngneo
**Important 🚨**
I’m not a financial advisor, a psychologist or any from of accredited professional. As such, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.
The Dogecoin story: A tale of memes, tweets and lockdown fever
The story of 2021 in the crypto world might just end up belonging to Dogecoin, so let's take a tour through how this all came together in this tale of tweets, memes and lockdown fever.
**First, a bit of history: A tale of two developers**
Launched on December 7th 2013 by two software engineers as a joke.
**In the beginning**
*Not much happens to comment on, so let’s fast forward to 2021*
**The Musk Effect**
A certain billionaire arrives on the scene with intense interest and a strong meme game in early 2021.
**Here comes the pump**
Reddit is in full anarchy fuelled by the billionaires tweets. And, Doge’s price responds in kind…
**And it keeps going**
**Soon, we reach peak Doge**
**But, the tumble begins**
**Yet the believers are still here**
**Where we are today**
**The End… or is it?**
Build your own Bitcoin for the creator economy
I always like to ponder potential use cases for crypto in the not so distant future.
One of those that I’ve seen buzzing around the digital highway known as the internet, is focused on the creator economy. Self-made creators are all the rage these days, building, selling and endorsing all sorts of content to their audience.
But what if they could control the financial operating system their audience uses for their content too. Think about it, you can control the content, product and the currency which is used to purchase the former two.
Instead of using traditional currencies to fund purchases for their content, they could create their own cryptocurrency which their audience can buy and then use to engage in their creator ecosystem.
You might think that sounds crazy but it’s not impossible.
Cryptocurrencies and really, blockchain technology overall, would allow creators to scale their ecosystem to a new level. Content could be stored on the blockchain for fans to purchase using a creator's own custom made currency.
Of course there’s a good deal of hurdles to overcome before this becomes anywhere near mainstream. Yet, look at how NFT’s blew up for that brief moment this year.
We see many content creators promote crypto for cash, so how long will it be until they figure out that they can build their own currency - Kardashian coin anyone?
The great thing about blockchain technology is its ability to not only disrupt the financial market but also the content creator market as we know it. NFT’s are just the tip of the iceberg in my opinion.
What do you think? Do you believe we’ll see creator crypto in the near future for loyal fans to use in their ecosystem?
Are you in a crypto cult?
A little bit of comedy (or reality for some) on the ten signs that you might be in a crypto cult.
**First rule**, everyone talks about crypto.
**Second rule**, every sentence ends with ‘to the moon’.
**Third rule**, your ‘reliable’ source of knowledge is a swarm of Youtubers who’ve exactly 8 weeks of experience on the subject matter and have every thumbnail as a shocked face with ‘this coin is about to 100x’ next to it.
**Fourth rule**, you base your investment strategy on tweets from billionaires and if a coin has any involvement with a fluffy animal.
**Fifth rule**, never do your own research - trust Reddit’s hype thread experts.
**Sixth rule**, buy high, sell low and never hodl.
**Seventh rule**, you class yourself as experienced after 3 weeks in the market and spending all your cash on dogecoin, cumrocket and the latest sham coins.
**Eighth rule**, ignore any and all data that challenges the cult's opinion. Trust that your billionaire marketer will come back to save you with a tweet. No one knows better than the cult because everything else is a cover-up or conspiracy from the government.
**Ninth rule**, tell anyone and everyone that x sham coin will be the Eth killer or flip Bitcoin in x years.
**Tenth rule**, forget smart investing strategies and put everything you have into one asset because YOLO, right?
*Does any or all of this sound familiar?* Then perhaps you’ve fallen prey to a crypto cult my friend.
What if we're wrong?
Do you ever allow yourself to ponder the other side of this story?
What if crypto is not the future of finance? What if we’re all a part of some strange blackhole of a meme/cult?
Maybe crypto goes mainstream, maybe it doesn’t. Perhaps we get to 2050 and instead of ruling the world of finance it’s become the underground currency of a cyberpunk world (perhaps I’ve been playing that game too much!).
Or, maybe, a crypto war erupts and only one winner is left.
