Welcome to my second update on cryptocurrency from a senior citizen's perspective. Just like my first post, I wrote this not as investment advice (because I am not an investment advisor) but rather so that other people I know can find a start point to begin learning about crypto. If they figure that it is not for them, at least they will know more about it.
Unlike my fumbling around in crypto in 2017, when I did not have anything more to go on than white papers describing what the various blockchains and tokens are capable of, or their proposed use cases, in 2021 there is a plethora of excellent video and presenters, many of whom have transitioned from traditional financial institutions to crypto (e.g., Goldman Saks, etc). I am going to share some of the presenters and analysts that I listen to on YouTube, as education on the crypto space, and again, not to be considered investment advice. You will hear many presenters remind viewers to do their own research (and there are videos on that too).
Raoul Pal is a former Goldman Saks macro investor strategist who switched to crypto. This site below has an interview with him where he explains why he got into crypto at the start of the presentation. In this clip, he explains how he saw the European financial crisis coming, but although he was writing about macro investing for the world's largest investors, common folk like us had no idea what was coming, and the biggest thing he heard from people who lost everything, was 'why didn't someone tell us?' That looks to be Raoul's mission now, and his detailed explanations are a far cry from trying to glean information from white papers explaining the various blockchains.
Coin Bureau
This site has "Guy" the-crypto-guy, and he has a very calm demeanor to walk us through crypto learning. I found his site after I used to listen to a young developer and analyst from Ukraine. He would get so caught up in telling us about crypto, and as he did, he would speed up his presentation to the point that I'm sure I was not the only viewer whose nerves were a bit frazzled after listening to his presentations.
Guy, on the other hand, is calm and thorough. I'm posting one of his earlier videos on how to explain crypto to new people.
Invest Answers
This is another presenter who is excellent at breaking down the concepts and explaining what he sees happening in the crypto world. He is a conservative crypto investor. This link is just one of his posts but there is another on crypto on the lower right of the page covering his many other presentations.
Savvy Finance
This site has Raoul Pal, Cathie Wood, Michael Saylor, and Tyler Winklevoss, among others, who share their views on cryptocurrency. Both Cathie Wood and Michael Saylor, like Pal, have migrated from traditional corporate investing to cryptocurrency.
Buying Cryptocurrency in Canada
If anyone reads my first post on crypto I mentioned Quadriga, which was the only Canadian crypto exchange that many of us knew about at the time. Like many, I got burned when the CEO "died" from a bowel condition in India. CBC has a whole documentary on that one. I have been using Coinberry for the last couple of years, but I do not leave fiat or crypto sitting on there for too long before moving it to a wallet. https://www.coinberry.com/
If anyone takes advantage of that site, this is my referral code: https://app.coinberry.com/invite/274adac3f91
Spending Crypto in Canada
One option would be to sell crypto in Coinberry (or any other exchange) and send it back to your bank account. The other option is to have some crypto in a card wallet that lets you spend crypto in near real-time at the point of sale. A person just moves crypto from their wallet to their card before use. This is a major advantage over earlier cards because we had to convert crypto and then load the card, so a person could have cashed out a rising asset that is now sitting on a card as fiat. I have been using the crypto.com wallet and card and it works quite well (but don't insert the card in a gas pump, I've learned--it's metal and thicker than the usual plastic cards). This company recently purchased the name rights to the Staples Collesum in California for 700 million USD! If anyone is interested use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/sgbzc7jm7s to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD :)
Confused Yet: Let 'Roger' Clear Things Up for Us
Counterpoints on cryptocurrency from another senior.
Good luck exploring.