Crypto Newbie Gains: Your Quick Start Guide to Getting Comfortable with Cryptocurrencies and… by@AlykhanGulamali
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Crypto Newbie Gains: Your Quick Start Guide to Getting Comfortable with Cryptocurrencies and…
by Alykhan GulamaliFebruary 11th, 2018
Too Long; Didn't Read
I self-published this book a couple of months ago, but I want it to reach as many people as possible, so I’m also publishing it here on Medium. <strong>If you don’t have time to read the whole thing online, feel free to download a free copy below:</strong>People Mentioned
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I self-published this book a couple of months ago, but I want it to reach as many people as possible, so I’m also publishing it here on Medium. If you don’t have time to read the whole thing online, feel free to download a free copy below:
Crypto Newbie Gains: Your Quick Start Guide to Getting Comfortable with Cryptocurrencies and…Are you interested in cryptocurrencies, but too nervous to invest in them? If a lack of basic understanding is what is…alyg.thinkific.com
Are you interested in cryptocurrencies, but too nervous to invest in them?
If a lack of basic understanding is what is holding you back, then this book is for you.
Crypto Newbie Gains is your quick start guide to getting comfortable with cryptocurrencies and getting in the game.
It’s not too late to invest in cryptocurrencies. Despite all the buzz and hype, the truth is the majority of people don’t actually own any cryptocurrencies. If you get in before they do, then you can realize a much bigger upside.
In this book, you’ll learn:
1. What blockchain technology is in a way that’s easy to understand (complete with movie references and easy-to-follow analogies)
2. How cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are superior to the “primitive” fiat money system that’s used today
3. Why you shouldn’t wait to fully understand cryptocurrencies before getting in the game
4. How much you might want to consider investing in cryptocurrencies
5. How to get started today and buy your first “shares” of cryptocurrency within a matter of minutes
Take some time to read this short primer and then decide if you want to take action. But don’t wait. The window of opportunity for big money won’t last forever. In fact, it’s getting smaller by the day.
Thanks for reading and may the crypto newbie gains be with you.
AlyG
Disclaimer and Legal Notice
The information provided in this book and accompanying material is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered legal or financial advice. You should consult with an attorney or other professional to determine what may be best for your individual needs.
The author does not make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from using this content. No one should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author disclaims any and all liability in the event any information, commentary, analysis, opinions, advice and/or recommendations prove to be inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable, or result in any investment or other losses.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the influencers and thought leaders in the blockchain space who have educated me and inspired me to take action and begin my own journey with cryptocurrencies. Many of them are listed in the Recommended Resources section in the appendix.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The blockchain… it’s like passing notes in class
Chapter 2: Why is Bitcoin so revolutionary?
Chapter 3: Why you shouldn’t wait to understand cryptocurrencies before getting in
Chapter 4: How to get in the crypto game
Confessions of a crypto newb
First things first. I am not an expert on cryptocurrencies.
In fact, I’m the opposite. I’m a crypto newb. Like most people, I first heard about Bitcoin a few years ago and dismissed it as a fad. I didn’t start learning more about it and taking it seriously until earlier this year.
The reason I’m writing this book is that I enjoy writing about things I’m interested in. it’s a source of entertainment for me. In other words, writing this book for me is like the equivalent of you watching your favorite Netflix show. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is what it is.
So, why the interest?
Well, I’ve always been intrigued by money and technology. Cryptocurrencies combine the two while also creating one of the most exciting money-making opportunities of our lifetime. Over the past few months, I’ve read articles and books, listened to podcast interviews, and watched YouTube videos on the topics of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology. The more I learn, the more fascinated I am by the technology and its potential as a long-term solution to a multitude of problems.
Before I dive in, let me state some obvious disclaimers.
This is not investment advice. I said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not an expert on crypto. That said, some people say the best way to learn is to teach. So, the purpose of me writing this book is to share what I do know and what I’m doing about it. My hope Is that because I’m just as much of a newb to all of this as you, this information will perhaps be more relatable and digestible.