**How do you prepare yourself if the endgame is not what you expect at this moment?**
I don’t say this to alarm you or say that Crypto won’t last, because I most certainly feel it will. Instead, I’m curious to learn how others would react if new information arose that told us we’re all part of some beautiful lie?
I’m incredibly interested in the psychology of money, not just crypto but assets in general. And, how people fall so in love with their investments that they struggle to see when it’s time to move on.
It’s often said that money makes the world go round, so what do you put in place to make sure you’re in the right horse race? Is it just a case of doing your own research or do you have a deeper strategy if someone pulls the rug out from underneath us all one day?
I appreciate, *I’m asking a lot of questions here.*
I’m curious to know at which point people would change course if the crypto space doesn’t evolve as expected. If Morpheus walked up to your door one day and said the famous line of “The red pill or the blue pill” and the reality was that the mainstream boom and trips to the moon aren't coming - would this deter you?
**Mind games**
Life is a head game and investing is kind of the same. It’s more about managing your emotions and reactionary actions than anything else.
Endless amounts of conflicting news such as crypto being dead one month and a saviour the next are hard to expertly navigate but that’s all part of the game for early adopters.
My point is this, would you care if we were all wrong about crypto changing the world of finance? If you still made your gains and were part of the movement, and the experience - **would it matter?**
**Important**
I’m not a financial advisor, a psychologist or any from of accredited professional. As such, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.
You're 99 years old on your deathbed - are you happy with this present moment right now?
The title of this post is often something I challenge myself to reflect on when I'm exploring my current path in life.
To understand if I'm using my most precious resource of time for the right things that make me happy, I'll imagine myself on my deathbed thinking back to this exact moment and asking "was I happy with what happened?".
It's a powerful process that enables me to really decide on whether what I'm pursuing, doing and living like in this moment is something that aligns to my values as a person.
It's always so hard to know what's the best course of action to take when you're feeling a bit lost.
Emotions are a tricky business and can often blind us to the long term impacts of quick fire decisions. So, taking a more infinite look from the future to how you might feel if you spent your time as you are in this moment, is incredibly useful.
Ultimately, the purpose of doing this is to uncover how you really feel about this present moment. Are you happy, healthy and full of purpose? or are you not your best self?
If the latter, **then why?**
Run with this and unravel all the reasons why you feel this way, and if you make a change, how could this impact your life for better and worse?
One of the biggest deathbed regrets is wishing to have the courage to live a life true to oneself, not the life others expected of you. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2019/12/13/the-top-regrets-of-the-dying-and-what-we-need-to-learn-from-them/
So, when you have those moments of doubt on the current path, challenge yourself. Think about how future you would feel about how you're spending this time right now.
You might just find the answer to what to do next.
Simple money saving tips: The psychology of saving
We know that personal finance and general money management is something we want to and all should be better at.
I mean money apparently makes the world go round, so it seems beneficial to explore how to do more with it without having to work 4 different jobs at one time.
Here’s a compilation of several basic tips that might just help you better manage that hard earned cash.
**Buy in bulk**
This was a tip I actually came across from Mark Cuban in a short clip. He referenced his die-hard approach of buying items in bulk, even today, due to the fact that this normally results in decent sized discounts.
You might think that buying one of a certain item only at times you need it is smart. But, what if you’re buying that multiple times a year and spending more than you would have if purchased in bulk.
Companies are good at marketing products to make you steer away from bulk buys, so think differently the next time you need to buy staple products like toothpaste, body wash and similar items.
**Get clear on your current in’s and out’s**
The best place to start with any money saving strategy is knowing just how much you have coming and going right now.
I’d recommend spending a little time on centralising your activity on a simple budget spreadsheet. You can use this to visualise how much is coming in every month and where it goes out to.
This is a simple but effective tool for you to understand how you’re spending your hard earned cash.
With this you can uncover where you could make some changes to save a bit more cash and potentially divert this to savings or investments. I would say having a basic budget tracker is non-negotiable for most of us.
You’ll find in the long term that this will be an efficient time and money saving investment that requires no more than a few hours of investment a month to maintain.
**Know the difference between a want and a need**
You might like that shiny new toy but do you really need it?
