Cryptocurrencies - Your Key to Financial Freedom AMA

techlead on 30/03/2021 - 10:45
Last edited 24/05/2021 - 11:22 by 1 other user

I've been tracking the crypto space since Bitcoin was invented and bought my first Bitcoin in 2013 and has been using every cent of my savings to buy cryptocurrencies ever since.

I can now comfortably retire. Which other investment allows you to do that in less than 10 years.

Ask me anything about the cryptocurrency space, there's no such thing as a "silly" question. I think this goes without being said, but I'm going to say it anyway. None of what I say here is financial advice, I do not hold an AFS license, you should seek advice from a licensed professional before making any investment decisions. If you are making investment decisions from some random guy on the internet without doing your own research and due diligence, you should stop immediately!

There's all these controversy about property prices "surging" or becoming unaffordable, not for me, if you invest in the right asset, property is actually getting cheaper and cheaper. Property prices in Bitcoin terms has been decreasing and will continue to as Bitcoin increases in price at a faster pace. So to me, property is progressively getting cheaper and cheaper.

Update:

For those who would like to find out more about cryptocurrencies and why I think Bitcoin is here to stay and will be more valuable in the future, head over to hope.com and watch some of the videos. This site was set up by the CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor who's company bought an aggregate of approximately 90,531 bitcoins, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $USD2.171 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $USD23,985 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses as of 24th Feb 2021.

To those who think that I "got lucky" and was "fortunate", that's very far from the truth. I saw this coming, I knew that with rampant money printing by central banks, fiat currency is going to zero and it has been doing so for centuries. All fiat currencies have gone to the zero, in history, there has not been any fiat currency that didn't go to zero. So Bitcoin's rise is inevitable to me, hence I bought it. I didn't go as far as that family who sold everything to buy Bitcoin, but I did use nearly all of my savings to buy cryptos.

Common criticisms of Bitcoin

  • Its just like Tulip mania
    Bitcoin is nothing like Tulips, Bitcoin is a decentalised and censorship resistant network which enables values to be transferred across the internet at very low cost. The value of Bitcoin is the strength of its network and the fact that it has never been breach or hacked, which means unless someone steals your private key, your coins are safe.
    Tulips has none of these qualities. The only thing which Bitcoin and Tulips have in common is the fact they both went up in value very quickly. Even then there are differences, Tulips went up and crashed all within 3 years. Bitcoin has gone through at least 3 cycles where it has smashed its previous all time highs and never dipped below the starting point of the cycle.
    Bitcoin has recorded a higher year on year low every single year since its existence except for 2015.

  • The Bitcoin network uses too much energy
    This is just market supply and demand. People mine Bitcoin because it is profitable to do so. The Bitcoin network do not require so many miners, in fact it started with just one miner. The network can continue with just one miner, it adjusts as more miners enter and leave, this is built into the network. The high energy used by Bitcoin is a sign that it is valuable and people are willing to make the effort in participating in the effort in securing the network and be rewarded for it.
    Due to the profit motive, the energy sources used by Bitcoin miner are increasingly from green energy sources reducing its impact on the environment.

  • It is used for criminal activity
    Fiat currencies are used on a much much larger scale by criminals. Banks launder money for criminal, there's been so many scandals, and those are just the ones which make it to the media, I'm sure a lot goes undetected.
    Bitcoin is actually very bad for criminal activity, this is why they quickly moved onto privacy coins like Monero and Zcash. The Bitcoin blockchain is public and all transactions remain there forever. If a drug deal is done with cash, unless there's a recording device there at the time of the transaction, that drug transaction is untraceable. If you do a drug transaction with Bitcoin, that transaction will always be on the blockchain, all it takes is for law enforcement to tie one address to a real person, and the entire web unravels, so its not very smart using Bitcoin for criminal activity.

My Crypto mistakes and other pitfalls

I want to go over some of the ways I lost money in crypto over the years so maybe you can learn from my mistake

  • Scam websites
    In 2014, there was a website called Bitcoin savings bank, which promises 9%pa interest if I transferred my Bitcoin there. Very similar to what Crypto.com, Blockfi etc offer today, except they are scammers. Unfortunately, I didn't do my research and I believed them. I transferred 2BTC to their "savings account". Never saw it again.
    Nowadays, these sites are very obvious, they promise hourly returns, like 10% every 2 hours. This is impossible to consistently do, they are all scams, don't fall for them.

