Bitcoin has no owner. Bitcoins get stolen all the time.
In several years, after all these thefts, it will become secure. Right now, theft is far more common than traditional financial institutions.
Bitcoin Makes a Weak Store of Value
Gold is meant to be a store of value. If everything goes into the crapper, you could bring that gold, in theory, to another country with a stable government and get fiat currency to spend. This theory works well except you forget we live in the most powerful country in the world.
I can’t see a world where the United States Government is gone but there’s another stable government that will let me and my gold in. Or will care about gold.
Say hello to my little friend
That said – even if that transpires, I can’t imagine a world where there’s stable electricity and my Bitcoin can be spent. It’s hard to run a blockchain if we don’t have power.
Bullets are a better store of value than Bitcoin.
Don’t Chase the Dragon
“Don’t chase the dragon” is a phrase first used by addicts to talk about chasing the high. When I use it, I mean chasing the money. This is not a long-term strategy and so it’s not sustainable. That’s fine for a little bit of fun – but you will not build long-term wealth this way.
You will continually have to find the next hot commodity and hope you get it right more than you get it wrong.
What’s better? Find the boring turtle (I’m talking about passive income investments!) that’ll get you rich slowly.
I like time-tested, working, low effort wealth building.
Slow and steady wins the race. Bitcoin is sexy, it’s hot, and if you made a few bucks in it – fantastic!
But I want slow and steady. I want to contribute to my funds at Vanguard on a regular basis, rebalance every six months or so, and then move on. The stock market isn’t infallible but it’s also been around for many many years and it’s very mature.
What Is Worth Studying About Bitcoin
Bitcoin is great! I’m so glad it’s here for several reasons.
Study the fervor around Bitcoin because this happens all the time. Mainstream media craves news and the hottest financial news is Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies. This happened with the dot com boom, housing market, and so many other bubbles. Is Bitcoin a bubble? No idea, I don’t care, but the news is covering it like it is.
Companies having their own initial coin offering (ICO) is fascinating. This is when a company offers their own cryptocurrency (coins), leveraging similar technologies, to raise money.
Blockchain and smart contracts is a great technological innovation. The best way to learn about it is this Tim Ferriss podcast with Nick Szabo. It’s meaty but if you really want to understand it, it’s explained quite well in that podcast interview.
Finally, watch how your friends and family react. I’m not saying sitting on the sidelines is the right way to react. I’m not saying selling everything you own and throwing it into a cryptocurrency is the wrong way to react. But studying how the people around you react will give you a sense of their temperament… and that’s always useful.
This article was republished with permission from Wallet Hacks.