This is something we all struggle with - determining a want and a need. Times of mass sales are when the struggle is most real. Seemingly too good to resist offers everywhere for high-end goods that prey upon the dopamine rush flowing through our brains.
But, **do you actually need any of it?**
What we need to do is one, breathe, two, step back and three, ask yourself “What’s wrong with what I currently have?” Yes, a new super sized TV with 5 million features looks tasty.
Yet, what’s wrong with the trusty set-up that’s been working fine for the last 6yrs? *Probably nothing.*
This is a choice we all have to make: continue to chase the thrill of new gadgets at supposed cheap prices (normally they aren't) or make a decent investment up-front and have something that can last perhaps a lifetime.
This brings me onto my next point.
**Buy better**
You might think that purchasing an item because it’s x amount cheaper is saving you money. But do you consider how long that item might last?
A common trap we often fall into is that of buying something because it’s cheaper than a vastly more expensive version on the market. Yet, what we mostly discover is that the cheaper item is of such low quality, we end up making multiple purchases of the same item several times in a short period which totals more than the cost of the more expensive version we deemed not affordable.
*Let me use an example to demonstrate this.*
I love converse hi-top sneakers but used to be put off by the $80 price tag. I couldn’t understand why people would pay so much when there were exact replicas for $30-$40 less at other stores.
I found over the years that identical looking shoes I wore at the cheaper price tag wouldn’t last that long. Sometimes 6 months, sometimes less, and then they’d start to fall apart.
Still, I continued to purchase several pairs a year over a number of years to replace each worn out pair.
Eventually, I came to the realisation one summer that I had probably spent more on replacing the cheaper quality but identical looking shoes than I would have on the high-end version.
Actually after a heart breaking set of calculations, I’d discovered I’d spent nearly 3x the price of the high end version on the supposed cheaper alternatives.
So, what happened?
Well you can bet I stopped buying the cheaper but identical looking products. Instead, I opted to try out the real thing, and you know what? 7 years later, I still have that same high-end pair.
No replacements necessary and $80 over 7yrs is a yearly cost of approx $11 - that’s a lot better than my $50 plus spend per year on the supposed cheaper versions.
The point is this - buy better. Quality does count when it comes to longevity (of course, they’re are always outliers to this). That $30 or $40 might look cheap right now but what does it look like 5 years from now?
*This is how a savvy saver thinks.*
**The takeaway**
That’s it from me on this one.
Remember, spending less than what you make is a simple strategy to better manage your personal finances. Yes, it’s never as simple or straightforward as that sounds but these tips might just help you get there.
**Important**
I’m not a financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.
Beware of the social "Gurus"
I don’t know about you but I’m finding more and more investment experts popping up on my social feeds of late. And, when I say experts, I am of course making a tongue in cheek statement on those people who’ve purchased one asset and then ordain themselves as the high priest of investment knowledge.
We’ve seen this a lot this year, in particular with the AMC and Dogecoin movements.
Tribe mentality is fuelling dangerous behaviour in the investing world. Everyone and their extended family seems to now be a self proclaimed expert because they purchased AMC way back when or Doge below 10 cents.
This is why the mantra **“do your own research”** is essential.
There’s no real way to fact check or do a credibility test on a tweet. But, we can call upon our good old friend common sense in these matters. It’s like the old saying, you wouldn't just jump off a cliff if someone told you to.
So, why would you invest based on a random person's tweet which contains too many hashtags and constant references to some army or going to the moon?
The key action here is to **ask why?**
Why is everyone getting pumped about this thing? Is it hype, warranted or just manipulation of a popular media channel to get more people to pump prices? Perhaps, it’s all of those.
The point I’m striving to make here is this - **don’t believe everything you read.**
Just because so and so who has this many followers (a vanity metric!) says this is going to happen, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
This is not financial advice, it’s life advice.
Always do your own research, be curious and never take things for truth on first viewing.
The world of finance is littered with tribalistic mentalities and movements. People want to be part of something, they want to be seen and heard by others, it’s a natural programming of our human mind.
