Chicken Soup for the Bitcoin Soul

Some sensible advice from Tim Draper, Brock Pierce, and other crypto leaders. 

It’s a great week for Bitcoin enthusiasts living in El Salvador. For the rest of us, the week has been “meh” at best. 

According to a tweet by Documenting Bitcoin, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has promised to deliver $30 in Bitcoin to each registered El Salvador citizen, adding “The wallet app will work anywhere with a cell connection, and you won’t have to have a cell plan to use the app.”

According to Reuters, Bukele said in a national address that the recent law making Bitcoin legal tender will take effect on September 7th. 

And in all other places that are not giving everyone Bitcoin? A bit of coming back down to Earth, but it is a nice relief to be happy for others. 

Some Sensible Advice on Bitcoin

Bitcoin, of course, briefly touched $35,000 this week -- still a far cry from the sweet days of April when it crossed $65,000. 

Over the past week or two, there has been some noticeable gloominess around the cryptosphere. As we know, the prospect of decentralized currency and the value of Bitcoin specifically is based on belief and positive participation by members of the community. In other words, getting discouraged is literally bad for Bitcoin.

So, to everyone watching and HODLing and wondering when this dip will end, when the march toward $100,000 will begin again, here is one reason to believe to balance your Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and one valuable but admittedly less appealing cautionary tale, to balance your Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD).

Please bear in mind we asked all respondents for both -- there are flaws in every system and informed investors should understand both sides. Self-examination and criticism is essential to a strong community of any sort, including the crypto community. 

To begin, here are comments from billionaire investor, entrepreneur, and notable Bitcoin advocate, Tim Draper.

Tim Draper

Draper’s comments indicate that the only thing we have to fear from Bitcoin is the lack of it. Not really any FUD there. 

CAUTION: “Bitcoin is ultimately going to be the currency the retailer wants, so you better have some. The switch away from fiat to bitcoin will be quick as the word spreads that the retailer can save 2-4% by using OpenNode,” Draper said.

Draper recently announced his investment in Bitcoin payment processing platform, OpenNode.

BELIEVE: “Bitcoin represents both TRUST and FREEDOM, the two cornerstones of any successful economy. Trust in that you no longer have to trust your existing banks or politicians, knowing that there are only 21 million of them out there. And Freedom in that Bitcoin is open, transparent, and can be used anywhere in the world,” Draper said.

Brock Pierce

Brock Pierce, Chairman, Bitcoin Foundation, was similarly positive with his cautionary advice. 

CAUTION: “The beautiful thing about Bitcoin and the Cryptocurrency markets is that they are becoming more and more robust over time. They are able to withstand criticism and take on all of the different events that happen from technological and regulatory situations that come up,” Pierce said. 

From Pierce’s perspective, Bitcoin has proven that it can endure challenges. 

BELIEVE: “It is important to remember that China, India, and other countries around the world -- even places like New York State -- have come out with strong stances and regulations against cryptocurrency at different points, and yet the market continues to grow and evolve,” Pierce said. 

More Sensible Advice from Crypto Leaders

Scott Melker, “Wolf of All Streets”, podcast host, investor, and author

Leading crypto influencer Scott Melker takes a long-term approach to crypto and studies patterns in his podcast and his investing. However, Melker is a realist and his comments did acknowledge the volatility inherent in crypto.

CAUTION: “Crypto is a nascent asset class with high volatility. With that in mind, it is important to understand that there will be massive swings in the value of your portfolio and that you should likely focus on slowly investing and not attempting to trade crypto unless you are a professional. It should be approached through a long-term lens as an investment for decades down the road,” Melker said. 

However, the volatility doesn’t change the long-term value Melker sees in Bitcoin as an asset.

BELIEVE: “Bitcoin has the potential to change the world. It is mathematically scarce and is the perfect hedge against inflation and abusive monetary policy and is also a means of exchange and a store of value for those who have been left behind by legacy systems or who do not have access to them in the first place. The price of Bitcoin and the value of Bitcoin are not the same, especially if legacy systems fail. Cash is for spending, Bitcoin is for saving,” Melker said.

Rachel "CryptoFinally" Siegel

Siegel was refreshingly frank -- not everyone HODL’s everything all the time, after all. 

CAUTION: “I take profit. Yes, that means I don’t HODL everything. Making smart decisions for yourself is important & the crypto market won’t always go up. It’s important not to get too caught up on hopium, it is possible to lose money,” Siegel said. 

But to Siegel, it is just a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up with Bitcoin believers. 

BELIEVE: “The adoption of cryptocurrency is inevitable. I don’t see a world without Bitcoin and blockchain technology, it’s just a matter of time before everyone else catches up,” Siegal said. 

Benjamin Leff, COO of Sheesha Finance

Benjamin Leff, COO of Sheesha Finance believes that there are simple guidelines for handling any trace of FUD in your thinking. 

