SHOULD YOU GO ALL IN ON CHRISTMAS GIFTS OR CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO CLOSE OUT 2017?

I always thought i was late to the game with Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies.  One of my friends wrote about Bitcoin in 2012, and then bought one at $1000.  He watched it fluctuate up and down, and today it's worth $17,000, down from $19,500 just a few days ago.  Why would I buy now and of course, what's the least sketchy way to buy?

I never bought cryptocurrencies because i didn't understand how.  It wasn't easy, plus I was more focused on investing in real estate and online assets (like domain names).

​However, watching the market in the past 2 weeks has changed everything about my strategy...

How it started

I downloaded the Coinbase app, which at the time offered the purchase of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.  

It was really easy, I entered my information, bought a little bit of each, and got dizzy watching their values fluctuate. 

Now, I actually lost a little bit on Bitcoin this year, which is pretty hard to do, but let me highlight the lesson here.

​For some context, I recently bought a third rental property in Denver, and put a significant amount of my cash into that.  Therefore, I was using a credit card to purchase coins because i was so interested in them.  I don't recommend you to invest in cryptocurrencies except with say 5-10% of your cash or net worth. 

Lesson:  I chose to sell some Bitcoin for a small loss because that would cost me less than the credit card interest.  That was back in September. If you're going to bet on crypto's, plan to hold them for the long haul.

This month, I'm more comfortable now that the property is rented out!

At Handshakin' we were even $800 away from doubling sales when comparing November to September.  Time to risk some cash and invest more in crypto.

​I took a big leap, and registered on Binance

...an exchange that allows the purchase of most coins, instead of just the 3 coins Coinbase offered.

I couldn't figure out how to link my bank account to Binance, so I sent Ethereum over from my Coinbase wallet to my Binance wallet.  

That was pretty cool because I could see it on it's way, and then when the transaction was verified by other machines on the blockchain.  That was the first time I saw the blockchain in action--pretty cool!

I immediately invested a humble $20-$200 in a dozen different coins and plan to slowly move more and more of my crypto holdings over to Binance, since that allows me to diversify a little better, plus get in early on some other coins, since I can't justify buying a bitcoin for $17,000 today. 

It's really surprising how many of my friends and business contacts are investing.  My high school best friend, Max Clarke has converted his garage and is mining.  My friend who bought bitcoin for $1,000 just hopped on bittrex with a $1,000 investment pulled from his bitcoin earnings.  Raymond Ahn, an Instagram marketing expert is spending more and more time on Binance.

Did I mention on Dec 8th, I bought a Litecoin for $100, and on Dec 12th it was worth ~$350?  The future is unfolding right now and it's time to get in early with these future currencies.  
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The coins I'm invested in today.
Bitcoin:  Just a little.

Bitcoin Cash:  I happened to own Bitcoin on August 1st, so that meant I would receive Bitcoin Cash for free from Coinbase, that happened yesterday. #freemoney 

Ethereum:  Probably one I'm most excited for.  I got in before it was up around $700-$800, plus if you read up on Ethereum you'll learn it's not just one coin, but a platform for other coins to launch on.

Litecoin:  Still holding on tight to it, even though their CEO said that Litecoin and other coins will be worth less soon. 

Cardano & Ripple:  Inexpensive, with a highly circulating supply

Binance:  The exchange has their own coin, and you can pay with fees with it.

Zcash & ZCoin: All about additional privacy, which I think will have a high demand

Cindicator, Dash, EOS, Miota, NEO, OMG, PowerLedger, Qtum, Status, Tron, Stellar Lumens, Monera, & Verge: These are all new to me, so I picked up a small amount so that I'll start paying more attention to them.  ​

​I interviewed David Fox, a friend and accountant I know from University of Denver.

Q: What coin are you most excited about today?

Ethereum seems to be showing the most promise and future usability so far. Although Bitcoin seems to be the most well-established and is a good store or value for now. 

Q: What are your thoughts on coinbase adding a fourth coin yesterday, Bitcoin Cash.

I'm fine with it. I actually appreciate that they halted trading to investigate rumors of interior leaks. It shows they're approaching the market ethically and establishing their own best practices and quality control.

Q: When did you first join Coinbase and how much did you invest initially?

Joined coinbase in 2013. Set up an autoinvestment when the feature became available. 

Q: To date, how much in USD have you invested and what does Coinbase say that is worth today?

"Invested" probably $2k over the life of my introduction to cryptocurrency, lost 5BTC in Mtgox fold. Current value is probably around $40k.

If you'd like to connect with David, here's his LinkedIn.

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In conclusion, I don't really believe that there's going to be "one" coin that 's worth a lot and all the others will be worth chump change. Just like there's many currencies in the world now, I think there will be many cryptocurrencies that are worth quite a bit more than they're worth today.  ​I'm in this for the long haul and excited to start tracking 20+ coins now instead of just 3 on Coinbase.

Your To-Dos

1.  I recommend you get started by signing up for Coinbase, it's easy to use and about 100,000 people trust them to sign up per week.

2.  Then, if you like that, you can join Binance and transfer your coins there in order to invest in more coins.  However, if you start with Binance you may get overwhelmed, plus I still don't know how to sync my bank account to Binance.

3.  If this was valuable, please subscribe to receive my next blog post.

Originally posted at www.handshakin.com.