I'm a big fan of Dash, so much so that I have a significant investment in Dash mining contracts over at Genesis Mining. However, my enthusiasm for Dash took a hit recently when I listened to Evan Duffield talk on Amanda B Johnson's Dash Youtube channel.
Evan talked at length about his "Skunk Work" projects to "future proof" Dash. It sounded good on the surface, but once he got into specifics, I thought the ideas were terrible, and didn't appreciate Evan's obvious anti-profit sentiments. I really started to question the long term prospects of Dash with him influencing its roadmap. However, while my enthusiasm for Dash diminished, my enthusiasm for the mining contracts I purchased didn't.
With two year mining contracts, your belief in the long term future of the coin your mining doesn't matter nearly as much as the quantity of coins your mining, and the value of those coins in the short term. Instead of looking at it like: "today I mined .5 Dash", I look at it like: "today I mined $46.00 in crytpo currency". Why is this distinction important? Because, unlike our traditional IRAs and 401ks which force you to buy stocks/bonds and limit how frequently you can trade them, when you have crypto currency, you can trade it immediately and often, thanks to exchanges and ShapeShift. Don't like the coin you're mining? Trade it as soon as it's mined for something that you do like, or use Genesis instant conversion feature to switch to a different coin. There is still risk that a year from now the coin's value has tanked, so it is still important to analyze every mining contract option and choose the one that presents the highest ROI, but generally speaking, once you've chosen a good value coin, you have the freedom to trade it for a long term option if that's what you care about.
Since I've been mining Dash, I've traded about 40% of it for Bitcoin, Ethereum, NEM, and STEEM. I've done this to reduce my exposure to a single coin's volatility. And so far I've been rewarded with a 33% increase in my portfolio's total dollar value vs. if I had just kept the Dash I mined.
Obviously, this is not investment advice. Do your research and make your own decisions. But for me, when I purchase a mining contract, the long term prospects of the coin hold less weight compared to the tradeable dollar value it is producing.
Photo Credits:
Miner image modified from the original located at: http://trishaconfessions.blogspot.com/2010/08/striking-gold.html