  • Double your coins scam
    This is quite famous, there are many variants, but essential it just entails you sending your coins and double or some very good return percentage will return. Its a scam, you will get nothing. Fortunately, I have never fallen for these.

  • Pump and dump groups
    These are almost always scams, there are more losers than winners. Yes you may win one time, take it and walk away, but most likely you will lose. I lost more than 1BTC in this. I'm still part of the groups to monitor, but I never participate anymore. Neither should you. They also have these VIP or "inner circle" groups, where they promise you early notification of the coin to pump for a fee. Don't fall for this. They might also have an inner inner circle group or VIP+, where they promise to take your Bitcoin and buy the coins for you, to maximize your returns. These are definitely scams, they will take your Bitcoin and then block you on telegram.

  • Fake wallet apps
    These apps emulate popular wallet apps and asks you for your seed phrases and private keys so they can steal your crypto. Treat your seed phrases and private keys as private. NO ONE should know, not even staff members of the hardware wallet company. Its like your online banking password, no bank employee should ask for that. If any app do, delete it IMMEDIATELY.

  • Leveraged trading
    I lost around 1 BTC (worth around $5-6k USD at the time). I tried to pick the bottom during the 2018 bear market, the Bitcoin price was quite stable and stagnant around the $5500-$6000k mark, so around Nov 2018, I thought that was the bottom and went in with a leverage long. The market went off a cliff dropping down to $3500. I got liquidated, lost the 1 BTC I deposited. I never touched leverage trading again. Its very hard to pick tops and bottoms, so now I just dollar cost average and periodically buy and hold. You don't need to worry about being liquidated if you do this, it will help you sleep better at night haha.

Mod Note: The user is not associated with TechLead YouTube channel.

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Financial Cryptocurrency

Comments

      • AfterDeals on 01/04/2021 - 22:58
        +2

        Ah yes, an "assurance opinion" from a 3-person "accounting" company (https://www.linkedin.com/company/moorecayman/). Sounds legit.

        An assurance report is not an audit. It's an opinion piece, which I'm sure companies in Cayman have the highest of integrity for.

        The NYAG settled that Tether is 13% backed. It's no wonder that scams run rampant in the cryptocurrency industry, because no one does any due diligence.

      • Tyrx on 01/04/2021 - 23:08
        +1

        Attestations are not audits. Tether were busted by the NYAG for pulling shenanigans the last time this occurred when they moved $382 million worth of customer funds from Bitfinex to "prove" their reserves, just to transfer it back to Bitfinex the following day.

        Moore Cayman themselves are basically telling you the assets that back up their reserve are shit with this line:

        Management’s accounting policy is to value assets and liabilities at historic cost plus any accrued interest and less any expected credit losses, or otherwise the redemption value where applicable. The realisable value of these assets and liabilities could be materially different if any key custodian or counterparty incurs credit losses or substantial illiquidity.

        This is Moore Cayman saying that they do not believe Tether have valued their reserve correctly. Meanwhile, the NAV premium on GBTC continues a downward progression which is significantly negative.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:56
      +1

      1. Its use case can change. I don't see a problem with that. Instead of cash, it is now viewed as a store of value. Eth didn't start out being a smart contract platform. It was just a functionality that took off.

      2. Yes, that's a risk, but I don't think its big enough to prevent me from buying Bitcoin, for me at least.

      3. I don't think Tether imploding will affect Bitcoin much. There are heaps of other stablecoins now, if it did implode, it may cause some short term volatility in the markets, but long term it would be nothing more than a bleep. Look at the chart today of Bitcoin from 2009 to now and find the Mt Gox crash for me? You'd need a microscope, yet that was the biggest scandal in 2013

  • weee on 01/04/2021 - 10:24

    Congratulations on your gain, honest question though, I don't know much about cryptocurrency, but would this making money out of thin air cause bigger reaction down the already fragile chain globally, or at least domestically, wouldn't we finally all pay for this fugazi scheme (along with crazy property market) with no manufacturing or any real industry to back us up?