Of course, I encourage you to study the smartest people in the space as I am currently doing and develop your own conclusions. At the same time, I don’t want you to wait too long before getting your feet wet because if you do, you might miss out on the biggest investment gains we’ve seen in our lifetimes. If you want, there is a list of resources in the appendix where you can learn from the experts, conduct your own due diligence, and validate everything I’m writing.
“Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first.” -Stephen King, The Dark Tower (also Bad Santa to Thurman Merman)
There is always a balance between learning and execution.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, it’s that learning is like wishing in your hand and execution is like shitting in your hand. It might not be the most comfortable thing or the most desirable thing you can do in that moment, but it will get your hands dirty. And if you want to achieve real life results, then you’re going to have to get your hands really dirty and execute.
This book will be divided into four main sections. In the first section, I’ll discuss the magic that makes cryptocurrencies possible, which is known as blockchain technology. In the second section, I’ll discuss why Bitcoin is kind of a big deal. In the third section, I’ll discuss the investment opportunity in cryptocurrencies that is quickly emerging. In the final section, I’ll discuss execution.
This book is very short and intended to be read in one sitting. I want you to get the information you need to make a decision on whether to get involved in 15–20 minutes, not get bogged down in too many details and intimidated by the complexity of it all. If you get overwhelmed, then you might delay execution, or worse, dismiss it entirely, which I believe is the worst thing you can do at this stage.
May the newbie gains be with you,
Alykhan “Crypto Newb” Gulamali aka AlyG
Chapter 1: The blockchain… it’s like passing notes in class
Most newbs see Bitcoin as a sensational investment that has exploded in value in a very short period of time, but don’t know too much about it beyond that.
So, what is Bitcoin?
The short answer is that it is a form of digital currency. But that doesn’t quite do it justice. There are lots of different ways money can be transferred online these days. So, how do you differentiate Bitcoin from something like PayPal, for example, which also is a form of digital currency?
To understand Bitcoin, you must first understand the technology behind it: blockchain technology.
But before you understand blockchain, you must understand encryption. The idea of encryption is pretty straightforward. Basically, it’s encoding something, like a message.
“At its very basic level, money isn’t value. Money represents an abstraction of value; it’s a way of communicating value. It’s a language. Therefore, money is as old as language because the ability to communicate value is as old as language and money. In many ways, it has characteristics that make it a linguistic construct. It’s a form of communication.” -Andreas M. Antonopoulos, The Internet of Money
Remember when you were in elementary school and kids would pass notes to each other in class? Let’s say that John passes a note to Mark. The note typically says something immature and inappropriate like “Jill has cooties.” The note gets passed and both John and Mark have a laugh at Jill’s expense. If John does this frequently, he is playing a risky game because the teacher, Mrs. Smith, might see him passing the note and confiscate it.
One day, this happens and Mrs. Smith sees that John was making fun of Jill in the note. He gets in trouble. After this, John becomes smarter and decides to encrypt his notes. He and Mark make up their own code language which only they understand and write the note in their code language. This way, if Mrs. Smith finds the note, she won’t be able to know what they said. This is encryption. The code is what allows John and Mark to exchange information without others knowing about it.
A few years pass and John is now in high school. He is a bit more mature and no longer believes in cooties, but he still writes notes in code. One day, he decides to use a note to exchange money. The message on the note says something like this: “I, John, give you, Mark, $100. Signed, John.”
Then, John decides he wants the transaction to be anonymous, so the money can’t be traced back to him. Now, the message reads, “I, A, give you, B, $100. Signed, A.”
Then, John wants the transaction to be validated, so he writes the message at the top of a piece of paper and posts it on a public bulletin board in the cafeteria so that everyone can see it.
Meanwhile, some of the other kids in the class have learned John’s code. So, they can look at this note and validate that A did, in fact, give B $100. This is the beginning of the blockchain.
After that, Mark wants to transfer $50 of his new $100 to Joe. So, he posts another line in the public ledger in the cafeteria below the first. “I, B, give you, C, $50. Signed, B.” Once again, the other kids can look at the ledger and see that $100 went from A to B and $50 went from B to C. So, they know B has $50 and C has $50. The blockchain has grown.