CAUTION: “Fear Uncertainty and Doubt have existed long before crypto but the principles hold true… two pieces of advice on this, the first is the easy answer, always Do Your Own Research (DYOR) and ask questions in groups/with people that you truly believe are there to help and support each other. My second piece of advice is to always, always sleep on a decision. Getting a good night of rest and not thinking about it before bed gives your mind time to process everything and reset to a fresh state for the next day,” Leff said.

Ultimately, Leff believes in the strength of the blockchain technology underpinning the cryptocurrency.

BELIEVE: “Bitcoin is the most decentralized cryptocurrency in the world. At this point to stop transacting bitcoin would require shutting down the entire internet -- it simply is not possible… the price of bitcoin is volatile and quite frankly, it should be, considering it is a completely uncorrelated asset from all traditional markets. However, the infrastructure bitcoin was built on, blockchain, is not volatile and has never been hacked, damaged, or in any way negatively impacted since inception, twelve years ago,” Leff said.

Jonathan Zeppettini, International Operations Lead at Decred.org:

Zeppettini warned against investors allowing themselves to be overly influenced by the media chatter around Bitcoin. 

“CAUTION: Investing is a war of all against all, the 24-hour news cycle is used to shake out weak hands when large players want to buy... It's very easy to be relieved of your money if you lack conviction and are easily swayed,” Zeppettini said.

He believes in the power of Bitcoin to level the uneven playing field of traditional finance. 

“BELIEVE: Crypto offers us a chance to replace a very rigged system with something that has clearly defined rules and doesn't play favorites with those who have the best connections,” Zeppettini said.

Neil Bergquist, Coinme CEO and Co-founder

Bergquist reminded us in his comments that Bitcoin is in its early days -- but that we have seen this pattern before with other assets. 

CAUTION: “Bitcoin is still in its early days. Many assets have periods of volatility, such as gold did in the 1970s when it formally disconnected from the financial system. The more it increased in value, the more volatile it was. Bitcoin is in a similar phase, with significant upswings and downswings,” Bergquist said. 

Bergquist believes that the short-term volatility of Bitcoin can be addressed by taking a long-term perspective. 

BELIEVE: “If someone is looking to buy Bitcoin as a store of value, there isn’t a wrong time to buy if you have a long-term perspective. Looking back at the low-point of the market for each year, Bitcoin has shown consistent positive growth – there’s only one year with a lower low than the previous year’s. As a result of Bitcoin’s fixed supply combined with growing global adoption, the asset’s value has continued to increase in USD value,” Bergquist said. 

Haohan Xu, CEO and Founder at Apifiny

To Xu, the main concern for Bitcoin is regulatory. 

CAUTION: “Because crypto is still in a relative infant phase, regulation uncertainties can impact the growth of the industry and the value of crypto assets,” Xu said. 

However, he trusts in the demand for cryptocurrencies and the control they offer the investor. 

BELIEVE: “In addition to the fact that cryptocurrencies clear and settle faster than all fiat currencies in the world, cryptocurrencies offer much more control over personal finances, which people will increasingly want as institutions start to fail people more often,” Xu said. 

Jalak Jobanputra, Founder & Managing Partner of Future Perfect Ventures

Jobanputra warned that investors shouldn’t concern themselves with negative headlines.

CAUTION: “We've seen hundreds of Bitcoin is Dead news stories over the past 8 years and most are based on incomplete information. The difference between crypto development and other major technology and financial paradigm shifts is that information is now shared instantaneously and is rarely verified,” Jobanputra said.

Ultimately, belief in the future of crypto is belief in the talent of the people involved and the strength of the technology they have created. 

BELIEVE: “Crypto buildout and adoption has happened faster than we could have imagined 8 to 10 years ago. Countries only try to ban Bitcoin when it becomes a threat to their power -- but for every country that restricts mining or usage, ten more countries will embrace the technology to the point that talent and dollars will follow,” Jobanputra said.

Summary

It’s always darkest before the dawn -- but we really can’t be sure when that dawn is coming. 

The announcement of President Biden’s infrastructure plan helped lift both crypto and traditional markets this week. Lately the best news about Bitcoin seems to be far outside blockchain innovation hubs like the U.S. -- including Venezuela considering following El Salvador’s lead in adopting Bitcoin as a national currency.

Perhaps this temporary dip is an opportunity for innovation in the parts of the world that have an urgent need for the solutions Bitcoin can provide -- to provide access to financial services to the unbanked, to serve a greater portion of the world population, and to ultimately create a better life for people of all socio-economic backgrounds.

It may not be the silver lining some investors are hoping for, but with some luck perhaps this time will be seen as a positive period of growth -- when viewed from a safe distance. 

*Cover image modified from images by Hanahanana and portald from Pixabay