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:35

      "Making money out of thin air"? It may seem that way, but consider this, a house sells for $1 mil this year, then sells for $1.5 mil without any renovations. Is that "making money out of thin air"?

      There's a lot innovation happening in the crypto space. There are tokens which revolutionize supply chain tracking and new ways to sell art (this NFT craze) to name two.

      Bitcoin and other cryptos is an emerging market, it is still going through price discovery, so its going to be volatile.

  • pipe on 01/04/2021 - 10:37
    +1

    Hey, congrats on having the courage to trust your conviction. But the OP comes across very complacent and cocky. You are also throwing around baseless price targets as if they are certain.

    This should be a huge red flag and a wake up call to reassess the possibility that this can reverse on you and you would be too stubborn to see it. At the height of every bubble in history, the participants are convinced that early retirement is just around the corner.

    Understanding your emotions is more important than understanding the fundamentals.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 12:51
      +1

      I understand where you are coming from and I felt these same feelings early on.

      I have confidence in my analysis and view of where Bitcoin is going, hence I have aligned my finances with this view. I'm not suggesting anyone to do what I'm doing, this is not financial advice. As for "baseless price targets", there are many models, eg stock to flow (which calls for a peak of around $300k USD) or just looking at the previous cycles and extrapolating. I know, "past performance is not an indication of future performance", if I knew with certainty, I'd be a lot richer. Nothing is certain, I'm just expressing my confidence that Bitcoin will exceed $100k USD this year, drawing on my personal experience of Bitcoin's cycles, macro economic factors and the behavior of major market players. That's the basis of my prediction, take what you will from that.

      There is a real possibility of reverse, this is why I have constantly said, do not invest anymore than what you can lose and do NOT use leverage.

      Understanding your emotions is more important than understanding the fundamentals.

      I totally agree with that. My price targets and predictions are based on fundamentals, so I wouldn't say "baseless"

      • pipe on 01/04/2021 - 15:26
        +4

        You are saying this will double in 8 months, where professional investors would be super happy making 10%.

        I can draw a straight line on the chart and be confident it will go to $200k, so what? There is no reason to make these big calls, all it does is cloud judgement and restrict your investing options.

        Plus the fact that you are now telling everyone publicly about only makes you more emotionally invested in your prediction, another red flag.

        • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 15:34
          +1

          How long have you been following the crypto markets?

          Have you seen the Bitcoin chart between Oct 2020 till now?

          Then zooming out, have you seen the chart from Dec 2018 till now? How about the chart from August 2017 till now?

          One should always have a value in mind of how much Bitcoin is worth. To me it will perpetually go up, in the short term it will fluctuate and people can benefit from these fluctuates.

          • pipe on 01/04/2021 - 15:39
            +5

            @techlead: And you just proved my point.

            • Circly on 01/04/2021 - 22:40
              +1

              @pipe: Crypto gains are nuts. Unless you are in it you wouldn't know. 10% in one day is nothing.. im over 120% on my investment since mid January and i've made some dumb trades.

            • z0s0 on 02/04/2021 - 08:33
              -1

              @pipe: Really no point arguing with a true believer. Just bookmark the thread and come back when BTC goes to zero :-)

              • Circly on 02/04/2021 - 12:50
                +1

                @z0s0: Btc will never be zero though.

  • flyboysyd on 01/04/2021 - 10:39
    +1

    Well done, you obviously do a lot of research and are confident in your approach, and it has worked out well for you.
    Even though I'm a bit of BTC skeptic, the effort and thought out responses to your AMA are commendable.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/04/2021 - 10:47
    +6

    Congrats on your unrealised gains and yes, we do believe unproven claims of strangers on the Internet here. Now come back and let us know when you actually do retire.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 12:56
      +3

      Will do. I will do another AMA when that happens. Triggers include, not happy with my current job anymore or there's a passion project, I'd want to get into.

      Let's see what the future holds!

      • timmy_tam on 01/04/2021 - 14:37

        lol those topics have already been done!

      • Tony Strong on 03/04/2021 - 17:46

        a wife and then a few kids.

