I don't mean to offend anyone by the title of this post. The one thing that you've done right is buy cryptocurrency at the right time. Yes, we all wish we'd bought more sooner. And you may wish you'd bought others before they skyrocketed. Regardless, you're probably bragging about how much you've made whether in coin, fiat or percent.
You may have made millions. If you have, you should sell some and store it in (GASP) fiat currency. Why? Because you aren't a great investor. You recognized a new technology before it took off, before it hit the mainstream. That doesn't mean you have a clue about what you're doing or how to invest.
OK, you bought some altcoins with your Bitcoin profits and they really took off. So you must think you were a great investor and picked a winner. Um, just about every cryptocurrency went up in that time. Being there was enough. Yes, I'm guilty of this but to avoid thinking of it as an investment, I use Coin Stats as a game. I benchmark my portfolio against Bitcoin. I'm kicking its ass right now. Is it because I'm great at picking cryptocurrency investments. Maybe but I won't let that go to my head. It's more likely I decided to diversify more Bitcoin into altcoins at the right time and found some that have done well.
For some historical perspective, people who start investing during booms often lose it all when the inevitable bust comes. (More on this later.) This happened during the Dotcom Bubble. It happened in the Roaring 20's. It's happened many times in real estate, most recently ending in 2007/2008. By the way, if you started investing in the stock market in 2008 and have big gains, you are likewise not a great investor. Everything has gone up. It was hard to pick a loser.
Now that we have that out of the way, I have an ask of you (and I'll be writing more about this later). Don't buy hype. Don't merely speculate. Research the people and companies behind the coins you buy. Buy Bitcoin or altcoins because of the technology behind them. Buy them because of the business model behind them. Buy them because of the team behind them. Educate yourself before you buy. Read the whitepaper. Read the research/opinions about the team, tech and busienss model... not the research that's purely price speculation.
Oh, and don't play the game that people like so much of tearing each other and the industry down. Promote cryptocurrencies and blockchains in a positive way.