As more and more transactions occur, John decides he wants to secure these transactions. So, after each one of these transactions is posted, he instructs a bunch of kids to validate the growing ledger in the cafeteria, tracing all the money back to the beginning. After enough kids have confirmed each transaction, it is considered complete and irreversible. Success!
Each time this “chain” is validated, it is accepted as the truth. Eventually, the chain grows so long that if were a bad kid were to try to steal some of this money, he would need to erase the entire ledger from the very beginning and rewrite a fraudulent version of it. That’s not easy to do in itself, but John has added another layer of security that makes it even more difficult.
All of the “good kids” are required to sign off on the ledger and publicize their own copy with each new transaction. Kids can come and go, so they each have different segments of the validation chain of varying lengths depending on how long they have been around. But each of them can easily be traced back to the “master chain.”
It’s this master chain that is accepted as the source of truth. So, for a bad kid to hack it, he would literally have to steal all the copies and make new master chain that outpaces the existing one (which is continuing to grow). Even if the bad kid had a small army working on this, he wouldn’t succeed because there is a much larger army of good kids working on the legitimate chain and they also had a head start on the army of hackers. With more manpower and man-hours deployed, the good kids always win. Security!
This is how the blockchain works. It’s called a blockchain because each validation step is like a link in a chain and each link strengthens the chain until it is unbreakable.
When I first learned how the blockchain worked, it made me think of the mosquitos in Jurassic Park that got stuck in the tree sap. Each layer of sap trapped the mosquito further and further until it was so well preserved, that humans were able to extract the dinosaur DNA from the mosquito millions of years later.
So how does all of this relate to Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is simply an application of blockchain technology.
More specifically, a currency application. Encryption is used in the transactions, hence the name cryptocurrency. A transfer of Bitcoin is like two people exchanging a promissory note on a public ledger except the messages are written in computer code instead of in high school boy code and transferred digitally instead of by paper. And Instead of the other kids in the class validating the ledger, you have people known as miners doing the validations.
These miners are located all over the world and are constantly running code that validates the Bitcoin transactions on their own computers. And as long as the cumulative CPU power of the good miners overpowers any hacking attempts, Bitcoin is secure. As for John, the guy who started it all? Well, you can call him Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin who is almost certainly worth billions at this point.
Chapter 2: Why is Bitcoin so revolutionary?
How is Bitcoin better than the fiat currency that we use today?
Well, for one, it’s global.
Anyone in the world can transact with anyone else in the world in a peer-to-peer manner without using middlemen (like banks, national governments, etc.). This means the currency transcends geographic boundaries. Today, with traditional currencies that are enforced by governments, it’s very difficult for Billy Bob in Alabama to transact with Mr. Patel in India.
Not only does Bitcoin make this transaction possible, but it also prevents Billy Bob from having to go through his American bank which would then need to transfer the funds to Mr. Patel’s Indian bank and have all of these middleman involved. Instead, it’s a simple peer-to-peer transaction.
Since it’s being validated by the miners, it’s also very secure.
You might be thinking, what if the miners band together and decide to manipulate the transactions? Couldn’t they effectively form their own sort of centralized authority? Nope. They can’t do this because Bitcoin code is open source, meaning that just like anyone can transact in bitcoins, anyone can become a miner, gain access to the original source code, and validate it for themselves. Just like in the school cafeteria, as long as the good guys outnumber the shady guys, it will be secure.
Governments, on the other hand, can collude with one another and manipulate transactions with only a handful of shady people working together.
Another good thing about open source code is that it is available for anyone to iterate on and improve.
This is why there is more than one type of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin was just the first.
If you are a blogger, you may have heard of WordPress, another open source coding project. I first started using WordPress about seven years ago. Back then, it was kind of clunky. Functionality was limited, but it was improving quickly. Developers were constantly adding new features, known as plugins. Now, the WordPress platform has become so good and so popular that it runs over 25% of the internet. This is the power of open source code.
So yeah, a global system is good. And a decentralized, open source, global system is even better.