    • Tyrx on 01/04/2021 - 23:14
      +1

      We can only hope he won't be spending his spare time trying to figure out if it's economical to repair his $700 TV when he finally decides to realise the gains from his imaginary internet coins ;)

  • RocketSwitch on 01/04/2021 - 11:43

    Have I missed the boat or is it a good idea to buy now even at $60K?

    • Tiredman on 01/04/2021 - 12:57
      +3

      People have been asking this question since $1000. Personally i think it has much more to run this year but it's just me. DYOR.

      • RocketSwitch on 01/04/2021 - 14:47

        I have, but this guy seems like an expert, so don't mind his opinion. I will be buying on the next crash.

        • furyou on 01/04/2021 - 15:49

          How do you know if the next crash isn't the final one?
          What makes it keep going, with other cryptos availalbe?

          • RocketSwitch on 01/04/2021 - 16:13

            @furyou: No one knows. Not buying at this price, but might go to $120K USD… I'm only going to buy when I am comfortable with buying. Already FOMO, so don't care now.

            • furyou on 01/04/2021 - 16:16

              @RocketSwitch: Feel the same. I don't know what I am comfortable with. I remember years ago ppl saying bitcoin and me saying wtf.

  • negger on 01/04/2021 - 12:44
    +1

    You believe Bitcoin is a sure thing. Yet you hold only 35% BTC in your portfolio and the rest is various alt. So are you suggesting BTC is a "sure thing" or some crypto(that we do not know yet) is going to be a sure thing?

    • nomoneynoproblems on 01/04/2021 - 22:16

      Re read his comments. Alts blew up.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:31

      Bitcoin long term is a sure thing, however, this doesn't mean short term alts can't outperform it. There is a phase in the bull cycle called Alt season, this is where alts go parabolic, I want to catch that wave.

      The name of the game for me is "stack the sats". The only reason I hold the alts, is to gain more sats in the end. During the bear market, I will only hold Bitcoin.

  • Coffeefood on 01/04/2021 - 13:22

    Any recommendations on tax agents based on Sydney who have sound knowledge on cryptocurrency. Last year I went through lots of issues with tax agent cause they won’t understand how it works. Using Koinly for tax purposes, any other recommendations on crypto tax software? Thanks in advance 😀

    • datsun120y on 01/04/2021 - 14:49

      I'd like some recommendations as well. Most accountants i have talked to look at you like you are crazy when you mention bitcoin.

      • littlegreenman on 01/04/2021 - 17:46

        Brendan Campbell at Prosperity Advisers is pretty switched on about it. He's Brisbane based but does that really matter these days?

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:30

      The tax agent I used is quite small, you just need someone who can competently set up a SMSF, there is nothing special to enable it to buy crypto, it just needs to be set up correctly.

      • Tony Strong on 03/04/2021 - 17:48

        thanks for this. was thinking to do an SMSF.

      • Coffeefood on 09/04/2021 - 09:44

        Thanks a lot 👍

  • FracturedArse on 01/04/2021 - 13:38

    Are you all in on Bitcoin/Ethereum or are there other altcoins that have caught you eye? I struggle spotting projects that look legit vs ones that are just there for the ICO.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:29

      Yes, I think DOT and other coins in the Polkadot ecosystem will do very well, like Ring, Kton, Kusama.

  • neyo on 01/04/2021 - 15:12
    +7

    For such a big dog investor you keep referring to your gains as CGT. Do you not know what the acronym is 😅

    • AfterDeals on 01/04/2021 - 16:29

      A big dog investor that has not discovered discretionary trusts 🤷‍♂️🤣

      • [Deactivated] on 01/04/2021 - 16:41
        +2

        A "big dog investor" sorry you mean "bullshit liar"

        post pics of your bags otherwise they should gtfo

        • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 21:50

          You can believe my story or not. You don't you need to believe. I don't have a big ego, there is a reason why I don't advertise the value of my portfolio in the post.

          We can still have a discussion about cryptocurrencies and its place in society.

      • turbochris on 01/04/2021 - 21:46

        A discretionary trust is only useful if you have beneficiaries to route the profits to.

        • AfterDeals on 01/04/2021 - 21:58

          You should get a new lawyer. If you had big gains, you can set other trusts as beneficiaries or even companies and continue to flow money around. Not to mention the flexibility of being able to give and forgive loans between settlor / trustee

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 21:49

      Capital Gains Tax because the ATO views crypto as assets.

