Hey Jessavers
The bull run and price action in crypto has started to hit the eyes and ears of normies. I naturally never kept my trap shut and advertised myself as a proponent of Bitcoin for years, especially during those bear times when I was happily picking up pennies. Now that Bitcoin has hit an x5 return in the space of a year, every Joe six-pack and Jane star bucks are starting to hit me up on WhatsApp to ask how this all works.
I will always be honest with people; even though I am a big fan of Bitcoin, some people aren't ready. The vast majority of people I speak to don't give a shit about privacy, financial sovereignty or hedging their bets.
All they want is to get rich from a small amount of capital in a short space of time. It is NOT impossible in a bull market, but pretty rare, especially as every cycle, the return percentages decrease as the market cap increases.
Bitcoin is for everyone, just not right now
I do believe Bitcoin is for everyone; everyone should own a piece of the asset and network. They should own it in a size and manner they feel comfortable with using.
My allocation to Bitcoin isn't right for someone else, and my way of storing Bitcoin isn't for everyone else. I am a long term holder; I buy it, stuff it into my cold storage and some into an interesting account.
- Others may want to only focus on interest,
- Some may want to do a quick in and out and remain on an exchange
- Others may want to secure favourable loan terms against their Bitcoin
People want Bitcoin for different reasons, and there is no one allocation value or one use case that fits all. The first thing I ask people is what do they want out of Bitcoin; then I'm happy to give them the options that fit what they want and the truth about the risk their taking.
Every option in Bitcoin carries risk; there is no risk-free rate with Bitcoin.
Remain hands-on with your money
Having to consider all of this can be mind-numbing for most people; they want Bitcoin to treat them like banks. To tell them where to put their money, what rate they will get and have them manage the process.
In Bitcoin, it's different; you need to take ownership of your money, find the service that suits your needs, place the Bitcoin there and check it regularly to ensure its working.
Bitcoin is active money management, and if you're not up for it, I suggest you stay away for now.
Being your own bank sucks
Taking ownership of your money has traditionally always sucked; holding gold or physical cash opens you up to risk or robbery. You would need to take out insurance on your assets as well as storage.
These costs add a negative carry on your money. Additionally, you won't be collecting any interest when you take ownership of your assets, so you're losing out on potential returns.
As inflation increases, denominations increase too, and back in the day when you could hold $10 000, and it was basically a lifetime supply of cash, it has now become impractical. You don't want to hold massive denominations of cash.
In addition, banks have made accessing your cash easier; they provide you with an interest rate (in some countries), allowing you to access it with an app or card. They also have deposit insurance and can help you block payments and assume liability if things go wrong to an extent.
Getting into Bitcoin, you have to manage your wallet, keys, and seed phrase, run a node if possible and distribute your Bitcoin across different software and services.
- The UX is clunky,
- the instructions are technical,
- the mistakes are costly
Taking personal responsibility for your money was not going to be easy, especially at this early stage of the game.
Convenience turns to atrophy
The convenience of the banking system has lulled us into a nanny state, where we are happy for the banks to
- Sell us products we don't need.
- Give us rates that are pathetic,
- to give us customer service that is useless
- Block our transactions at a whim
- Hold our money random
- Limit how much of our funds we an access
Each year, they take more of your money through fees for providing a service that has not got any better, but we stay. They know they are the only game in town, and those who are taking responsibility for their money are few and far between.
There's a new sucker lining up for a bank account every day as they hold the keys to our payment rails. Getting out of the banking system or having an "out" is possible with cryptocurrency; however, many are so deep into the convenience that they've lost the ability to think critically or take action.
Being your own bank is not easy, but for me, the returns in purchasing power, privacy and independence are worth the effort.
Have your say
What do you good people of HIVE think?
So have at it, my Jessies! If you don't have something to comment, "I am a Jessie."
Let's connect
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