As I’ve said before, emotions and money don’t play well together. https://read.cash/@R72025/emotions-and-money-a-deadly-combination-982be81f
Don’t aim to be another member of a movement because a tweet told you so. Do your thinking independently, research and work to be a better informed person. Not the next casualty of a twitter hype storm.
As always, these are just thoughts from a fellow human, do with them what you wish.
**Important**
I’m not a financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.
Emotions and Money: A deadly combination
Think logically they say, don’t FOMO in when everyone else is excited - be patient.
This line is uttered by many experienced investors and those interested in personal finance. It's simple and effective advice, yet, it’s routinely ignored.
However, we can’t always blame ourselves. It’s part of our biological programming to be interested in what others in our tribe are too, and our brains are always asking two questions when we encounter situations like this.
*How will this make me look?*
*What are other people doing?*
So, when we see what we think is a glorious opportunity to make more money or a friend tells you x is going to go to the moon. Our rational brain is hard to find.
The FOMO (fear of missing out) usually washes over us and can make us do some out of character stuff. Combining this with financial decisions, is as you can imagine, a risky combo.
I’m not going to list all the high profile stories of people hastily pouring their entire life savings into an investment or supposed ‘too hard to pass up, once in a lifetime opportunity’.
A quick google search will provide you with enough shock, horror and downright confusion with some of the tales out there.
Of course, that’s not always the case. Sometimes those lovers of dog themed meme coins do make a quick hefty buck, but it's less often than you might be led to believe.
**Getting perspective**
When one of these situations arises and everyone is getting excited about the same thing.
I fall back to a quote that I read from Warren Buffet.
*"Beware the investment activity that produces applause, the great moves are usually greeted by yawns"*
I try to pause, reflect on this quote and say to myself - **is what has been presented to me a potential long-term opportunity or another bust?**
Of course, this can’t always be determined in a speedy enough window to take advantage of any supposed opportunity. *But 99% of the time, the answer is usually avoid.*
If you’re a massive risk taker or day trader, then my philosophy is useless to you. But, for those who are looking for a medium level of risk and long term wealth generation, this might be of value.
Taking a pause, letting the first thought pass and waiting for the second, can sometimes be the best thing you do.
It’s very easy to pick on the crypto world here instead of traditional markets due to the swarm of volatility experienced. I’m a big believer in both crypto and blockchain tech. Yet, I find the daily emotional rollercoaster for it’s community to be both fascinating and exhausting.
In my short time watching the crypto space, I’ve read the line “Bitcoin is doomed” just as many times as “Bitcoin is the future, buy it now!”. It feels like the market media is more dramatic that a popular TV soap opera.
But I suppose this is what plays into the activity of emotional investing and feeds our friend FOMO.
People don’t want to miss out on a potentially big thing, and crypto looks like it could very well be that next big thing - the future of finance you could say.
**Strategies to keep emotional investing at bay**
So, instead of just making captain obvious statements, let’s talk about some things we can all do to reduce the chances of emotional investing.
Explore a regular **cost averaging strategy** which encourages you to invest the same amount at a particular time. https://www.publish0x.com/eckbloc/dca-investment-strategy-explained-xmkqvxn
Set it and forget it with **limit orders**. Tell an exchange the amount of cash you’ll spend when an asset hits a certain price and like magic, it’ll take care of the rest. You can also do the reverse with selling in the form of **sell orders**. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/buy-limit-order.asp https://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sell+order
Bulk invest and walk away for 6-12 months. This one has become more popular with those who really struggle to show emotional control. They’ll invest a lump sum once or twice a year and only return to review 6-12 months later.
Don’t get involved at all. This is a very valid option if you feel you just can’t handle the FOMO and will find yourself investing into every bit of rubbish that Reddit and Twitter is telling you is going to make you a gazillionaire. You have other ways to grow your wealth.
At the end of the day, no matter what someone tells you, you’ll never know what’s a legit opportunity and what’s trash. Much like, we’ll never know the all time high and all time low of an asset.
Money is a finite resource for many of us. One that we don’t and can’t afford to lose. Remember the importance of taking a data and logical driven approach to any decision.
This is the same for anything in life - do your own research and come to your own conclusion.
I hope this helps and creates value for those of you who struggle with emotional investing.
