Cryptocurrency Market Sentiment has changed significantly in the past 30 days and I would like to reflect on that a little today to help me process my own experiences in the past 30 days, I have spent nearly the whole month on the move and have just had some time to myself and thought it was fitting to write, as it’s been some time since I did so and it is something I enjoy.Some of you may know I departed from my work with Rowlingstone, not because I do not greatly value the work they do and the community we built together, but through my own research company (BTCREAD LTD) I wished to expand to work with a wider demographic, focus on travelling and networking, namely within Venture Capital, Family Offices and Hedge Funds who are trying to filter out the bad projects and find high prospect investments. Building a personal brand is also important for me, as I want to help influence this space and assist others in cutting out the noise.One of my skills as an individual is the ability to connect the right people together, and to build relationships based on integrity and trust. I try to remain a friendly face and believe my reputation is my most valuable commodity. This means that naturally, I have helped connect investors to high prospect projects through my research, and through my links with Rowlingstone & Rock Investments. I’ve built a strong network of people who trust me and value my opinion and often consult with me before investing. I am not a financial adviser, and these people know that — but they still value my opinion. I have so much respect for that, so thank you. I look forward to growing that trust based network further and helping people develop, and allowing them to help me develop also.I have met some fantastic friends this month. Miami was amazing, such a turn out (that left me even more bullish on Wanchain) great Cuban sandwiches, the Crypto Yacht was a great experience too. Lots of tequila. New business associates, and new roles that I am excited to share more information on as time moves.Moving then onto LA to solidify some great business relationships and friendships I know are far bigger than cryptocurrency or bitcoin, showing the nature of the market. People are kind and they want to help each other.I am now back in London, I am not sure how long for — happy to meet with people in the area where possible! Hit me up and we can grab coffee or beer.I have however neglected my health and hit a burn out point, so I have to refine my activities to ensure I have some downtime and can get myself better. Please be patient with me on Telegram while I build my new schedule and adapt to these significant lifestyle changes.
Cryptocurrency Levels Up
I believe that there are more high quality projects now than ever before. The landscape has changed and Cryptocurrency is out of it’s “Alpha” and moving into its “Beta” stage.Regulation, government crack downs and more global changes to the way you can interact with the market this year means more power is given to accredited investors and high net worth investors, and away from the little people for the time being. Sorry guys. I believe therefore the best way to generate returns is invest extremely early, in high prospect projects. “Pooling” investments together to hit higher caps will also become increasingly popular as people aim to secure the highest token bonuses. It makes sense, after all.
Dumb Money
One thing people are overlooking here though is that the market is not only oversaturated with projects, but money. Cash is not a problem if you have a good team, product and vision. We can clearly see that based on Telegrams oddly enough, not even ambitious crowd sale. Hugely oversubscribed presale by what I will call Dumb Money in this case, simply because these investors add no strategic value whatsoever to the long term health or potential of the project, but they want to generate returns on their investment. Most of the money in cryptocurrency is dumb money, it’s aimless.Therefore we will begin to see a huge influx of oversubscribed projects,which have given investment allocations to these countless syndicates of investors. This means unhappy investors, unhappy syndicate managers, but the project leaders are happy because they hit their targets.ICO’s will still generate big returns, but the real cash is going to be tied directly to the success of the project from a very early stage, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.Be wise when pooling together, because your money is not special here anymore. Always remember there is a long, long line of investors who can offer the same thing as you; cash.
Smart Money
Paving the way for smart money, like Venture Capital, Hedge Funds and Family Offices, to absorb allocations for high prospect projects and hit the bonuses because they add long term strategic value to the project. They can drive it’s success, and therefore increase their returns.Smart Money had dipped its toes in last year but now it’s ready to bathe, and it is backed by serious cash and serious connections. The leaders in Blockchain Smart Money can add so much value that they will absorb large allocations of these presales.The Investment Syndicates that will come out on top here are likely to be the ones that brand themselves as value-add.
- Connections in the cryptocurrency world — i.e. YouTubers, Bloggers or Influencers.
- Connections to other markets that perhaps projects do not have exposure to. — i.e. Opening up the Middle Eastern Market or the Far Eastern Markets for Western Projects.
- Assistance with PR & Marketing — i.e. Offering Blogging, Newsletter, or YouTube Coverage to a large audience.
- Event Management Services — i.e. Hosting Events and inviting target projects as investors.
There are more examples of course, and the more you can offer — the better — so long as they are focused and refined, and genuinely add value to the long term success of the project.I’m expecting of ICO’s to continue their trend, but one thing is becoming increasingly interesting to me and I am really excited to see how it will unfold this year:
Ethereum moves to Proof of Stake.
Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake: Basic Mining Guide
Recently you might have heard about the idea to move from an Ethereum consensus based on the Proof of Work (PoW) system…blockgeeks.com
Credits to Blockgeeks.com for the infographic, link is above to explain in more detail.By moving to Proof of Stake, the hard fork creates very strange scenario in which holding becomes considerably more valuable. Perhaps this will have an impact on the ability for certain ICO’s to raise more money. Particularly those individuals who have significant amounts. Will they flip all of their ICO’s to ETH much quicker, will it change the way we hold and create alt coins?
And most importantly, will it flip Bitcoin?
Either way, Ethereum is for me one of the most bullish holds for 2018 as a result of this announcement. I will focus on allocating a large portion of my portfolio to ETH and will reduce my BTC holdings slightly to compensate.By aggressively investing in private presales, I will aim to take large portions of my profits into ETH. I believe it could possibly become more favourable as a trading pair than Bitcoin at some point this year, and potentially even in the near future.Personal Strategy for me has changed now, I will aim to become Smart Money.I will focus on adding significant value to projects long term and aim to secure early investment opportunities as a result. I am not trading actively, the market has demonstrated that it’s wildly unpredictable in the past 30 days and I am more comfortable taking a back seat and holding projects I know are supported by smart money and that have solid fundamentals.I will still invest, but almost entirely in emerging teams. The calibre has been raised, and the standard will be very, very high this year.What do you think?