But even for transactions within a single country, you can argue that Bitcoin is superior. Today, we have a centralized authority (the government), manipulating the supply of currency, which ultimately influences the value of that currency.
Let’s say John and Mark are now adults and John has a television he wants to sell to Mark for $100. They both live in the United States, so this seems pretty straightforward. But what if, all of a sudden, the government prints a ton of money and $100 is now only worth $50. John has a problem. He believes the TV is worth a certain amount, But Mark expects to get it for half that amount.
If John and Mark were to simply agree on the amount between themselves using a unit of measure that can’t be manipulated (because of scarcity), and transact in a secure manner, then this entire process is more efficient. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies enable this because they are decentralized, operate on a fixed quantity, and are secured through the blockchain.
As you can begin to see, currencies are just one application of blockchain technology.
You can use the same technology to create contract law, systems for voting, etc.
Remember the Bush vs. Gore U.S. presidential election of 2000, when they had all of these issues figuring out who won because of the manual voting system with hanging chads, dangling chads, flying chads, or whatever they were called? Not only is this process inefficient, but it’s also subject to fraud because it’s run by humans in a centralized manner.
It’s hard to believe we are still using such a primitive system today. Now, imagine if we had a decentralized voting system that was run by computers and programmed to be 100% accurate and honest. A system like this could not be corrupted so easily.
What we are seeing with Bitcoin is just the beginning.
Fiat currency solved problems inherent in its predecessor, gold (like being difficult to store and transport). Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies now solve problems that exist with fiat currencies. You see, this is not just a fad. It’s the natural next phase in the evolution of money.
Through the use of blockchain technology, many other currencies and applications will emerge that solve other problems in society. Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize many industries (in a good way) by making them operate more efficiently and securely. The economic value that this creates will be massive.
In terms of impact, it could be as big as the internet. Sure, there were plenty of scams in the internet boom (and there will be blockchain scams too), but there were also a handful of legit companies that emerged. A few of these (Google, Amazon, etc.) are some of the biggest and most influential companies in business today. What if you had invested in these companies back in their infancy when everyone thought the internet was a fad?
I don’t even need to answer that question because you know.
If you missed that boat, you’ve now got a second chance with crypto.
Chapter 3: Why you shouldn’t wait to understand cryptocurrencies before getting in
As you can see, blockchain and cryptocurrencies are very complex in nature.
I’ll admit, it’s not something that I’m easily able to wrap my head around (although it’s becoming more and more clear). The good news for me is that I wasn’t willing to wait to understand it before getting into the game. And I’m still not willing to wait to understand it more deeply before continuing to play.
This is my advice to you.
The reason I’m not willing to wait is that I don’t want to miss out on early adopter gains. The adoption of new processes and technology comes in phases. First, you have the early adopters. Then more and more people begin to see the legitimacy of the new process or technology and begin to adopt it until eventually, everybody adopts it and it becomes mainstream. This is what happened with the internet and it’s what will happen with cryptocurrencies.
Take a look at Rogers innovation adoption curve below:
For you non-nerdy people, let me translate. With adoption of a new thing, there is very slow growth at the beginning, but then it accelerates and shoots up almost vertically before leveling off. Value of the thing being adopted closely follows this pattern. It shoots up rapidly just as the mainstream is getting in, but after the early adopters have gotten in. This is why early adopters are able to realize the biggest gains.
As of this writing in December 2017, we are about at this point right here:
Extremely early adopters have already gotten in.
These are people who bought Bitcoin back in 2013 or so. Some Bitcoin extreme early adopters you may have heard of are Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin (and therefore the earliest adopter) and the Winklevoss twins who, if you know the history of Facebook, accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for the social network. The Winklevii may have missed out on the social network gains, but they did not miss out on crypto gains, as their Bitcoin holdings are now reportedly worth over a billion dollars.
Right now, everybody and their mom is talking about Bitcoin, even people who have never expressed any sort of interest in finance or investing. In fact, “Bitcoin” just passed “Donald Trump” as the most searched for item on the internet. Because of this, you might think that it has already gone mainstream.