*Let me know some of your strategies in the comments.*
**Important**
I’m not a financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.
Algorand explained: A sleeping giant?
**What is ALGO?**
In their own words on the official website
*“Algorand builds technology that accelerates the convergence between decentralized and traditional finance by enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value.”*
**What is its mission?**
Their main goal is to use their high performing foundational blockchain to help power organisations in DeFi, traditional finance and government, comfortably enter the future of finance, or what they call FutureFi.
This is echoed more simply in their mission statement below.
**Mission:**
Global trust through decentralization
Simple designs that drive adoption by billions of people
Elegant technology that eliminates barriers to prosperity for all
This is all focused on an endgame of a decentralised borderless economy of finance.
**What can it’s tech do?**
Ok, let’s get to the good stuff.
Algorand is using it’s tech to solve the three most common problems faced by blockchains today
*Security, Scalability, and Decentralization.*
You may have also heard this referred to as the **Blockchain Trilemma**.
As part of their dedication to helping organisations navigate the future of finance, their tech will allow:
Creation and deployment of tokens, nft’s, stablecoins, securities and currencies
Simple and cost effect payment infrastructure
Creation of new financial tools, protocols and services.
All very exciting, I’m sure you can agree.
**How could it improve the world?**
With a permission less consensus mechanism that is a pure proof of stake. Algo’s blockchain tech guarantees full participation, protection, and speed within a truly decentralized network.
I think we can agree that sounds like a good improvement.
Over 500 organisations globally are making use of Algo’s tech, so it’s already developing a solid foundation as a leader in the future of finance.
It’s current ecosystem of applications include ⬇️
And it’s ever growing financial structure already has some of the biggest names in the crypto space.
They also have a ton of use cases already which you can check out here.
I’d recommend checking these out with **Circle**, **Tether** and **Rhovit**.
https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases/circle https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases/tether https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases/rhovit
**The team driving it**
Algorand has one of the top teams in the world of crypto with some of the most advanced minds.
****Silvio Micali**** **is the founder of Algorand** and a bit of a celebrity in the crypto world. A past recipient of the Turing award in computer science, the Godel prize for theoretical computer science and the RSA prize in cryptography. https://www.algorand.com/about/our-team
Silvio has also been a serving member of the faculty at MIT’s engineering and computer science department since 1983. And if that’s not enough, Silvio is also the co-inventor of probabilistic encryption, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Verifiable Random Functions and many of the protocols that are the foundations of modern cryptography.
So you could say he knows a thing or two about creating a great project.
Working with Silvio as CEO we have **Steve Kokinos** and **Sean Ford** in the COO role. On top of this, Algorand is backed by a strong leadership team and a host of expert advisors.
https://www.algorand.com/about/our-team
**The Algorand token**
The protocol uses the ALGO token - who would have guessed that?
You can purchase it on almost all the popular exchanges and it comes with a pretty solid staking rate (7%) if you use the official Algorand wallet.
The Algorand foundation (more on that below) has been clear that only 10 billion units of the cryptocurrency will ever be created.
You can dive even deeper into the ALGO token and its many benefits **here**.
https://algorand.foundation/the-algo/algo-basics
**The ALGORAND foundation?**
I think I’ll leave it to the team themselves to explain exactly what it is they do:
“The Algorand Foundation is committed to the development of an inclusive and transparent system where anyone can build prosperity through decentralized applications and projects, no matter where they are.
The foundation provides assistance with the network launch, along with initial governance and evolution of the public blockchain, with a primary goal of promoting broad participation and decentralization of the network. The Algorand Foundation is helping make the borderless economy a reality.”
*That’s about all I have to share on the Algorand project, protocol and its mission.*
I hope this content has been of value and I’d love to hear your thoughts about Algorand too! **Share these with me in the comments below.**
Important ⬇️
*I’m not an financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.*
Probably the best career advice in the world
Here’s what I believe are two of the most valuable pieces of career advice for those young and old.
“Many of us have bought into the cliché “pursue your passion”. For many, this is terrible advice. In your 20’s, you may not really know what your best skills and opportunities are. It’s much better to pursue learning, personal discipline and growth. And to seek out connections with people across the planet.
