Well it started early this year when a few of my friends were talking about investment, as most office workers do. One of them was talking about the stock price of SIA (Singapore Airlines) which fell a lot last year but recovered significantly a few weeks back. If I am not wrong, it went from 4.2 SGD to 5.3 SGD during the pump and everyone seemed to be very excited. They wondered how much money they could have made if they had bought the dip last year. However one of them mentioned that he saw Bitcoin rising from 25k USD to 44k USD within the same time period. And he also said that it had been 6k++ USD the previous year. Of course there were ramblings that Bitcoin is not “real investment” and it is “just a craze” and it is “merely magic internet money” and it will soon “crash like all the other hype”. At that time I actually didn’t really have that positive of a view of cryptocurrencies so like lots of people I just brush it off as well.
But after thinking for a while and reading more about cryptocurrencies, I started to realize that this is not really that true. Sure there are plenty of cryptocurrencies out there that are probably scams and just meant for speculation but then there are some which are functional and can be used in plenty of real-use cases. Just look at Ethereum and it’s vast ecosystem. Projects based on Ethereum probably numbers in the thousands already. How about Ripple and their platform to help banks and financial institutions do digital payments faster and cheaper than traditional SWIFT transfers? What about Defi? What about NFTs? What about my favourite VeChain? Basically VeChain is a blockchain technology to ensure reliable data transfer and storage. Data cannot be easily manipulated in a blockchain and thus can be used for storing information like temperature, location dates and time and so on for food transport and delivery, among other uses. So yes, there are plenty of real use case instead of just for speculation. And there is a mistrust of cryptocurrencies in the general public as cryptocurrencies are often associated with criminals. Although it is true that criminals do use Bitcoin as their medium of transaction, I am guessing it is no different from other sources right? If a kidnapper demands money to be made in US Dollars, can we say that the holders of US Dollars are associated with criminals as well?
Anyway after I started learning and understand more about cryptocurrencies, I realize that not all are “magic internet money“. The problem with blockchain is that it can be kind of difficult for most people to understand. I tried to explain blockchain to a few of my friends and sometimes I feel like tearing my hair out. Most people don’t seem to be able to understand that cryptocurrencies is not just magic money you pull out of thin air. There are platforms which make use of blockchains for numerous purposes. Although admittedly, most of them are still in the theory phrase. And yes there are plenty of pointless cryptocurrencies out there and some of which are being promoted by big names like Elon Musk. These are the ones that will eventually get cryptocurrencies into trouble. However I think the future looks great for crypto projects. As all these “shitcoins” get thrown out and the cryptosphere matures, we will see more and more adoption.
And so I am here writing about what I feel about the state of crypto. It actually have been fun. I learned a lot either by reading or testing different platforms out. I think most crypto investors don’t even know what the hell are “gas fees”. They don’t even know what is minting or staking or even mining. Most think that cryptocurrencies come from Exchanges and you merely just buy them and hope that they increase in value in the near future (or drop if you are the shorting kind). But then again, even traditional investors don’t really care about the stocks they are buying, as long as they make them money.
I also enjoy doing those crypto “mining” apps as I usually take the public transport and have a lot of free time during travel. In fact, I am obsessed over them. Just take about 1 minute of my time to click a few buttons and it is done. There are a few applications that require a little more time investment but I am not too worried. I love fidgeting with my phone anyway. If you are also someone who loves playing around with your mobile devices, please check out my reviews on these crypto mining apps. Of course a gentle reminder that many of such applications are not going to make you money. And never pay for the “upgraded mining speed”. Just stick with trading or lending platforms to earn interest if you want to make some passive income.
And by the way I am not a financial advisor. Kindly do your own research when doing investing.