So, did you miss the boat?
Not at all. You may have missed the monster, big bang, wave. But there is plenty of good surf to come. We are still very much in the early adoption phase. The truth is people like to talk, but most people are still sitting on the sidelines.
Despite all the buzz, a very small percentage of the people that I know in person have actually bought Bitcoin. The reason for this is that it’s new and intimidating. People are scared because they don’t understand it. I get it. As I mentioned, I don’t even understand it as well as I’d like to. But I know enough to be able to understand the impact that it will have on society. As the impact grows, so will the value.
So, just like I don’t need to know the nitty gritty of how the stock market works to be willing to invest in it, I don’t feel the need to know a ton about cryptocurrency to be willing to buy some. All I need to know is that it’s a new and better way of doing things. And because it’s a new and better way of doing things, it’s only a matter of time before it is universally adopted. This is what makes me confident that the value will increase.
The world always has and always will adopt new and better technologies and systems.
Take shopping. Back in the day, you had to go to a butcher to get your meat. Then, you had to go to a farmer to get your vegetables. Then, you had to go to a cobbler to get your shoes And if you had time, a tailor to get your clothes. People back then must have spent an entire 8-hour day shopping. I hate shopping, so I would have been miserable. This system was inefficient end ripe for innovation.
Then, it happened.
Grocery stores came along and supplied all types of foods and drinks that you would need in one place. Department stores came along and supplied all of your clothing needs. Then, at some point during the last few decades, Walmart and Target came along and supplied everything in a one-stop shop. Now, it’s even better because we have Amazon which supplies all of these things without you having to actually go anywhere… and it does it cheaper and better than anybody else.
If the world naturally shifts towards better stuff, as it always has, then Bitcoin and other legitimate blockchain applications will only become more widely adopted, therefore increasing in value. If you bought Amazon stock as an early adopter when it first came out in the 90s, you’d be rich. Bitcoin is like the Amazon of currency, but it has even more economic potential because currency encompasses much more than just shopping.
The total value of all money is approximately 150 trillion dollars. As of right now the total value of all cryptocurrencies is around 300 billion dollars. If humans do what they’ve always done and adopt new and better technologies and systems, then the 150 trillion dollars of money could eventually be replaced by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. That’s a 500-fold increase, which is why some experts believe that Bitcoin could still go up by a factor of 100 or more from where it is today.
So, although the biggest gains may have already been realized, if you keep this perspective in mind, you can see that it’s likely enormous gains are still to come.
After all, pretty much everyone on Earth is still transacting in their native currencies. But that is changing. What will happen if the currency of a major country goes under? Where will those people turn? Cryptocurrencies seem like a pretty good option.
On November 30 2017, PwC, a “big 4” accounting giant announced they will start accepting Bitcoin as payment. Right now, there aren’t many retailers or online stores that accept cryptocurrencies as payment, but some do, even a few notable ones like overstock.com. As of this writing, it hasn’t happened yet, but what happens when (and it’s a matter of when, not if) Amazon, the largest retailer in the world, starts accepting cryptocurrencies? What’s going to happen to the price?
Chapter 4: How to get in the crypto game
Okay I’ve talked enough now about the underlying technology and the massive opportunity in cryptocurrencies.
Now it’s time to execute.
Like I mentioned earlier, learning will do you no good if you’re unwilling to execute on the knowledge you have acquired. You can read this book, read 100 other books, and spend the next 18 months learning everything you can about cryptocurrencies. But if you don’t buy any, then you’re never going to benefit from the gains.
My approach is to execute and learn at the same time.
I began learning about Bitcoin back in May 2017 when I came across Peter Saddington’s BiteSizeBitcoin YouTube channel. The price was much lower then and Peter was urging his followers to get in and “secure their seat on the spaceship headed to the moon.” It took me nearly six months to finally sack up.
I bought my first fraction of Bitcoin in October 2017 and my only regret is that I didn’t buy it sooner. But, as the saying goes, “Better late than never.” And, as I was pleased to discover, it’s actually not very late at all. We are still very much in the early adoption phase.
