Cryptocurrencies, between universal payment method and gambling or PONZI scheme
The most balanced opinion on cryptocurrency investing
By Marius Morra, CEO and Co-founder of TOKERO Crypto Exchange
Any investor with even a modicum of investment knowledge knows that the largest percentage of the amount allocated to investments should go to the safer asset classes at the bottom of the pyramid, allocated according to the investor’s risk profile and investment plan.
Another basic principle is DIVERSIFICATION: therefore correlated with the undeniably very good returns obtained for years, a percentage however small should also go to the crypto area. So, the question should not be “Should I invest in crypto?” but rather “What percentage should I allocate to crypto investments?” and “Among which cryptocurrencies should I divide the percentage allocated for crypto?”.
It is also not to be ignored that large investment funds and international companies have invested in crypto. Among them we can list: Grayscale Investments LLC, Pantera Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, MicroStrategy and Tesla. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have also started offering cryptocurrency trading services for their institutional clients.
Beyond words, the numbers speak for themselves, according to numerous studies (see Yahoo Finance or Cointelegraph) Bitcoin and Ethereum are by far the best performing assets of the last 10 years. (We verified the information with ChatGPT in case you don’t take our word for it):
Marius Morra: “Which was the best performing investment asset in the last 10 years?”
ChatGPT: “The best performing investment asset of the last 10 years is difficult to determine precisely because performance can vary depending on the different time periods considered and other factors. However, a few active investments have achieved significant performance over the past decade. Here are some examples:
Bitcoin: Bitcoin has been one of the best performing investment assets over the last 10 years. This cryptocurrency has seen a significant increase in value since its creation in 2009. Between 2011 and 2021, the price of bitcoin has seen significant increases and reached new all-time highs.”
And yes, not everyone has the opportunity to invest (although many could, but education is still needed in this area), but almost everyone can make one or a few first trades to see what it’s all about and what the process is. Investments can be as low as 10-20 euro, with minimal fees – accounts on trading platforms are free and exchange commissions in the area of 0.5-1%. The gain? Apart from the financial potential, there is a potential that is unfortunately very little discussed and which is related to the knowledge gained and the access to a new world – the world of investments and Web3 – the new internet where I read, contribute and own. In Web3, the access keys are one or more wallets and cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies are the key to the future.
In our experience, the difference between someone who has never made a cryptocurrency transaction and someone who has made at least one, is a considerable one. The person who made a transaction, no matter how small, has learned the process, can follow a crypto discussion in the know, and most importantly, is much more prepared for when an opportunity arises. Because, historically speaking, once every 2-3 years major opportunities appear. Also, many who invest in crypto, educate themselves as they use crypto platforms, learn the process, learn about investing, and start investing in other types of investment assets as well. We can say that access to crypto helps access to investments in general.
But crypto is not just about speculative investments. With the significant increase in adoption and projects in recent years, the number of jobs available in this field has also increased. Due to its technological nature, these jobs are generally related to the fields of IT, software development and cyber security, but there are also opportunities in marketing, management, legal, accounting and other related fields. Specialists in the crypto area are not only in high demand, but also very well paid. Also, in state institutions – the National Bank, the National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering, the Police and others, there are departments related to crypto, where people who have a minimum of information related to this field are promoted.
And because we’ve entered the realm of regulation, a big fear of critics is that cryptocurrencies can be used in drug trafficking, terrorist financing and other crimes. Here, the simplest argument we can offer is the following: exchanges are subject to the laws of prevention and combating money laundering in force, so KYC (identity verification – Know the customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering) technologies are implemented, source and proof of funds such as bank transactions are requested.
Also, these activities unfortunately existed until 2008 when Bitcoin appeared, so we cannot see a direct causal link. It is well known that the most anonymous means of financing illicit activities is fiat currency in cash form.”
In conclusion, after this plea, I have the following request: if any great Romanian or foreign financial analyst still screams loudly against crypto, comment with a link from this article.
Some of them I admire and respect until they start discussing crypto, where logic unfortunately starts to disappear. And yes, I can accept that I’m ignorant, but I have a hard time believing that Elon Musk or Michael Saylor don’t know what they’re doing.
As a market capitalization, today cryptocurrencies have a total of about 1.1 trillion dollars. By comparison, McDonalds has 206 billion and gold has 12 trillion, so we can conclude that the cryptocurrency market is large enough to be considered, but small enough to have very high growth potential.
As we say here, “We’re still early”!
The question I leave you today is: what do you want to be? Actor or spectator? Gambler or investor? I have good news – the choice is 100% yours, so choose SMART!
