Joining Bitcoin in 2021 — a bit about investment and a personal view
Thank you for landing here and welcome to Chapter 3 for Joining Bitcoin in 2021 series! In the previous two chapters, we’ve covered the basics you need to start both your crypto education as well as your crypto fund management journey. Here, I’d like to provide a POV for those of you who are seriously thinking about investing in crypto.
Seriously thinking about investing in crypto?
Whether you are starting your journey as an investor or you are well versed in the topic, it is likely that you’ll consider Bitcoin and perhaps other crypto assets for your portfolio. Like for any venture, thinking of transforming a small portion of your existing portfolio into crypto would be the safest bet, if you haven’t yet been exposed to it already.
Say you decide to put 10% of investment portfolio or your investment capacity into crypto: this is a good move if you can and if you ask me. Bitcoin isn’t pegged to any central bank’s currency, nor any derivative from these, nor any government, nor any other public nor private institution for that matter, and from that angle, it could be considered uncorrelated with traditional monetary systems. Which would make your move a clever one from a diversification stand point.
How to get crypto then? Well, if you’ve read the previous two pieces you should have a good idea as to how to go about this. If you haven’t, please do take the time to read the preceding sections: it will be respectively a 5min and 7min read.
If you’re thinking of working with 4,5,6 figure USD or € you should be fine with the pointers provided. Many people manage their crypto [fortunes] using hardware wallets as described in our second article.
Of course, there are other white glove services, for those major league investors looking at 7 figures or more, or simply if your heart so desires. If you are at this point in your thought/planning process, feel free to reach out privately so that I can help you assess and challenge these different types of companies. Some examples include New York Digital Investment Group LLC, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, and more, that are moving on this space. I’d be happy to help.
A different way to look at the crypto landscape
It is only an opinion and vision given my personal [and humble] experience with cryptocurrencies and open blockchains. And I’d like to share it through a quick recap of my journey.
I discovered and started experimenting with Bitcoin in 2015 but it wasn’t until 2017 that I studied it rather seriously. I have invested and sold bitcoin and fractions of it at myriad prices per token going from 300€, 900€, 1200€, 3000€, 4000€, 6000€, 9000€, 10.000€, 15k€, 20k€, 30k€, 40k€ and it still goes on.
Since 2017 with a small [but recurrent] investment capacity I’ve been able to benefit from very interesting yields, in my view, translated into sovereign European money, which have for example allowed me to travel from Europe to North America and the Caribbean to visit my 3 kids and take them to see family all over during all school holidays of 2018 and 2019. At the time I didn’t live with them so this was a key priority. I’ve been able to pay [portions or completely] both my BA and MBA student loans which was a relief. As well as contributing with other types of debt generated to pursue other opportunities in real state.
I’ve also been able to contribute my grain of salt in the education of the technology and potential use cases at Salesforce France through a series of interviews and magazine publication.
Bitcoin usage naturally based on my very own reality
I’ve lived in flesh and bone all of bitcoin’s roller coaster’s volatility since 2017 up until today. Do I regret not ‘hodl-ing’ longer some of which I’ve had to consume? Sometimes. But in reality, when you are exploring a new financial world, with nothing to compare it against, as you’re learning the technology and experiencing it, it is but natural to feel almost a ‘need’ to sell when you see your assets go 3x, 4x, 5x [time and again]… and this is specially true if you are in necessity for solutions in any kind of sovereign money.
But that’s just my reality, and I’ve had to adapt to it, and most importantly, I’ve learn from it. (1) I don’t have a very high investment capacity and (2) I’ve seen all the savings I have generated, for years since each and every one of my children were born, actually not yielding anything substantial vs. the effort it actually requires to work hard and save for the future. Same applies for other type of traditional bank investment certificates or bills which have simply provided a very deceiving experience, ridiculous interest rates and returns.
[My experience with stocks is completely different, but] After a few years of poor experiences in the traditional banking system, I radically changed my perspective for this and no longer save in the traditional banking system at all. Also, since 2017, I’ve never sent sovereign money to my home country again.
An ellipsis about volatility and some of its global tales
I hear: “are you not worried about the volatility?” To which I’d usually reply that anyone who has been on this space for a good number of years could simply say “no”. And add on top “I look at the long term” or something of the sort. Ask your Argentinian friends how they feel about this. This is what mine would say: “we prefer volatility going upwards than downwards”.
I’ve seen my home country’s national currency devaluate 2~3X over a period of 10~15 years. What happens when you see and live a 10X devaluation in a similar period? Or more than 70X devaluation in a shorter period. Or worst? Welcome to Dominican Republic, Argentina, Venezuela, Cyprus, Syria, Zimbabwe and the list goes on.
You might not relate to these countries feeling it is far away from your reality. But this actually happens in the “strongest” economies as well. True inflation doesn't seem to be exactly what governments announce for instance.
There’s much more to this but in essence: why would I want to communicate and share [or invest any] value in centralized systems I no longer trust?
An interesting alternative for the future, to say the least
Neither my kids nor myself will use traditional saving accounts in 15Y so why would I literally waist my money [and time] sitting in a traditional savings bank account for instance? I don’t. In 15Y, and for a good number of years now, my kids and myself use crypto wallets. And that’s a good language to speak I believe.
Last but not least. Very briefly. Another interesting approach to explore when it comes down to generating crypto is by creating the possibility to earn your labor, that is to get paid in it. There are services like bitwage.com or equivalents that help you do just that.
Bitcoin, on top of its capacity to bank the un-banked, opens the door to a new generation of investors who may have limited resources and who would otherwise not have been able to join a traditional and centralized stock market in any given country. This is beautiful.
Feel free to let me know if these are topics you’d like to further dive into.
Final words & the 2 main crypto-networks today
The 2 main networks that are dominating the space are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Both offer different types of use cases.
Bitcoin with a “B” is the network and the tech. With a “b”, the token, which should not be used with an “s” in plural. And one should for example say “I have plenty of bitcoin”. 🙂 Here, the primary use case is monetary: store of value, medium of exchange, asset/cash substitute
Ethereum, the network and the tech and ether the token, is a more ambitious project with various usages. First, financial applications, but also property management, proof of existence or ownership (think NFT), programable contracts, automated insurance policies, voting systems, quality control (food, natural resources), new ways of imagining business capital and shares management yet to be created…
If Bitcoin is 1 “app” for “programable money” on top a global decentralized monetary network (who’s sole purpose is that very one, which is very important for the world) then, Ethereum is a “decentralized operating system or platform” in which the examples provided above can be developed as “decentralized apps”. And those examples are just the tip of the ice berg. Our kids will imagine the rest.
There are many more tokens and interesting projects out there. I support some of those. But these 2 are for me (and for many others of course) the winning horses for the moment. Ethereum has a-longer-way/more-risk but promises a lot. And Bitcoin is seen as the monetary dominant network for the next 100Y.
Thank you! Have questions or interested in additional chapters further deep diving a specific topic? Feel free to reach out!
Let’s meet on Twitter! @lecharleslozano. I’ll answer DMs faster than emails.