So, don’t wait. Execute now. I’m about to tell you how.
The quickest and easiest way to claim your piece of the pie is to open an account at Coinbase.com.
Coinbase is an online exchange that allows you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. There are others, but Coinbase is the most popular with millions of users. I’ve also heard that it’s the simplest and easiest to use (I haven’t actually looked into any of the others because I wanted to execute as quickly as possible).
Coinbase is a US-based company. It is available to customers in the US and over 30 other countries. If you live in a country that is not supported by Coinbase, then you will need to find a similar service to use.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Go to Coinbase.com and click sign up.
2. Enter your name and email address
3. Create a password
4. Select your state
Then, you’ll need to verify your email address and identity (with your address and phone number).
Once your Coinbase account is approved, you’ll need to link a bank account or debit card to your account so that you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies. You’ll also have to verify your bank account by identifying a couple of small sample deposits. If you have set up a PayPal account or any other type of online account, it’s a very similar process.
After you have set up an approved payment method, you can start buying fractions or “shares” of cryptocurrencies. Once you have bought some cryptocurrencies, they will show up in a portfolio view just as stocks or mutual funds would show up in an online brokerage account so you’ll be able to see how much you have in the cryptocurrency and in dollars.
Currently, only three types of cryptocurrencies are available to buy and sell on Coinbase: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. If you want to buy others, then you’ll need to go through a different exchange. Personally, I’m fine limiting my exposure to just these three for now. They are the currently among the biggest and most reputable and since I’m just getting started, I’m not interested in taking a huge amount of risk.
Here is a link to open your own Coinbase account.
Just to be clear, yes, it’s a referral link, which means that if you open a Coinbase account through this link and deposit $100, you will get an extra $10 and I will get an extra $10. So, it’s a win-win for both of us.
Now, before you get your panties in a bunch and accuse me of writing this book just to make a quick buck, let me remind you that you don’t have to use Coinbase or this link if you don’t want to. If you do decide to use Coinbase, you can just go directly to Coinbase.com and sign up without a referral. I won’t even know.
However, I do sincerely hope that if you have gotten some value out of this book and decide to invest in cryptocurrencies through Coinbase, then you will use my link. Alright, that’s all I’m going to say about that. Now for some closing thoughts.
Conclusion
So far, you’ve learned about what blockchain technology is, some of its potential applications, the massive opportunity that exists today in investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and how to get started right now. Now, I’ll leave you with a with a few closing thoughts.
Maybe you’ve read all of this and you are 99% convinced that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are legit. But… you’re still hesitant to invest.
I understand.
Look, nothing is certain in this world. Some of the largest companies that dominated the markets a couple of decades ago have been dethroned buy newer and better things. Look at what Netflix has done to Blockbuster, what Google has done to Yahoo, and what Amazon has done to just about all retailers.
Bitcoin is not infallible.
Just like Bitcoin has exposed some of the weaknesses in traditional currencies and threatens to overtake them, it’s not perfect. There are weaknesses in Bitcoin that may be exposed by newer cryptocurrencies.
For example, one of the major problems with Bitcoin is that its transaction time is too slow. This creates a barrier from Bitcoin being used as a common payment method in day-to-day life. There are already other crypto coins that solve this problem. For example, Bitcoin Cash, an offshoot of Bitcoin, and Litecoin, are two cryptocurrencies with faster transaction times.
Personally, I’m not putting all my crypto eggs in the Bitcoin basket. I’m also invested in Ethereum and Litecoin because I believe that these have just as much, if not more, potential as Bitcoin.
No one knows exactly what will happen in the future and even if you are 99% convinced, as I am, a 1% uncertainty is enough to put off a lot of people.
No one likes losing money. In fact, we all hate to lose money. We hate losing money more than we love making money. It’s human nature. And believe me, I’m about as risk-averse as humans come. I am certainly not willing to put my entire life savings in cryptocurrencies right now even though I believe a massive upside exists because even I have a small shred of fear, doubt, and uncertainty.