For a while, it’s just fine to follow and support someone else’s dream. In so doing, you will be building valuable relationships, valuable knowledge. And at some point your passion will come + whisper in your ear “I’m ready”
**- Chris Anderson**
*“Life will go faster than you know. It will be tempting to live a life that impresses others. But this is the wrong path. The right path is to know that life is short, every day is a gift and you have certain gifts.*
*Happiness is about understanding that the gift of life should be honoured every day by offering your gifts to the world.*
*Don’t let yourself define what matters by the dogma of other people’s thoughts. Even more important, don’t let the thoughts of self-doubt and chattering self-criticism in your own mind slow you down. You will likely be your own worst critic.*
*Be kind to yourself in your own mind. Let your mind show you the same kindness that you aspire to show others”*
- **Mike Maples Jr**
How hedge funds are making gains on their crypto investments
For the next piece in my series of posts breaking down the recent PWC Crypto Hedge Fund Report (May 2021). You can check out the first post in this series on “The Crypto hedge funds are investing in across 2021”. https://read.cash/@R72025/the-crypto-that-hedge-funds-are-buying-in-2021-fd94d0df
We’re going to explore how these crypto hedge funds are using cryptocurrencies outside of traditional investing.
For these funds, just like us, they have the options of staking, lending and borrowing.
Ok, we can see that staking crypto is the clear winner for funds here.
Across all 3 channels, there’s been very similar movements across 2019 and 2020. I would expect that the De-Fi explosion across 2021 will give this data a different look at the end of the year.
Yet, it’s interesting to see that these funds are taking an active interest and participation in all of the earning channels that every day investors do too.
No doubt the sweet APY % they see have had them and their clients licking their lips
**The takeaway**
The bigger market players are not only broadening their investment in different coins but actively taking part in the variety of ways to grow their crypto too.
This might be a positive sign in the long term potential of these types of earning opportunities as we look ahead over the next 5yrs.
**How are you growing your crypto right now? 💰**
🌱 Staking
✋ Lending
💳 Borrowing
💪 All of the above
*Let me know in the comments below* ⬇️
**Important**
*I’m not an financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.*
3 easy ways to earn free crypto
No this is not some sort of scam filled with fake websites and doing 100 different activities to get a tiny amount of crypto.
Instead, I’ve compiled the 3 simplest and fully legit ways for anyone to get some free crypto. If you’re curious about crypto but don’t fancy dropping in any of your own cold hard cash yet, then this might be just for you.
#1: Coinbase earn
Coinbase is one of the largest and most well known cryptocurrency exchanges on planet earth today.
Fresh off it’s 2021 IPO, it’s pretty popular right now and for good reason.
With it’s sleek platform and simple user experience, it’s easy for newbies to get started out in the world of crypto. Be warned, that the sacrifice for this simple user experience is pretty medium — high fees, on the standard Coinbase app anyway.
So, **how do you earn some free crypto with Coinbase?**
Simple…
First off, you’ll need to create an account with Coinbase but don't worry, this is completely free.
Once your account is all set up, head over to **Coinbase Earn**. It’s here, that you’ll be able to grab yourself some of that sweet free crypto. https://www.coinbase.com/earn?clickId=&irgwc=1
**Here’s how it works**
Once you’ve signed up and verified your account, you’ll be given access to a select set of earn programmes which cover different coins. All you have to do is watch a few 30–60 second videos (think Instagram stories here) and answer a 1 question quiz at the end of each section with unlimited retries available.
It’s nearly impossible to not get the rewards from this testing.
And the best part is that the more you participate, the more Coinbase will make future earn programmes available to you.
You can expect to earn somewhere in the region of £30 — £40 per year or $40–60 for the American folk.
Want to give it a go and get even more free crypto? **Use my exclusive free referral code with Coinbase to get even more goodies when you sign-up.** http://coinbase.com/join/steven_sxwk?src=ios-link
#2: CoinMarketCap Earn
Not only a great tool to keep track of all your favourite cryptocurrencies but a great place to learn about crypto whilst earning some lovely coins too.
