Crypto Space, huh?
Most of my friends and family have now been exposed to the crypto space because of my constant posting, conversation, tweeting, blogging, etc. Some are surely tired of hearing about it, others genuinely interested – whatever, at least I’ve made an effort to share what I’ve learned. The bitcoin space is one of the few remaining frontiers where you are truly on-your-own, accountable for your own actions, and can preserve the purchasing power of your wealth. This is one of the reasons I love this space and spend a good deal of time each day to learn more about it. The other reason is that bitcoin levels the playing field for achieving wealth when compared to traditional investment options.
I think time is fleeting to maximize what is the best financial opportunity many will ever see. There are some barriers to mass adoption that are quickly being overcome to take bitcoin mainstream. I don’t think it will take as long as cell phones took, or certainly not the Internet – and while there is still time to become an “early adopter”, advances are beginning to progress exponentially. It took the Internet roughly 20 years to be used by 88% of American adults. That is a 976.4% growth rate from 2000 to 2017. I got one of the first cell phones (man, that thing was huge!) in 1991. Phones with built-in cameras came out in 2002, and the iPhone launched in 2007. 95% of Americans now own a cellphone of some kind, 77% own smartphones – all of this up from only 35% smartphone ownership in 2011.
It is estimated that maybe 0.2% to 1% of the ~7 billion people in the world may have heard about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. There is a huge difference between having heard of something, and knowing what it is – let alone owning it. There are approximately 106 million people who own bitcoin. Investors have to have familiarity with, and trust of, the Internet to start using crypto-exchanges. Many exchanges are now permitting credit/debit card use that speeds up the buying of Bitcoin.
Crypto Space Barriers
Once bitcoins are bought, users must become savvy about using two-factor authentication, setting up cold storage, knowing the difference between holding private keys or not. There is no FDIC for Bitcoin or altcoins, so everyone is 100% responsible for securely storing their coins. Once coins are lost – they are lost for good. That said, it is not difficult at all to properly store, move, or buy bitcoin – but it is different from traditional money handling and there is a learning curve. Once bitcoins obtained are protected, there are the standard risks of investing which are amplified by the volatile nature of cryptocurrency prices.
I’ve noticed that people are hesitant to invest in bitcoin because they don’t know everything about it. I mean, literally everything – how it gets its value, how it is mined, the technicalities – when I know few people who really know the first thing about the currency they use every single day. In fact, most people think the Federal Reserve is a branch of the U.S. government. Most people don’t realize that the financial system is predominantly comprised of digital money. Actual physical Dollar bills and coins only amount to $1.36 trillion – a little over 10% of the $10 trillion sitting in bank accounts. And it’s a tiny fraction of the $20 trillion in stocks, $38 trillion in bonds and $58 trillion in credit instruments floating around the system. Suffice to say, if a significant percentage of people ever actually moved their money into physical cash, it could very quickly become a systemic problem.
The point is, I don’t have to know every single “nit and nat” to understand that buying and holding Bitcoin can be extremely profitable. People adopt new technology with remarkable speed once they realize how it will benefit them and if understanding everything about how a technology worked was the bar to using it, most of us would still be stuck with pen and paper. I bought my first Bitcoin in February 2017 for $968 and today it is worth $41,750 (as of this writing). While it is tempting and very easy to convert it to USD – the future potential makes doing so to be avoided. Once people understand the potential gains, they usually just buy it, securely store it, and forget it to save for the future.
Bitcoin has become much easier to use since 2017 and there are numerous new tools, wallets and on-ramps to explore. That said – it requires commitment and research to learn which exchange to use, what wallet, etc. and how to protect it. The lack of price stability keeps people from using bitcoin for everyday transactions, thus it is hard to be seen as “hard money” by many. Governments have altered the money supply at will to such an extent that inflation is now affecting people around the world in 2022. Bitcoin is decentralized, and the supply is finite – the biggest advantage of many that makes it a store of value asset.
Crypto Space Price Stability
Stable prices don’t just happen by accident, and are not a miracle of the market — they require a carefully constructed foundation. A stable currency needs a stable ecosystem and bitcoin has steadily matured over its short 13 years in existence. The important thing is to learn to understand cryptocurrency and the crypto space. Educating yourself can lead to new, lucrative investment opportunities, and make the difference between a great decision and an awful one.
While young people will be instrumental in helping create that stable ecosystem, it is not just twenty-somethings who are losing faith in traditional investment tools and fiat currency. Unlike previous generations, most millennials don’t have pensions or 401(k)’s – but are fully accustomed to owning digital assets and navigating the Internet. With more traditional paths to financial stability being blocked by debt, housing costs, an uncertain job market, the covid “plandemic”, etc. – new investors see cryptocurrency as the most rational means of investing their money.
When Bitcoin becomes a truly stable currency, then we can have currency conversion, payments, ATM withdrawals and other financial services. In other words, it can be used as intended — as money – and ultimately attract a mainstream audience incentivized to make the switch to cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, bitcoin will continue to see massive gains as more people grasp the significance of unconfiscatable sovereign money.
Crypto Space Trading
Trading takes a good amount of time and effort – and results will reflect the amount of each invested. It is not for the faint-at-heart. Trading is the act of buying one cryptocurrency and trading it for another to earn a profit. Sounds easy, right? Think again. While there are some new to trading that make good returns, it has been my observation that this is usually a complete accident and more often than not, those gains are soon lost. Experienced traders use a number of different tools to help them buy/sell the right coins at the right time. There are many software tools that help traders analyze trends, historical price action, and more to technically or fundamentally analyze the market. Learning proper use of these tools is an art in of itself. For most people, the act of buying bitcoin and “hodling” it for long term gains will out perform most traders. Now that is an easy option that anyone can do!