In fact, I’m not willing to put 10% or even 5% of my life savings into something so uncertain and volatile… at this point. We’ll see what happens in a few years. But… am I willing to put 3% in right now? Maybe. 2%? Probably. 1%? Definitely. So, this is what I suggest for you. If you’re not certain, don’t put in 10% or 20% of your money. Put in 1%. put in 0.5%. Put in the smallest amount that you feel comfortable with so that you have some exposure and some upside.
Bitcoin is around $8k as of this writing (February 2018).
I know of at least a couple of very smart and well-informed experts who think it will go up to $1,000,000 in 3 years. That’s over a 100x increase.
Again, who’s to say if they are right? But consider this: why not put 1% of your savings into Bitcoin and see what happens? Worst case, it goes to zero. Will losing 1% of your savings negatively impact your life in any way? I doubt it. But consider the upside. What if it goes up 100x in a few years? From my perspective, putting a small amount of money into Bitcoin today has massive upside and no real downside.
I think about it this way: if I am able to get just enough Bitcoin in the early adopter stage that it could significantly improve my life if it were to go up 100x, then that’s all I need. Shit, Peter, the YouTuber I told you about, has already bought a lambo with his Bitcoin gains. I’d be lying if I said the thought of paying off my mortgage with Bitcoin in a few years never crossed my mind. I’m sure many of you are thinking similar thoughts.
But you can’t make any money if you put in $0. So, start with $10 or $20 or $100. Get comfortable, continue to educate yourself, and if you feel more confident, then invest more. If not, don’t.
Here is one final thought: Bitcoin cannot be uninvented.
Blockchain technology is here to stay. It’s like what James Franco said in Pineapple Express:
“The monkey’s out of the bottle, man. Pandora doesn’t go back in the box. He only comes out.”
Very wise, my friend. Very wise.
Some people might see cryptocurrencies as a Pandora’s box, but I like to think of it more like a genie in a bottle. And if you had a damn bottle with a genie in it, would you really want it to go back in?
I hope I make a lot of money off of crypto and I hope you do too. I really do. But whether I make money or not, I’m still excited about the future. The world we live in today is truly something else. And I believe crypto is only the beginning of some amazing things many of us will see in our lifetimes.
Now, you’ve read this. You have two options.
You can either put this book down and decide to wait it out.
Or, you can take what you’ve learned, get in the game, continue to learn more, and get more involved in the game if you like what you learn. I’m not going to tell you what to do or judge you. Hell, I won’t even know what you chose to do unless you tell me. At the end of the day, you do you and I’ll do me.
Once again, here’s my referral link to open a Coinbase account.
Good luck, thanks for reading, and may the crypto gains be with you.
AlyG
Recommended Resources
Below are the resources that have helped me the most with understanding and getting more comfortable with blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
I highly encourage you to explore these and follow the authors of these publications. You will see that all of them are not only very experienced and knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies, but also have a proven track record of financial success in other endeavors prior to the blockchain era.
Paper:
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto
Article:
The ABC’S of Bitcoin and Everything You Need To Know About “Forks” by James Altucher
Books:
The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos
The Internet of Money Volume Two by Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Podcasts:
Bad Crypto Podcast ep. 47: James Altucher Visits Bad Crypto
The Tim Ferriss Show ep. 244: The Quiet Master of Cryptocurrency — Nick Szabo
YouTube Channels:
People to follow on Twitter:
Peter Saddington (@bitesizebitcoin)
Final Call to Action
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Thank You
I just want to say a quick thank you for taking the time to read this book. As I mentioned, I encourage you to learn more about blockchain and cryptocurrencies by studying some of my recommended resources.
The thing I care about most is you getting results, so I’d love to answer your questions and hear about your success. Feel free to reach out to me anytime via email at [email protected].
Thanks again, and good luck!
Alykhan
Please Review
I hope you enjoyed the book! If you did, please post an honest review on the book’s Amazon page. Taking a couple of minutes to do this will help others with their purchasing decision and help me to improve my work. I’d really appreciate it and I promise to read every review.
Thanks for your support!
Alykhan
L O A D I N G
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