To earn some free crypto with CMC you’ll need to do two things:
Open a free account with CMC
Open a free account with Binance — another cryptocurrency exchange.
**Not heard of Binance before?** Don’t worry my friend, where Coinbase is one of the world’s largest exchanges, Binance is the BIGGEST! It’s used by millions of people worldwide and has a great reputation as a safe place to do your buying.
*Want to give it a go and get even more free crypto?* *Use my exclusive free referral code with Binance to get some more goodies when you sign-up**.* https://accounts.binance.cc/en/register?ref=132044578
Once you’ve set up those free accounts (and it should take just a few mins to do that), head on over to the earn page on CMC. https://coinmarketcap.com/earn/
Here you will find a list of reward programmes to get involved in. It follows the same process as Coinbase. Watch a few videos, answer a quiz and get your free crypto — that’s it.
The CMC range is not as vast as Coinbase and not as frequent but it’s a great way to learn about and earn some crypto.
#3: PublishOx
Get paid to read articles…
**How it works**
Read some crypto related articles and get paid to do it.
Create an account on **PublishOx** (It’s free) and then start reading some articles. At the bottom of each page, you’ll find a tip meter which allows you to decide how much to tip the author and yourself. https://www.publish0x.com/
The highest you can tip yourself is 80% and 20% for the author and vice versa. Pay-outs are in 3 cryptocurrencies:
Ampleforth Governance Token
Ethereum
IFarm
There are restrictions built in to stop you going crazy and tipping every article on the site but that’s not unexpected. You won’t get loads of crypto from here but reading some cool articles and splitting free rewards between you and the creator is pretty cool.
Do this a few times a day and over a year you’ll get a nice little stream of crypto.
Bonus: Brave Browser — earn while browsing the web
I love Brave’s browser for a number of reasons; ad blocking and free VPN use being the biggest wins.
And, you can even earn some free crypto by going along with your daily web browsing by opting into Brave’s rewards programme.
**How it works**
➡️ **Download the Brave browser.** https://brave.com/download/
Turn on the rewards option on the settings menu on Brave. A few times a week, you’ll be shown crypto specific adverts from the team at brave. Every time you see one of these, you’ll earn some of the BAT crypto (Basic Attention Token).
Each month Brave will pay-out into your rewards wallet but you won’t be able to transfer to your own wallet until you collect 25 BAT which is going to take some time.
Again, you’re not going to be raking in load in a short time frame but do a little every day and over the years you’ll collate a nice tidy sum that you can keep or convert into another of your free cryptos.
That’s it folks
Look, these are just some of the ones I know of that are safe to use.
There’s loads of ways to probably earn crypto but these are the fast, easy and safe channels for you to get some freebies.
Important ⬇️
*I’m not an financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.*
The crypto that hedge funds are buying in 2021
PWC have just released their **3rd annual Crypto hedge fund report** (released May 2021) https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/financial-services/pdf/3rd-annual-pwc-elwood-aima-crypto-hedge-fund-report-(may-2021).pdf
It’s a meaty one at 52 pages, and not something I assume a lot of us will spend great detail reading. So, I’m going to cover the key insights in a couple of short posts over the next month.
First off, we’re going to look at the coins that these hedge funds are investing in. The reason this is useful information is that it allows us to understand where some of the big players see potential in the crypto space.
*Before we continue…*
*Not sure what a hedge fund is? No problem, here’s a* ***simple overview from our friends at investopedia*** https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102113/what-are-hedge-funds.asp
“A hedge fund is just a fancy name for an investment partnership that has freer rein to invest aggressively and in a wider variety of financial products than most mutual funds. It's the marriage of a professional fund manager, who is often known as the general partner, and the investors, sometimes known as the limited partners. Together, they pool their money into the fund”
Ok, let’s get back to it.
**What’s hot with the funds**
We can see here that BTC is the most popular choice with funds and that’s not surprising. The longest living cryptocurrency has a good brand (in the overall crypto space anyway) so it makes a natural choice for the bulk of investors.
According to PWC’s data, **56%** of the funds that responded to their survey said that half of their daily trading activity was in BTC. And, **15% of funds only trade in Bitcoin**.