    • d86 on 01/04/2021 - 21:50
      +2

      A big dog is just wasting the OZB hard disk space and peddle shit. Pathetic clown.

      • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:01

        Thanks for your opinion, which part of this is "shit"?

        If you don't believe my story, fine, what about cryptocurrencies? They are certainly real and the way this space has changed since 2009 is also real.

        • d86 on 01/04/2021 - 22:11
          -1

          I've been into crypto for a few years, trading and investing into the top 25 coins. I have nothing to brag about though, it's all dumb money. I just don't believe you, you're peddling a BS story here, kiddo.

          btw, I can afford to buy a new TV instead of the faulty one without asking on OZB.

  • MementoMori on 01/04/2021 - 15:37

    Do you think many people will move from Bitcoin to Monero (XMR) once they realise Bitcoin is more trackable/traceable that even fiat money? (e.g. tainted coins, lack of fungibility and privacy, etc)

    Especially now that atomic swaps between Bitcoin and Monero are in testing.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 21:57

      I don't see a reason for someone to move from Bitcoin to Monero apart from the privacy aspects and most people don't need the privacy aspects. Elon Musk and Michael Saylor and other companies don't want to hide their transactions, in fact it would make it a headache for them regulatory wise.

      • MementoMori on 03/04/2021 - 13:50

        Do you think the general public knows that anyone can look into any other wallet and know how much BTC is in there?

        Assuming we can link an individual to an address, I would have thought this is shocking for privacy and doing business. You could see how many funds your competitor had, when they place orders and to whom, what size they are etc

  • furyou on 01/04/2021 - 15:46

    I don't understand how to buy crypto. There are so many wallets, exchanges, fees, spreads. Just started looking and came back more confused than before. How does one start out?

    • Tiredman on 01/04/2021 - 16:30
      +1

      Wallets are for storing your Bitcoin. Exchanges like BTCMarkets and Coinspot are for buying. That's all you need to be concerned with if you are investing long term.

      1) Buy Bitcoin on exchanges
      2) Transfer and store it in your hardware wallet.

      Hardware wallets like Trezor are a good choice. If you are only buying a little bit, you can get away with online wallets.

      Unless you are trading it, don't worry too much about fees and spreads.

      • furyou on 01/04/2021 - 16:32

        Isn't it easier to lose a hardware one than online one? I mean if I'm not trading and playing with it frequently. Why is hardware good?

        • Tiredman on 01/04/2021 - 16:42

          Hardware wallets are offline. Less risk of getting hacked.

          https://blog.trezor.io/why-you-need-a-hardware-wallet-eaf966…

          This post explains it well.

        • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 21:58
          +1

          You can lose your hardware wallet, as long as you have the seed phrases (a series of words) can you restore it on another blank wallet.

          The reason why hardware wallets are good is that they are the most secure way to protect your private key. It cannot be hacked remotely, because processing transactions require physical presses of the keys on the wallet. No hardware wallet has yet to be hacked remotely.

      • virhlpool on 01/04/2021 - 23:42

        Can't you do without wallets by storing coins in the exchange account itself?

      • idjces on 03/04/2021 - 00:27

        I heard on a podcast that ledger was hacked and the identity details (name, address, email? etc) of every user, along with their crypto holding amounts was stolen.

        Having this info in the hands of criminals is a scary thought, if you have enough wealth to entice them.

  • Aerith-Waifu on 01/04/2021 - 16:43

    If you would pick 5 low value coins now. Low value as it’s under $5. Which 5 would you pick?

    • mr_asstight on 01/04/2021 - 16:47
      +1

      Those who look at price will be rekt lol

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:00

      Don't look at the price. By low value, I presume you mean low market cap coins?

      These are very risky and that's coming from someone who buys intangible coins on the internet (Bitcoins) haha. If you can get a "moonshot" coin, then good on you, like that guy with Theta, but getting one of these is like winning the lottery (maybe better odds).

      I prefer the safer route of buying Bitcoin, Eth and other majors because I know they are a "sure thing", in my opinion.

