One of the most common questions that I get, is some variation of “What should I invest in?” or “What do you think of ______?”. Inevitably, people voice their reservations against Bitcoin. They think its too late, because Bitcoin is too expensive. They want to find another cryptocurrency to get in “on the ground floor”. One of the things we do with our clients at Go Full Crypto is coach them into realizing that Bitcoin, and even the internet itself is in its adolescence. So this edition of the newsletter is intended to answer the question Why Bitcoin… Instead of anything else?
You’re not too late for Bitcoin
To this day, I feel like I missed out on Bitcoin.
Everyday I wake up, and the first thing that I do is check the price of Bitcoin. The rush of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is the first emotion that I experience when I wake up in the morning. Then I remind myself that I am in the 1.5% of people that own Bitcoin on the planet. I tell myself that Bitcoin just turned 12, and its not going away anytime soon. I continue my day by figuring out how I can run my business such that I end up with more Bitcoin at the end of the day, than what I started with. After all, there is a finite amount of Bitcoin, every Satoshi counts. This is the first thing we help our clients get through, the fear that they’re too late, and that they’ve missed out on Bitcoin.
The Internet is Brand New
The internet has more or less taken human civilization by surprise. No one could have predicted in 1993 that an internet application (Facebook) would be used to sway the 2016 US presidential election. When the pioneers of the internet were setting up the infrastructure between the 1960’s and 1990’s, they may or may not have been aware that they were deploying the most powerful technology the world has ever seen. In the grand scheme of things, the internet itself is still in its early days. Think about what we use the internet for. The main usage is Social Media, and cat videos on YouTube. The reality is that we’ve only scratched the surface of internet use cases. We’re like a child playing with a new toy, we don’t quite know what to do with it yet. The Internet is brand new to human civilization. What it allows us to do, is trade, transfer and share INFORMATION at the speed of light.
Bitcoin is Just a Baby
Bitcoin just had its 12th Birthday on the 3rd of January (2021). It’s just a baby, and has barely made its way into the mainstream. At this point and time, most people we talk to have heard of Bitcoin, but have no idea what it is used for, or how they may benefit from it. The narrative we hear from most people is that it is magic internet money used by drug dealers and money launderers. The media has done a good job of tainting the true purpose of Bitcoin. The purpose is to enable human civilization to trade, transfer, and share VALUE at the speed of light. We have really only just begun to create the internet of money. Bitcoin is the lifeblood of this new internet of money.
What is your Time Horizon?
This is perhaps one of the most important questions you can ask yourself. The answer to this question is the way that you get yourself out of the trap of FOMO. Feeling like you’ve missed out on Bitcoin, is dependent upon your 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, and 25 year goals. If you’re not setting goals for the future, then FOMO will follow you wherever you go. The internet (and media) is currently designed to incentivize immediate gratification in the form of button clicks, notifications, likes, subscribes, and shares. This sucks you into what is happening right now, but doesn’t exactly get you to think about what your future looks like.
As soon as you start to think about what your life looks like in 2050, Bitcoin doesn’t seem so old anymore. When I am investing in Bitcoin, its on a 30 year time horizon. There is no way I missed out on Bitcoin if I intend on selling when I am 60. In fact, $40k per Bitcoin starts to look like a great price on a 30 year time scale. With this philosophy, I can turn my FOMO, into satisfaction of seizing a great opportunity. I can turn my pennies and dollars I have today, into my retirement 30 years from now. With a 30, 50, or 100 year time horizon, you don’t have to worry about not getting in on the ground floor. You’re already on it.
Don’t Get Distracted with Other Cryptocurrencies
Speaking from experience, almost every cryptocurrency I’ve ever invested in as left me with less Bitcoin by the time I finished investing in them. If my goal is to end up with more Bitcoin, then the strategy becomes to simply ignore everything else. It was quite the relief when I started adopting this strategy and consolidating my portfolio. Instead of paying attention to the dozens of niche coins I had in my portfolio, I only really had to pay attention to 2 or 3. To be clear, I still hold a couple of different cryptocurrencies, but 95% of what I own, is Bitcoin.
When I started investing in other cryptocurrencies, I first had to acquire Bitcoin. This is because Bitcoin is the lifeblood, of the internet of money. The value of all other cryptocurrencies is denominated in Bitcoin. In this sense, Bitcoin is the global reserve currency of the internet. It is the money that is most native to the internet. In 99% of cases, the cryptocurrencies I acquired ended up being worth considerably less Bitcoin than what I started with. Some of the cryptocurrencies ended up being worth more CAD (Canadian Dollars), but this was yet another trick. My goal is not to end up with more Canadian Dollars, it is to end up with more Bitcoin. The reason why this was a trick, was because there are ever increasing amounts of CAD (and USD) in existence. The central banks keep on printing more. So getting more of it doesn’t necessarily bring me more wealth. However, because Bitcoin has an absolutely finite supply, increasing my stock of Bitcoin permanently increases my share of the total Bitcoin pie.
Other Crypto’s are a Fine Learning Experience
In retrospect, even though I would have probably been a Bitcoin millionaire right now if I kept all my Bitcoin, I am glad I dabbled in other cryptocurrencies. I learned a lot about trading, finance, stocks, charts, and my own emotions. This is why, when we’re consulting with our clients, we coach them on WHY Bitcoin but we don’t reject the conversation of what other cryptocurrencies may be worth experimenting with. For us, investing in the 1000’s of other cryptocurrencies out there brings us teachable moments with our clients. It’s ultimately useful to start with a strong foundation of Bitcoin not Crypto.
Is It Too Late to Buy Bitcoin?
No, it is still not too late to Buy Bitcoin. If you want to invest in a non correlated asset class that is also dubbed as a digital hard money - consult with us.
Want to start with a case study? Read why someone would convert $425 million worth of cash reserves into Bitcoin here.
All The Best,
Keegan Francis
Follow me on Twitter @cryptokeegan
Keegan. REALLY useful analogy to the internet. I try to work under the following framework. As humans we build, sample, experience and codify. Your analogy to the internet makes it clear that we may not even be truly in the experience phase of the internet (or BTC) yet, let alone ready to codify what it is or what it means. You and Mruga are the reason I'm invested Bitcoin and I am proud to be a new member of this community.