God and cryptocurrency. Did you ever think that you would see a combination of the two? Why not? I think biblical principles can be used to be a wise investor in any asset class including cryptocurrencies. This is a space that is so new for so many people. It has allure, mystique and even has some taboo injected into it. But there is truly nothing new under the sun. New technologies and currencies are a part of our history and those who had the temperance to make good decisions over time where the ones who had the most success.
Now I am probably a little older than many investors in this space but I remember using a 28.8K modem to do my very first search on the world-wide-web as we called it at the time. LOL. I looked up www.sega.com because I was an absolute nut for Sonic the Hedgehog at the time. It took about 10 minutes to load the page but I was in awe. I know that was a tangent, but I do remember the craze around the dot.com days. Every company was establishing an online presence and so much money was being poured into the space. Companies were seeing several hundred percent returns just by creating a website or adding .COM to their names. Sound familiar? All you have to do is add Blockchain to your name and overnight your company has a huge return. Is the company doing anything new? Sometimes yes, but in many cases no.
So we are seeing these wild expansions and retractions in the crypto space because we have so many new and seasoned investors trying to take advantage of huge gains that can be made. But very few are doing any research. My stomache turns when I see so many people doing reviews about these companies based only on charts. No mention about what the company does, new developments or even if they are doing anything uniquely different from another company. Video after video you see a space ship image next to a coin and somebody making a sour patch kid face. The comments are even more bewildering. Comments such as, "I bought this coin 2 weeks ago...when is it going to go up by 1,000%?" "I predict that this coin is going to be $1,000.00 by the end of this year because this other coin did such and such." The sad thing is, in some cases it's true. So, these "experts" now have a following and validity basically because 2017 was a year like no other for cryptocurrencies and people are blindly following bad advice. And don't even get me started on the MLM and lending platform scams.
What does God have to do with this? Arguments can be made that this is a game of chance and God has nothing to do with it or everything to do with it. One thing that I have realized is that whether you believe in God or not, financial biblical principles are true. For example, Matthew 6:21 says, " For where your treasure is, your heart will be also." When I give financial advice and tell people to pull their bank statements, I can tell what is important to them. Your purchases tell it all. If entertaining is important, then there will be many purchases related to that. If it is clothing then that will be telling as well. When I was in college, I was horrible with my finances and wold have overdrafts week after week. It was not important enough to me to balance my budget and avoid these fees. If you spent 50k on a truck, your heart will be tied to that thing. If 1/4 of your income or more goes towards your house then your heart is tied there. If you have fun first and pay your bills later, fun is the priority.
"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth" (Ecclesiastes 11:1-2). The Bible is telling us to diversify. We do not know what is going to happen. There is a reason that all of your eggs should not be in one basket. Think about the people who put all of there money and trust into Enron, Madoff, Countrywide and so many companies that went belly-up or what just outright frauds. Just like Bitconnect, Bitpetite and the like. So many sad stories of people taking everything they have and losing it all to a scheme. People are maxing out credit cards, taking out mortgages and forfeiting money that took them decades to accumulate because of the chance of getting rich quick. Why have we lost our minds when it comes to crypto? Because we have heard stories of those who bought Bitcoin with only $100 years ago and are now millionaires. If someone on the street walked up to you and said, "I know you don't know me but give me your entire life's savings and I will guarantee you a 50% return in 3 months." I have a secret money tree in my closet that can predict the future." You would say, "Get away from me you crook!" So, why are we willing to do so online?!
I'm glad that there are corrections because it forces the scams to rise to the top. Some will say, "Don't invest if you're not willing to lose." My response is, "WHO WANTS TO LOSE?!" No one invests with the idea of losing but we are hoping to gain. It's easy to get caught up in the hype and check markets every 10 minutes and try to take advantage of every ICO and not have FOMO. But let's take a breather and use our God given common sense. For what we don't understand, God will liberally give us wisdom if we ask. I will follow-up with more posts from a biblical standpoint and some without. I look forward to your feedback!