      • Aerith-Waifu on 01/04/2021 - 23:52

        Thanks for that. Apart from the major coins, is there such a thing as growth alt coins? You are right I shouldn’t look at the price. If you have $5000 to spend on 5 coins. Which ones would you think would do well in 5 years time? Thanks many

  • HiedelbergHieghts on 01/04/2021 - 17:22

    For an unsavvy tech person or paranoid like me (I'm an IT guy)
    Would it be unwise to keep your cryptos in 3rd party, like CoinSpot ?
    I do because:
    I dont trust myself and my personal machine not get hacked or infected by spywares
    I dont trust myself holding a long term password in cold wallet
    i dont trust myself keeping a hardware long term (too many stories of people throwing away harddrive/old laptop with their keys in it)

    you thoughts?

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:07
      +1

      Its very easy to learn. Exchanges are quite sophisticated these days, so you are probably safe, even when you are hacked. Remember Binance has SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users). This is why whenever exchanges are hacked, people say, "but are funds SAFU"? Binance has drawn down on this fund to reimburse users, I think it was a $20mil USD hack before. So no investor was out of pocket.

      It really depends on how much you have. I feel very uneasy putting more than $300k on an exchange for any prolonged period of time.

      You should get a hardware wallet. They are resistant to remote hacking. Even if your computer is infected with keyloggers and spyware, they still can't hack your hardware wallet. Hardware wallets has improved to a stage where even if you lost it, you can still recover your coins. The key is the seed phrases, so make sure you keep copies of them written down, but on the cloud. Write down the words, split it up, put them in separate locations, eg at friends place. Have multiple copies for redundancy. For example, what I do is I split the words into 16 pieces where any 8 piece can combine to create the full seed phrase. Then I put them in various safe places.

  • d-fxt on 01/04/2021 - 17:55

    What are your thoughts on the Flow blockchain with all the recent hype in NFTs, big name partnerships and it's potential applications?

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:07

      I'm not into NFTs, but I do want to profit from the hype and ride the wave. So I hold platform tokens for EFTs like CHZ and ERN.

  • ezekiel181 on 01/04/2021 - 19:55
    +1

    Thanks for the AMA. Only got in to crypto this bull run but I remember going to trade school with a young guy who tried to sell me on bitcoin in 2011. If only I had listened.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:09
      +1

      Very true, this is the only time people will listen. If I did the same in 2018, I think I'd be negged to oblivion.

      People should understand Bitcoin's cycle, it is an emerging asset, there is of course going to be volatility as the market goes through price discovery. Even gold is totally stable.

  • Sage222 on 01/04/2021 - 21:02
    +1

    Which other crypto do you own other than BTC?

    I hold btc, etherium, doge and binance.

    Thinking about litecoin

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:29

      This is how the Bitcoin cycle usually plays out. Bitcoin starts by ramping up, eg in 2017, increasing from $1000 to $4000. This generates buzz and people start flocking into BTC. Then as BTC plateaus, people start looking into alts, then the alts increase. Bitcoin will go parabolic, eg in Dec 2017 going up to $19900, this will then generate more buzz and people will FOMO into the alts, eg Jan to Feb 2018. Then comes the bear market and most alts will go to zero.

      I think we are at the point just before BTC goes parabolic. So I currently have more than 30 alts. I hold ETH, ADA, BNB, DOT, RING, Kton, CHSB and VRA to name a few off the top of my head. I'm looking to sell all of these back into Bitcoin later this year.

      During the bear market, I only want to hold BTC, all the other alts will be smashed, even ETH, ETH went down from $1500USD to $100USD. If you look at the percentage loss, Bitcoin held its value the most during the bear market.

  • sidozbargain on 01/04/2021 - 21:09

    What are your thoughts on XRP, have you got any?
    How high can it go? I have some, is it worth putting more money or should i buy something else?
    I have 60% xrp in my portfolio.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:23

      I do, none are positive lol. I like the company, Ripple and would invest in it if they sold their shares, but I wouldn't touch XRP.

      XRP is centralized, majority held by Ripple and its all pre-mined. I really don't consider it a real cryptocurrency.

      60%! wow, that's a huge percentage. I don't hold and will never buy XRP.

