Ok, I know the title is word salad, but stick with me. I've been thinking this week. I'm pretty sure it's not the gabapentin habit. That stuff is the devil, be careful if a doctor prescribes it. With that disclaimer out of the way, welcome to my year: it has been fucking bizarre.
Step one: have a really smart but really alcoholic father. It's a surefire way to end up in a bad place. Losing my dad was really fucking awful, but he was shrewd. He knew he had a problem and that he "could not" stop. He tried to, I really think he did. He did leave me something in his will. No I'm not a millionaire, not even close. Just enough to finish up my bachelor's degree and make it out into the workforce.
On a whim I bought $2500 of Bitcoin in November. I listened to what people were saying and converted that into ADA, saw it go 20x, hopped onto Raiblocks and it went some crazy multiple, and then I bought some of this and some of that. And here's what I learned, smart money is buying the market in 2018. This is only my personal experience, not investing advice or counseling. I'm just a guy talking about secrets on the internet.
Buy a little bit of the top 10 or a little bit of your favorite coins. Here's a tip, invest smartly in 2018. With whatever you have to invest, take 0.1-10% of your cash holdings and buy cryptocurrencies. Take the other 90% and buy up Berkshire Hathaway and Vanguard funds. If you live within your means and produce more than you consume, then you'll retire with millions later on. Just live within your means now, and be crazy rich when you get older. Invest younger and be smart about it, and you'll be immune (or at least "immunized") to price action.
And if you are one of the serious cryptowhales (hint: definitely not me) you know what I missed out on. Many of us have regrets of selling our 30 BTC in 2011. Ah well, so it goes.
Whether you think it is caught in a manic speculative bubble (hint: it is) or the greatest thing since electricity (hint: it is), Bitcoin is a phenomenon to behold. There are billions yet to be made here. Of course, by "here" I'm referring to the cryptocurrency marketplace that sprung from the loins of the grandmaster cypherpunk Satoshi. If you don't know who Satoshi Nakamoto is...well, you're probably new here. Wade on in, the water's fine this evening! Pull up a campfire and crack a brewski. Light up a doob, there aren't any cops here. Well, if there are, they're cool cops and totally blaze it twenty-4-sev.
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That sounded like I was gonna tell you the tale, but I was just getting you lathered up. Just google "Satoshi Nakamoto" and you're in for a wild ride. If you want to really understand why he's important, you should sit and read as much as you can about PGP and you should read the Bitcoin whitepaper. It's honestly beautiful literature, beautiful computer science, and the beautiful mind of an enigmatic and pseudonymous genius.
You see, he created the genesis block in the Bitcoin chain and signed it with his own public key. An inaugural amount of BTC were deposited to an address ( So whatever his real name is, we know his pseudonym. Read here if you want to study the genesis block in more depth. Gee golly, it is also a white knuckled tear-em-up of a read. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Genesis_block
Anyway, I haven't slept right for weeks. Lemme get to the point. Distributed and permission-less blockchains are the future of value transmission on planet earth. It's hard to pick which ones will win in the long-long term, so buy your favorites and only spend the money you could afford to take to a casino. And use your bitcoin or ethereum to buy things. Offer people on the street bitcoin for their goods and services. Treat it like money because it is money if people will give you things for it. If there is no liquidity, no volume, no velocity -- then what? You're only holding it because you think it might get you rich. Nah, it probably won't bros. Only pay for BTC or any other coin what you're willing to pay. That's how the prices are set in a FREE market.
So many of us hodling (or failing to hodl in 2011, in my case) need to be honest with ourselves. Honesty is the best drugs, and telling secrets without fear. Those are best drugs, no lie. Don't carry a big stick, but do speak softly. Whisper your secrets confidently, and pay Uncle Sam (or whichever uncle they have where you're from) his due. We still need schools, streets, and other general maintenance thing.
It might take 'em 30 years, but you know the feds tokening USD. Maybe Trump should partner with Tether and just make it a real thing instead of the horrible ponzi scheme it is. Don't let these monsters take anymore of your money. Bitconnect, guys, bitconnect.
Anyway, much peace and love. I hope you had a nice chat with me. I must reiterate that none of the above constitutes financial or legal advice. Except the part about paying your taxes. That's good advice. As Andreas Antonopoulos (aantonop on YouTube) said, "Never try to steal money from the rich. It always ends badly."
Bob,
The Horse