I will be the first to admit that I am a skeptic when it comes to many of the claims made by the maximalists and early cypher-punk hype machines when it comes to all the potential of Bitcoin.
I first heard about Bitcoin back around 2014, my brother's friend had bought some and was spouting off the usual maximalist ideology. It was the answer to all the world's problems, it could be the P2P cash that didn't require a bank or middleman like JP Morgan Chase or PayPal to take their usual 1-3% cut of every single transaction made.
At the time, I was barely 21, I'd just gotten a credit card a couple years before. I'd just survived 3.5 years of college and had graduated into the worst job market for history teachers that had ever existed in the US. Things were very strange then, I had a little bit of money of my own, but not enough to buy much of anything. I couldn't afford rent, a car or anything else that essentially make up the basic human necessities for survival in 21st-century suburban life.
Bitcoin was only $322 USD back then, a far cry from $36,500 that it's trading around now. I didn't have a way to acquire bitcoin back then.
Fast forward to August 2017, I was living abroad as an expat in Australia. My housemates and I used to spend hours having philosophical discussions about all kinds of topics, and one that came up was about "value" and "money." Bitcoin was casually brought up as a potential solution to some of the problems that were exposed in the 2007-2008 meltdown. I remember watching Bitcoin run up in price from $3800 to $19,400 in the next few months.
We all remember the epic crash that took place the following year in early 2018. Bitcoin lost more than 60% of its arbitrary value and sent people spiraling down into a bear market that lasted until March of last year, coincidentally, after the lock-downs began.
Bitcoin bottomed out around $4100 USD mid-March, and, never really looked back. The price was driven through its previous 2017 all-time-high, right after I began accumulating my own supply. Now, it's more than doubled, and peaked out at $41,946 on January 7th. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at the $36,750 range round midnight Pacific Time January 16.
I see Bitcoin as a highly-volatile, speculative investment + store-of-value. I do not believe in maximalism or putting all my eggs in one basket. I always tell everyone to diversify their risk and never put all their hope into one thing. It's best to Dollar Cost Average every day, week, or month, not to put too much into any one investment or gamble. I like to invest in disruptive technology, I find there are the most profits to be made in the development of infrastructure that is used in every day life.
My investment strategy revolves around growing capital, reinvesting the profits and compounding my gains. Last year, my fiat stock portfolio gained over 140%. In 3 months, my Bitcoin holdings have appreciated over 160%.
Now, I'm not saying that you can compare the two, especially because I have not allocated much to Bitcoin, but, as an alternative savings mechanism to gold or silver, with easier, cheaper storage, and a fixed supply of 21M total, Bitcoin has many advantages as a separate asset class from precious metals or commodities, simply because it is a network, at its foundation.
Gold is not a payments network, contrary to the pipe dreams of out-of-touch goldbugs like Peter Schiff, and his chronic 13-year-underperformance to Bitcoin says all you need to know about his investing strategy. Silver is not a payments network. Bitcoin can potentially become the P2P payments network it was designed to be.
My experiences with cryptocurrency exchanges has been mixed. I do not like Binance, but I do appreciate the ease of use of the HIVE blockchain and the exchange built onto it. I like CoinEx for sourcing Library Credits (LBC) for use on LBRY & Odysee.
My favorite service to accumulate and acquire Bitcoin is to use Swanbitcoin's auto-purchase plan. I don't have to worry about timing the market, and it's incredibly easy to signup for.
I've always liked the ease-of-use of Ledger's hardware wallet.