      • sidozbargain on 10/04/2021 - 23:14

        Bought mine @.45 cents average. Paying today :)

  • Orico on 01/04/2021 - 21:35

    I use to play Counter Strike Source and Warcraft back in the day and a lot of the regular boys in those games use to farm bitcoins using their Radeon machines. Were you one of them? If so, send us some love. XD

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:24

      No, I didn't mine Bitcoins, but I did mine other alt coins, like Litecoins. Remember, wemineLTC pool? I lost 50LTC in that when they rug pulled, I didn't withdraw it in time. T_T

  • dfg555 on 01/04/2021 - 22:04

    You're not a true crypto enthusiast until you've started storing them in $5 SanDisk USBs.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:12

      That's what I did in the beginning, backing up the wallet.dat files, encrypting it and copying it across multiple SanDisk USBs for redundancy.

      I also created "offline" wallets via websites where you can print out the private key. Do NOT use this now, a website can be compromised to generate easily hackable private keys and take your coins.

  • hasher22 on 01/04/2021 - 22:07

    Thanks for the AMA and I am more confident yet more confused on Bitcoin and googling all this information isn't helping either.

    I want to invest 3k in bitcoin but I am having trouble finding a website to buy from. Like with stocks, I am will commsec, what is the equivalent to commsec in the cryptocurrency world?

    I will be more confident with an Australian website but open to others? I found Easy Crypto and Coinspot? Which do you prefer or what website do you suggest to buy from?

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:11
      +1

      As a first step, I think you should have an understanding of what Bitcoin is and how blockchain works. I think this is the most basic required knowledge before you jump in.

      There are some very good Bitcoin explained videos on youtube.

      When you are ready, I would suggest exchanges like Coinspot, Independent Reserve and BTCmarkets. They are all based in Australia.

      • hasher22 on 01/04/2021 - 22:15

        Thank you for your replies, I have read all your posts and youtube numerous "what is" videos on bitcoin and will now research blockchain.

        I admire you and I admire your dedication and sticking it out until this day not to sell.

        I think you have helped a lot of people just by giving us this AMA

    • vid_ghost on 01/04/2021 - 22:31

      Coinspot is good.. Aussie company that has never been hacked and gives you a tax statement at the end of financial year

  • [Deactivated] on 01/04/2021 - 22:21

    Hi @techlead

    A couple of things I saw from your edit I want to address.

    The Bitcoin network uses too much energy

    Market value wise it is a whole lot less than fiat currency. Think of a bank and how many servers, computers, cars, advertising, electricity to run all the branches, etc, it uses just to get some revenue.

    Per $, BTC is one of the most efficient ways to transfer money. Yes, there are others of course, but BTC it's not the bad guy here.

    It is used for criminal activity

    For every $1 in bitcoin illicit trade, there are approx. $275 illicit fiat trade.

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:58

      Totally agree with that. Not sure about the numbers, but I'm sure fiat currency is more widely used in criminal activity.

  • Bold Eagle on 01/04/2021 - 22:26
    -2

    (profanity) SPAM!

  • vid_ghost on 01/04/2021 - 22:28
    +3

    fiat currency is worth nothing… the thing that gives fiat currency value is the military and companies that are attached to it and trade with it..

    Crypto is a pass the buck scam.. The value is there and its coming from someone left holding the trash in the end…

    If companies start to trade in it then it may have a life after pump and dump investors
    i used to have 100 bit-coins i mined back when it first came on on my gaming PC using my high end AMD graphics card.

    lose them all but they were worthless so i didn't care.. so much money has been invested in bitcoin now we may never see it zero out but dont count out fiat currencies militarily backed super security

    • techlead on 01/04/2021 - 22:59

      You might think its worthless, but to others its not. Give me any other "worthless" "bit-coins" please. :)

      • vid_ghost on 02/04/2021 - 08:17

        The value in Bitcoin comes from people putting real money into it to give it value… Unlike normal money were it's value is tied to a countries ability to sell itself or hold onto power by force with a military… World super powers are not called that because they have the most money , bonds, stocks or crypto.. 💸💰they are that because with a push of a button they could turn you and everything you own into radioactive dust.

        Blockchain has a real future and one of these ultcoins maybe the real winner in the end.. Bitcoin will be religated to the collector investor buying and selling and that's it.