**Going beyond Bitcoin**
We can see that the most popular Altcoins across funds are ETH, LTC, LINK, DOT and AAVE.
This is interesting has a lot of people will raise eyebrows on LTC at number #3 for sure, and one of the current most popular coins in the crypto community, ADA actually sits outside the top 5.
To put this into context, Litecoin and ChainLink are the second and third most traded altcoins with funds. But, both of their market caps are much lower than Polkadot and Cardano who feature on this list too.
Perhaps this shows some resistance to newer and less understood projects. It’s good to see a diversification of trading across a variety of alts that will no doubt give added confidence to those of you who hold these coins too.
Nonetheless, it’s intriguing to see how funds are choosing to invest their money in the crypto space.
**The Takeaway**
This is a useful set of data for any investor to get a view on what some of the big players are taking a closer look at.
No surprises with BTC but LTC might catch a few off guard.
Let me know what you think about this data and if you want to see more bite-sized breakdowns like this in the comments below ⬇️
Important ⬇️
*I’m not an financial advisor, this is not financial advice and I’m not qualified or licensed to provide anything like this. This content is a bunch of thoughts from a fellow human for educational purposes only — that is all.*
NFT’s: A short and simple explanation
NFT’s are all the rage online right now – is it lockdown boredom fuelling the spotlight or is this the rise of something here to stay? Only time will tell but let’s decode what a NFT actually is and if we should give a damn about it.
**Ok, what does NFT stand** for**?**
That’s the easy part, Non-Fungible Token
**A what now?**
Ah yeah, let’s break that down – so, non-fungible basically means something that can’t be replaced aka it’s an original.
Basically, it’s a database record on the blockchain…
FYI, we’re going all inception now with an explanation in an explanation, here’s a definition of blockchain from **Techterms.com**
*“A blockchain is a digital record of transactions. The name comes from its structure, in which individual records, called blocks, are linked together in a single list, called a chain. Blockchains are used for recording transactions made with cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and have many other applications.”* https://techterms.com/definition/blockchain
And, that means NFT’s are a unique and specific digital asset which can come in the form of songs, GIF’s and random pixelated images that a 3yr old could have created.
Here’s a visual breakdown of blockchain with the help of some Lego bricks if you’re still mystified by it.
https://youtu.be/o3im-TsfQ9I
https://www.youtube.com/embed/o3im-TsfQ9I?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
**Why are people going crazy about them?**
Good question, perhaps boredom of lockdown or too much money and not a lot of common sense!
Like most sought after assets it’s all about scarcity.
NFT’s are unique and are certified as one of a kind on the Ethereum blockchain, so this makes them rare, which in turn makes them desirable. I mean who doesn’t want a one of a kind cat gif for ridiculous amounts of money…?
**Should I care about NFT’s?**
If you have a trunk load of cash and like rare digital art, then maybe.
For example, someone purchased this **Nyan Cat GIF for $500k** – that’s cool but you can also own this by right clicking the image and selecting “save as” – so why buy this when you can get it for free? Simple, they get the master copy, the original – all certified and stored in their digital art locker. https://www.printmag.com/post/someone-just-bought-a-gif-for-half-a-million-dollars
Is that a reason to pay half a million for something? Probably not but hey, it’s a crazy world.
**Is this all hype or a beginning of a revolutionary new form of ownership?**
Honestly, no idea – yes, they’re all the rage right now but could this be another bubble waiting to burst? Has lockdown boredom driving us to seek out even stranger ways to buy, store and consume assets? – all could be true.
What’s clear is that the internet has a new trend that it’s in love with and people are jumping all over this crypto-art phenomenon.
**Wait, I still don’t get it?**
No-one blames you for not getting it – explore these resources to dive deeper into the world of NFT’s.
**https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq**
**https://uk.pcmag.com/personal-finance/132087/wtf-is-an-nft-the-latest-cryptocurrency-craze-explained**
https://youtu.be/aQB84PedC7A
https://www.youtube.com/embed/aQB84PedC7A?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ICN-3kr7x7Y?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
https://youtu.be/ICN-3kr7x7Y
@R72025