        • [Deactivated] on 02/04/2021 - 20:51

          Yet the US dollar has lost over 90% of it’s purchasing power in less than 100 years.

  • jaimex2 on 01/04/2021 - 22:43

    Is Crypto backed by cocaine?

  • [Deactivated] on 01/04/2021 - 23:01

    Thanks for the info.

    Didnt know you could make bitcoin work as it were.

    Will read into more

    • techlead on 02/04/2021 - 05:42

      Yep, you can. These platforms usually act like a bank, they take your crypto deposits and offer loans, that's how they can fund the interest. Always do your research in the platform, as if they collapse, you can't get your crypto bank (most likely) and you can't cry to the Australian government or the RBA.

  • Tyrx on 01/04/2021 - 23:37
    -3

    This thread is a cesspool of individuals opening themselves up to being sued for providing financial advice without a license - let alone advice which is misleading and negligent in nature… I wonder how many of them have VPN's on?

    • [Deactivated] on 02/04/2021 - 00:18

      Who provided financial advice?

      Personal circumstances and experiences doesn't count as such lol.

      • Tyrx on 02/04/2021 - 00:56
        -1

        They're all over the place, but this one by techlead would fall under the definition of financial product advice under the Corporations Act 2001.

        In saying that, you should take profits, there are over 9000 alt coins, most are worthless or overhyped, you should think about selling them for fiat or Bitcoin later this year, around August or September or when they go parabolic. Most of these alt coins will go to $0 during the bear market. Keep that in mind.

        • techlead on 02/04/2021 - 05:43
          +1

          You serious? Not sure if you are trolling or not.

          No court will ever consider that as financial advice. I was merely expressing an opinion. None of what I said is financial advice.

    • Switchblade88 on 02/04/2021 - 00:58
      +1

      Let's take this to the Court of OzBargain.

      "I got bad advice and I lost money! I want to sue!"

      "OK, where did you get the advice from?"

      "Some unknown stranger on the internet. He had a communist dog picture!"

      • Tyrx on 02/04/2021 - 01:00
        -1

        You might laugh, but people actually do get successfully sued over their internet comments by people who incur loss from from advice. Don't provide financial advice to random peeps on the internet if you don't have a license to do so lads - and even if you do, you're risking your AFS license.

        • Switchblade88 on 02/04/2021 - 01:07
          +2

          people actually do get successfully sued over their internet comments by people who incur loss from from advice

          Can you provide evidence? Is it for Australian law?

          • Tyrx on 02/04/2021 - 10:04

            @Switchblade88: If you say something like equities tend to provide better long-term returns than fixed interest markets, I wouldn't worry about that - but it's a big no no when someone outlines their portfolio and you reply making very specific recommendations (e.g. sell X stock on X date, buy Y stock on Y date) on how that individual should alter their portfolio makeup. The principles of "caveat emptor" and "caveat lector" are good to go by, but because of the strong regulation of financial advice in Australia commenters can't rely on just on just these two.

            The whole Australian Law part is fairly loaded given it talks to laws and statutory legislations which govern legal liability and the concept of onus - not really best communicated through an internet forum, and it is something you should seek legal advice to better understand the boundaries of. If you wanted to do your own reading, 766B of the Corporations Act 2001 and the Financial Services Reform Act are good starting points.

            As for Australian specific cases - I'm not actually sure. There are plenty of international cases in countries where the regulatory environment is looser than ours and cases have succeeded. Those cases tend not to be "X stock is great and this is why you should purchase it", but rather when specific recommendations are made to an individual.

            • [Deactivated] on 03/04/2021 - 13:12
              +1

              @Tyrx: So you lost a bit in Crypto hey? Boo hoo. No one is getting sued.

        • techlead on 02/04/2021 - 05:46
          +4

          Do you have some evidence of this? Do you have a link to the case in Austlii or other state based courts?

          I'm keen to read up on this.

          I admit I have lost thousands FOMOing into coins I read about on reddit during the early days. I'd like to sue to get my money back.

          • Switchblade88 on 02/04/2021 - 11:59
            +1

            @techlead: He wrote so many words he didn't have room for links, apparently

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